March 12, 2003
Awards honor art supporters, regional artists
Traverse Area Arts Council sponsors Community Arts and Culture Awards
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
The inaugural Community Arts and Culture Awards was a glittering evening filled with applause and acceptance speeches, acknowledgment and acclaim.
Sponsored by the Traverse Area Arts Council, the awards highlighted the contributions of area artists, arts-related organizations and arts supporters. Awards were given in five categories: Arts and Cultural Organization, Civic Leader, Business, Arts Educator and Artist. The event was held at the Dennos Museum and featured a dinner before the awards ceremony and a champagne reception afterward.
Each category included three nominees, all outstanding contributors to the arts and known for their commitment to arts. This veritable who's who of area culture made choosing a winner for each award a challenge. Recognizing all who were nominated is key, said Barry Goodwin, president of the Traverse Area Arts Council Board.
"The purpose of this evening is to have a celebration, the nominations were a great excuse to get together and have a great party," Goodwin noted. "We really do want to honor all nominees here tonight."
Ron Jolly from WTCM talk radio served as master of ceremonies. The evening also featured a showcase of area artistry, with performances by Encore Winds Ensemble, Dance Leelanau!, the Honors String Quintet of Traverse Youth Symphony Orchestra and two dance numbers from the Old Town Playhouse's upcoming production of "Crazy for You."
Gene Jenneman accepted the Arts and Cultural Organization award on behalf of the Dennos Museum. Jenneman, who arrived in town during the museum's planning stage in the early 1990s, said the area can be proud of its leadership in the arts.
"This community has always had vision and the people who are in this room, the 1,000 donors who made this facility possible," said Jenneman, director of the Dennos Museum. "I thank you [for this award] on behalf of the staff and volunteers who created this facility; it is a privilege to be a part of this community and be director of this museum."
Charles Murphy was both shocked and thrilled at receiving the Arts Educator award. Murphy, a painter who has lived in the area for 25 years, also conducts workshops and seminars at the Art Center of Traverse City and other art centers around the country. While he said he is a painter first, sharing and teaching flow naturally from him as well.
"I was pretty much in the dark about it, wasn't even aware of the other nominees until I showed up at the awards ceremonies," he noted. "The award was also a thrill to me because I do pour my heart and soul into my classes and doing the research to teach them."
Murphy said he hopes the awards ceremony will be an annual way to recognize leaders in the arts in the area.
"This area attracts an enormous population of artists - like people say, you can't turn around without bumping into an artist," he said. "To have kindred spirits all around you is to have a certain acceptance; this is in striking contrast to a community where those kinds of sensibilities are hard to come by and you feel like a lonesome stranger."