GCAC Announces 2011 Community Arts Partnership Award Winners

Columbus, Ohio – The Greater Columbus Arts Council today awarded three individuals and three businesses with a 2011 Community Arts Partnership Award for their exemplary support of the arts.

Business Award winners are:

American Electric Power, which received the award in the Large Business category for companies with more than 500 employees. AEP was nominated by ProMusica Chamber Orchestra.

LIVE! Technologies, which received the award in the Medium Business category for companies with 50-500 employees. LIVE! Technologies was nominated by the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.

Brainstorm Media, which received the award in the Small Business category for companies with fewer than 50 employees. Brainstorm Media was nominated by ProMusica Chamber Orchestra.

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

Java Kitrick, Director of the Puffin Foundation West, received the award for Arts Partner.

Alex Bandar, founder of the Idea Foundry and PhD engineer received the award for Emerging Arts Leader.

Bettye Stull, recipient of the award for Arts Educator, has worked in education for nearly 60 years with Columbus Recreation and Parks and the King Arts Complex.

Individual winner bios available here.

GCAC’s annual Community Arts Partnership awards honor the Columbus community for its active support of central Ohio’s artists and arts organizations. Forty businesses and individuals were nominated this year. Columbus City Council members Eileen Paley and Priscilla Tyson along with Franklin County Commission President Marilyn Brown presented today’s awards. Each award winner was given an original work of art by a local artist. AEP received Helma Groot’s Not My Baggage 2, LIVE! Technologies a work by Boryana Rusenova Ina titled A Walk Down Bulgaria Blvd. and Brainstorm Media Stephanie Rond’s Paparazzi Smile. Kitrick and Stull received a work of glass art by artist Mike Hric and Bandar received glass art by artist Chris Orr.

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 BalletMet Columbus and Shadowbox Live for their collaboration project 7 Deadly Sins.

Each year, GCAC staff selects Artistic Excellence nominees, and GCAC’s Board of Trustees meets just prior to the Community Arts Partnership awards to select the 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, GCAC funds exemplary artists and arts organizations and provides programs, events and services of public value that educate and engage all audiences in our community. GCAC thanks the City of Columbus, Franklin County and the Ohio Arts Council for their continued support.

BUSINESS DESCRIPTIONS:

Located in Grandview, Emmy Award winning Brainstorm Media offers services in video production, audio/custom music, post-production, live events, original programming, interactive/multimedia, 3D/motion graphics, and creative services. During recent seasons, Brainstorm Media has generously delivered substantial in-kind services to ProMusica. Most recently, Brainstorm Media produced a 30th Aniversary video for ProMusica that highlighted the orchestra’s impact on the community and featured the wealth of talents in the arts in Columbus. Through the video ProMusica was able to engage and acknowledge the many long-time supporters of ProMusica. Through the more recent videos produced for our commissioning initiative and the Annual Fund, ProMusica has been able to attract and engage even more members of our arts family, who will be exposed to the innovative and diverse array of educational programs and to the depth of artistic talent offered through their performances. In short, Brainstorm Media understands how important it is for ProMusica to tell its story in a succinct, engaging and inspiring way to current and potential funders, donors, and audience members. Brainstorm also partners with Experience Columbus to help produce PSAs and other video collateral with an instinct for portraying Columbus as a great city and a great arts destination. By contributing substantial company time and resources to a variety of organizations Brainstorm Media has helped portray Columbus as the vibrant and creative community that it is.

As an audio, video, lighting and staging Production Company, LIVE! Technologies has supplied labor and equipment to numerous arts organizations in Central Ohio, including: BalletMet, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, CAPA, the Columbus College of Art & Design, COSI and the Wexner Center. From the Columbus Symphony’s Picnic with the Pops series to the Wexner Center’s special events to BalletMet’s Nutcracker Ball, Columbus’ art patrons have rigorous artistic standards, and LIVE! Technologies expertise and energy help make every organization they work with shine. The impact of LIVE! Technologies’ partnerships within the arts community are immeasurable. For arts organizations, special events and performances are vital to their livelihood. They are a point of entry for new audience members, investors and prospective donors. LIVE!’s on-stage technicians, behind-the-scenes operators, and knowledgeable engineers allow the Columbus Symphony Orchestra to focus on engaging audiences through music. The partnership works for several reasons, but primarily because the knowledge of LIVE!’s employees extends well beyond the equipment they provide: LIVE! understands the needs of audiences! Many of the arts organizations in Columbus have worked with LIVE! for 10 years or more. The benefits of a strong, continuous partnership are invaluable to lean non-profit organizations, which retain LIVE! not only for its expertise, but also for LIVE!’s willingness and vigilant efforts to ensure that they come in on our even under an organization’s budget. In true partnership, LIVE!’s lifetime in-kind donations on behalf of the symphony easily approach $250,000. LIVE! is also a steadfast partner for the symphony’s annual Music Educator Awards program. LIVE! Technologies understands exactly what is at stake with each and every project and they deliver on the details to make the right impression for guests, patrons and audience members. LIVE! is a valued partner and generous supporter of many different organizations, and the result is a more creative, financially stable arts community.

 American Electric Power (AEP) has long been a significant supporter of the arts in central Ohio, an outgrowth of the company’s giving philosophy that focuses on nonprofit organizations who improve quality of life in their communities. AEP’s financial support of the arts in greater Columbus has ranged from large institutions to small organizations, and has included BalletMet, CAPA, Columbus Children’s Theatre, Columbus College of Art & Design, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus Symphony Orchestra, CATCO, Greater Columbus Arts Council, Jazz Arts Group, King Arts Complex, Opera Columbus, Phoenix Theatre for Children, Thurber House and Wexner Center for the Arts, as well as ProMusica Chamber Orchestra. In addition to its corporate support and program sponsorships, AEP also provides significant employee volunteerism to the arts and throughout the community. At ProMusica, AEP is one of the orchestra’s largest financial supporters, having served as the presenting sponsor of ProMusica’s hallmark education program, the Youth & Family Program, since its inception in 2001. Through Youth & Family, AEP has ensured the arts are present in a meaningful, accessible way in the lives of thousands of traditionally underserved youths in our community. AEP’s philanthropy has made a significant impact on other organizations as well. AEP helped to fund the Chihuly installations, as well as related educational curriculum and tours, at both the Columbus Museum of Art and Franklin Park Conservatory. The company has been a strong supporter of BalletMet for 20 years, supporting major productions and fundraisers, education programs, and capital campaigns. Time and again, AEP has demonstrated leadership, commitment and vision in its support of the arts, and particularly for programs and projects that help connect the arts to the community. Corporate support from AEP allows arts organizations to leverage much-needed funding from additional sources; present high-quality, innovative performances and exhibitions; and offer invaluable education and community outreach programs that engage audiences with meaningful arts experiences. The strength of the arts community in central Ohio is sustained by generous corporations such as AEP, and through its giving, AEP continues to provide organizations with the means to grow, thrive, and achieve artistic excellence.