"It's a wonderful thing to be an artist surrounded by other artists," said Angela Lansbury last night to a beaming crowd of supporters and artists, while accepting her Lifetime Achievement Award at the Americans for the Arts National Arts Awards Gala. For its 50th anniversary, Americans for the Arts brought together icons to honor and be honored, from Jeff Koons to presenters Bill Moyers, Kim Gordon and Harold Price, to recipients Martha Rivers Ingram, Herb Alpert and the Rodarte sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy. While overcome with nerves on stage, letting sister Kate do all the talking (she later endearingly admitted to being star-struck by the pie-maker of Sweeney Todd) Laura Mulleavy was happy to chat back on the floor: "It was really incredible for me because really, I don't think of fashion as art... at the same time, in order to do something interesting with it, you have to approach it in an artistic way. So it's about being willing to take risks." As winners of the Young Artist Award, their risks have paid off. After dinner, long-time committee member Alec Baldwin made a speech and guests lingered on goodbyes, slowly flowing to the back to have their Polaroid taken by featured artist Todd Eberle.