Gates. (Courtesy humanities.uchicago.edu)

Theaster Gates has won the inaugural Vera List Prize, awarded to artists who take risks to promote social justice, the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School announced today.

The prize, according to a release, "represents a two-year commitment to an artist's practice," and will provide Mr. Gates with an "extended platform across the university." Included in this will be a seminar series and the presentation of Reflections on the Dorchester Project, the work for which Mr. Gates was given the award, at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons in 2013.   The Dorchester Project began in 2006. Mr. Gates transformed two buildings on Chicago's South Side into community centers.