GCAC ANNOUNCES 2012 COMMUNITY ARTS PARTNERSHIP AWARD WINNERS

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Greater Columbus Arts Council today awarded three individuals and three businesses with a 2012 Community Arts Partnership Award for their exemplary support of the arts.

Business Award winners are:

• PNC, which received the award in the Large Business category for companies with more than 500 employees. PNC was nominated by the Columbus Museum of Art, New Albany Symphony, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and Thurber House.
• Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, which received the award in theMedium Business category for companies with 50-500 employees. Vorys was nominated by the Wexner Center for the Arts.
• CD102.5, which received the award in the Small Business category for companies with fewer than 50 employees. CD102.5 was nominated by the North Market.

In addition the three individual award winners announced in September were recognized. The individual winners are:

• Cindy Meyers Foley, director of education for the Columbus Museum of Art, who received the Arts Educator award for her outstanding efforts in educating local youth through the arts.
• Marvin & Sue Katz, who received the Arts Partner award for their years of supporting local artists.
• Eva Ball, who received the Emerging Arts Leader award for her work as an artist and curator, and for her work at Glass Axis.

GCAC’s annual Community Arts Partnership awards honor the Columbus community for its active support of central Ohio’s artists and arts organizations. Thirty-five businesses and individuals were nominated this year. Columbus City Council Member Eileen Paley and GCAC’s Board Chair, Rober Falcone presented today’s awards.

Each award winner was given an original work of art by a local artist. PNC received Jay Ashrafi’s Cityscape, Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease received Larry Hamill’s Buttles Westward and CD102.5 received Derrick Hickman’s Peacocks and Clowns. The Katz’, Ball and Meyers Foley each received a framed work by local fiber artist, Sue Cavanaugh.

GCAC also presented its Artistic Excellence Award – a $10,000 prize given annually to an arts organization that has demonstrated innovation, risk and artistic excellence in a performance, exhibition or program – to WOSU Public Media for their Columbus Neighborhoods program series.

The other nominees this year were:

• BalletMet Columbus, Jazz Arts Group and WOSU for Jazz Moves Columbus
• Columbus Museum of Art for The Radical Camera: New York’s Photo League 1936 – 1952
• COSI for RACE: Are we so different?
• Jazz Arts Group for Beyond the Blackberry Patch
• MadLab for Young Writers Short Play Festival

Each year, GCAC staff selects Artistic Excellence nominees, and GCAC’s Board of Trustees meets just prior to the Community Arts Partnership awards luncheon to select a winner.

For more information about the Community Arts Partnership Awards or to see a complete list of nominees in all categories go to: https://www.gcac.org/community-arts-partnership/.

About the Greater Columbus Arts Council: Through vision and leadership, advocacy and collaboration, the Greater Columbus Arts Council supports art and advances the culture of the region. A catalyst for excellence and innovation, we fund exemplary artists and arts organizations and provide programs, events and services of public value that educate and engage all audiences in our community. Thanks to the City of Columbus, Franklin County and the Ohio Arts Council for their ongoing support. Thanks also to PNC, Time Warner Cable, AEP and Nationwide for their support of our Community Arts Partnership awards.