For the first time since he took office, President Trump will award the National Medal of the Arts and the National Humanities Medal, honoring eight recipients including the actor Jon Voight, the novelist James Patterson, the musicians of the United States Military and the conservative think tank the Claremont Institute.

The medals, given annually since the 1980s, were last awarded in 2016, by President Obama, who named about a dozen honorees for each medal, as was typical in past years. This week, in a terse announcement, the administration named four winners each for the arts and the humanities. They will be honored on Thursday at the White House.

In addition to Mr. Voight and the musicians of the military, the winners of the arts medal are the bluegrass musician and singer Alison Krauss and the philanthropist Sharon Percy Rockefeller, who is also president of WETA, Washington’s public television and radio station.

The humanities honorees include Patrick O’Connell, the chef at the Inn at Little Washington, an acclaimed restaurant in Washington, Va., and Teresa Lozano Long, a philanthropist in Austin, Tex., as well as Mr. Patterson and the Claremont Institute.