2009 Tucson Pima Arts & Business Awards
[WINNERS] [NOMINEES] [PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS]
The LUMIES are a project of the Tucson Pima Arts Council, in partnership with the business, government and arts community. Nominees were honored and winners were announced at the Temple of Music and Art on Thursday May 7, 2009.
Congratulations to the 2009 Luminaries who dedicate themselves to the advancement, enhancement, and growth of the arts in our community! In addition to the LUMIE Award, recipients were presented with letters of congratulations from Congressman Raul Grijalva; Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords; Mayor Bob Walkup, City of Tucson; and Mayor Paul Loomis, Town of Oro Valley.
2009 LUMIE AWARD WINNERS
Emerging Arts Organization (less than 10 years): For innovation and creativity in their field.
The Rogue Theatre
In pursuit of its mission: To create the highest quality theatre possible, challenging, stretching and invigorating our community” the Rogue Theater has drawn new audiences to local theatre from all over Southern Arizona and broadened its offerings to include “talk-backs” following performances and free public workshops. For the past four seasons, enthusiastic audiences have embraced the Rogue’s intelligent and thoughtful approach, its ensemble acting techniques and its use of live, oftentimes original, music. Generous with their time and expertise, theatre professionals within the Rogue Company provide an academy for training and mentoring emerging theater artists.
Established Arts Organization (10 years or more): For innovation, creativity and sustained excellence in their field.
Tohono Chul Park
More than 160,000 visitors annually enjoy Tohono Chul Park and Gallery, gleaning inspiration from the vitality of the arts relevant to desert culture and ecology and learning about our desert region. Park exhibits use art as a mirror to reveal the beauty of our region and the diversity of our peoples and our history, co-mingling the aesthetic values of the natural world and our reflections on it as its human inhabitants and stewards. Exhibits encourage and promote local artists of all ages as well as occasionally showcasing professional artists. Collaborations with local arts groups and other organizations have enhanced Tohono Chul Park’s over its more than 30 year history.
Arts Volunteer: To an individual who has contributed significantly to the advancement of the arts in the community.
Frank M. Lopez
Hundreds of students have learned doll making from Frank Lopez who has volunteered his knowledge and skills at Sahuarita Elementary School since 1990. Frank works individually with students to teach them to clean, paint and sew clothes to complete porcelain dolls, each representing the student him/herself, but in the process, he enriches and inspires the lives of these youngsters. His enthusiasm is contagious and his encouragement and critiques of the student work is honest but positive; his patience and care with students is extraordinary. Frank’s generosity of time and talent makes miracles: Each child successfully completes a challenging project, creating something to love and take pride in.
Arts Supporter: To an individual or organization having demonstrated outstanding leadership in advancing the arts in the community through advocacy, promotion and/or development of the arts.
Ruth Baron
Ruth Baron’s love of live theater and her generosity led her to the role of financial benefactor and founder of two local theaters: Live Theater Workshop (LTW) and Beowulf Alley Theater Company (BATC), each operating in its own space and each serving separate theater interests, based on their missions and programming. Ruth’s recognition of the value of the arts in children’s lives is evidenced by the strong, children’s programming at both LTW and BATC. A behind-the-scenes force, she is devoted to advancing the arts through her personal and financial support. Ruth Baron has been a gift to the arts, and an enormous impact on the community’s theater landscape.
Arts Educator: An individual who has demonstrated outstanding leadership, innovation and creativity in arts education.
Renee Blakeley
As director of the Pistor Middle School Dance program, Renee Blakeley offers dance training, performance opportunities, leadership skills and immeasurable boosts of self-esteem to hundreds of students each year. A trained ballet and modern dancer/teacher, Renee believes the fundamentals are essential, but she’s open to new ideas. She has enthusiastically embraced her students interests, studying contemporary forms, enlisting guest artists in hip-hop, Latin dance and Afro-Brazilian dance forms. By giving young people the joy of movement, Renee instills the power of self-expression, self-confidence and cooperation in her students. . .traits that will serve them well in future years.
Arts Education Organization: An organization having demonstrated outstanding leadership, innovation and creativity in arts education.
The Symphony Women’s Association
Founded in 1952, The Symphony Women’s Association has kept music alive in our desert. They first offered free piano lessons and now their Music Education Center features free, weekly lessons on seven instruments. TSWA’s Music Center also provides loaner instruments, books and materials giving 148 students the opportunity to make music. Targeting underserved students has positive implications: Music lessons foster discipline and commitment, develop intelligence in other areas of learning, enhance thinking skills, provide creative outlets, add to one’s sense of self-worth and contribute to self-expression, creativity and teamwork. Through free weekly music lessons, TSWA is helping its students grow into contributing adults.
Business Partner: For outstanding support of the arts.
Ventana Medical Systems, Inc.
Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. in Oro Valley houses one of the largest free community gallery spaces in Southern Arizona, supporting local art and artists for the past six years. In addition, for more than eight years, Ventana has sponsored an enormous two-dimensional Art competition and exhibition. Ventana Medical Systems, Inc’s commitment to the Arts touches thousands of visitors annually to their community gallery space, open free to the public weekdays 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Ventana has invested thousands of dollars each year into their professional commitment to the arts and their encouragement of youth arts education, raising the bar for Arts support in this region.
Individual Achievement/Emerging Artist: For outstanding innovation and contribution in a field of art by an emerging artist.
Louis David Valenzuela
After 36 years of persistence and searching for his true calling, Louis David Valenzuela has come into his own; his sculptures, masks and paintings that highlight his Yoeme heritage and culture are a gift to Tucson. They are now seen, appreciated, and collected by a new market of art lovers. An ambassador and advocate for the arts of his people, Louis opens the door for non-Yoemen to learn about the Yoeme people in a visually exciting way. More importantly, Louis remains true to his roots, proud of his ancestry. He is recognized within his own community for his work and is a mentor to youngsters who, like himself, wish to pursue art as a means of sharing their ancient tradition and culture.
Lifetime Achievement: To an individual artist who has sustained excellence and innovation in their field of art over a significant number of years.
Eva Zorilla Tessler
Dancer, choreographer, actor, director and playwright, Eva Zorilla Tessler has raised the quality of arts and culture for Tucson and International audiences. As a dance teacher at Tucson High Magnet School, as associate Artistic Director for Borderlands Theater and as co-founder of the Latina Dancer project, she has trained many young, emerging artists. Zorilla’s work delivers a much needed dose of social responsibility for the promotion and progression of opportunities for Latinos as a whole. Her body of work entertains audiences from an artistic standpoint, but also challenges them to think about social justice and other issues affecting the Latino community.