8:30pm | The Arts Council for Long Beach yesterday announced this year’s Distinguished Arts Awards winners, who will be formally honored during an awards ceremony next month.
Gregorio Luke, a former director of the Museum of Latin American Art, will receive the 2011 Distinguished Artist of the Year. Having given more than 1,000 lectures on subjects including Mexican art, history and women’s issues, his lectures and writing continue to inspire and educate audiences about the impact of the arts in their everyday lives.
According to the Los Angles Times, “Gregorio Luke is on a mission: He wants to bring art out of the museum and into the streets.”
Blair Cohn, executive director of the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement District, will receive the Distinguished Arts Leadership of the Year Award. Cohn has built a new arts scene that includes the monthly First Fridays Art Walk, the Bixby Knolls Literary Society and the Expo arts center, which now houses two galleries and two theater spaces.
Cohn’s hard work demonstrates that the arts can truly serve businesses and residents alike, according to the Arts Council.
This year’s Distinguished Arts Patron of the Year will be Mary Ellen Kilsby, who has supported the arts in Long Beach for three decades, according to the Arts Council.
Kilsby began incorporating music and performances in her ministries starting in 1981 when she arrived at United Congregational Church. After retirement, she continues to donate to many arts organizations including Long Beach Opera, International City Theatre, The Found Theatre, Long Beach Playhouse and various Long Beach museums. She is an art collector whose collection features many Long Beach artists.
The Distinguished Arts Volunteer of the Year Award will go to Bobbie Cusato, who for more than two decades has volunteered for the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra.
A nominator described her as “the kind of volunteer everyone wishes for. … She is a leader of the first order, with an amazing talent for organizing and executing a project; she is an indefatigable, indispensable, cheerful volunteer,” according to the Arts Council.
Last but not least, the James H. Ackerman Award will go to the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency, which has been supporting the arts and culture in the city of Long Beach for more than 20 years, according to the Arts Council.
The agency’s Percent for Public Art Program funds permanent onsite, art-in-architecture projects as well as temporary public art and cultural facilities. The agency also supports historic preservation and rehabilitation projects and makes arts-related loans to small, local organizations. In 2009 and 2010, the agency’s arts-related funding totaled more than $3.2 million.
Projects funded by the agency include The Collaborative at Gallery 421, the Summer and Music concert series, Aerial Plaza and Promenade of Clouds: Image Emergence on the Promenade, the ArtExchange and the American Hotel rehabilitation.
“We are very proud of this year’s honorees,” said Craig Watson, executive director of the Arts Council. “These honorees are all superstars.”
The recipients are being recognized for the essential role they play in furthering the arts in Long Beach, according to information provided by the Arts Council. An independent panel selected the honorees based on nominations submitted by the public.
The 2011 Distinguished Arts Awards will be held on Wednesday, April 6, at 6 p.m. at the Art Theater. Free parking and valet will be located just two blocks north at City at the Cross Church, 2209 E. Sixth St., with a shuttle taking attendees to and from the parking lot to the theater.
The event will be free and open to the public.