Greater Columbus Arts Council Announces 2022 Community Arts Partnership Awards Nominees and Winners at Big Arts Night

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC) today announced the recipients of the 2022 Columbus Makes Art Excellence Awards. The awards were announced as part of GCAC’s Big Arts Night held at the Southern Theatre and Westin Great Southern Hotel, an adaptation of its annual Community Arts Partnership (CAP) Awards program.

The Columbus Makes Art Excellence Awards recognize outstanding achievements in innovation, risk and artistic excellence in a performance, exhibition, program or project. One $10,000 award was given in each category of organizations with budgets of under $1 million and those with budgets over $1 million. The Columbus Makes Art Excellence Awards are supported by Huntington.

The 2022 nominees are:

Organizations with budgets of under $1 million

• A Tribe for Jazz: An Exploration of Emotions and Color Through Jazz Music
• Peggy R. McConnell Arts Center: Post No Ills, featuring Lance Johnson
• We Amplify Voices: Life Stories

The winner of the 2022 Columbus Makes Art Excellence Award for a budget under $1 million is We Amplify Voices: Life Stories.

Organizations with budgets of $1 million and over

• CATCO: School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play
• COSI: Dr. B in 3
• Opera Columbus: 40 Days of Opera

The winner of the 2022 Columbus Makes Art Excellence Award for a budget over $1 million is CATCO: School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play.

Videos honoring all the nominees, showcasing the winners and announcing the Columbus Makes Art Excellence Award recipients can be viewed on YouTube: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAOx9oYArCEuAmgRWGlcBnA9bZ4rr_RY0

In late September, the following CAP award winners were announced. In addition to the award, seven of the recipients will be gifted a piece from a local artist, purchased by GCAC:

• Arts Educator Award: Tobi Furman, nominated by Michael Stinziano, receiving Ocean by Stephanie Rond
• Michael B. Coleman Arts Partner Award: Nannette Maciejunes, nominated by Stephen Wittmann, and Nancy Strause, nominated by Sue Porter and Edwaard Liang, receiving Rotating Fields by Carol Snyder and Transitory States 0469 by Ardine Nelson, respectively
• Emerging Arts Leader Award: Hanif Abdurraqib, nominated by Bryan Loar, and Orlay Alonso, nominated by Steven Glaser, respectively receiving The Soul of the Scribe and Community Virtuoso, both by Lance Johnson
• Employer Award: Kaufman Development/Gravity, nominated by Johnny Riddle, and the VA Central Ohio Health Care System, nominated by Mary Skrenta, receiving Morning Light by Rachel Stern and Absolute: Torn by Daric Gill, respectively
• Dale E. Heydlauff Community Arts Innovation Awards: Columbus Black History Bus/Virtual Tours by Rita Fuller-Yates, nominated by Shawn Thomas, and Trans Visibility by Emma Parker, nominated by multiple people. Each Heydlauff Award winner receives a $5,000 prize.

During the night’s event, GCAC also celebrated recipients of other significant awards, including:

• Raymond J. Hanley Award: Andrew Levitt (2022), with nods to Edwaard Liang (2021) and Queen Brooks (2020)
• Artists Elevated Award: Sterling Carter and Mariah Layne French (2022) and Erika Tay Lane and Quianna Simpson (2021)

See full details of those award nominees and winners at: gcac.org/press-release/greater-columbus-arts-council-announces-2022-community-arts-partnership-awards-nominees-and-winners/

For more information about the Community Arts Partnership Awards go to: gcac.org/events/community-arts-partnership-awards

The 2022 Community Arts Partnership Awards program is supported by Bath & Body Works, CAPA, Crane Group, Huntington, Mills James, PNC, The Westin Great Southern Hotel and ZenGenius.

Mission of the Greater Columbus Arts Council: To support and advance the arts and cultural fabric of Columbus. www.gcac.org

The Greater Columbus Arts Council receives major financial support from the City of Columbus, Franklin County Commissioners and the Ohio Arts Council.

For translations of this release and other pages, please see the dropdown menu at the top right corner of gcac.org.

# # #