The Lady reveals who are on the list

     (PNAN-PA) – Each year, the ceremony moves to a different community to enable more citizens to share in this celebration of the arts. However this year, the honoring event goes back to its roots in the city of ‘Brotherly Love’ aka Philadelphia on Tuesday, November 30, where it started in 1980 with its first award celebration.

     From more than 70 nominations, “Each of these honorees has made indelible contributions to the vitality of the arts in their communities over decades,” said First Lady Judge Rendell. “They exemplify the commitment of Pennsylvania’s artists, arts organizations and arts patrons to beauty, creativity, and the value of the arts to the future of Pennsylvania.” The following will be honored at 7:00 pm, at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater in Philadelphia:

     The Distinguished Arts Award goes to Charles Dutoit, who since his debut as the chief conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1980, has been invited each season to conduct all the major orchestras of the United States, including those of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. He has also performed regularly with all the great orchestras of Europe and has more than 170 recordings that have garnered more than 40 awards and distinctions.

     For his outstanding contributions to the cultural life of Erie and the surrounding region, including his appointments to more than 30 advisory panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Meet the Composer and the state arts councils in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and Montana, director of the Erie Art Museum, John Vanco was chosen for the Pennsylvania Creative Community Award.

     Carole Price Shanis and Joseph Shanis will receive the 2010 Patron Award, recognizing the generosity and passionate dedication they have demonstrated to Philadelphia’s great arts institutions. Their commitment to organizational development and achievement has benefited numerous cultural organizations across the span of arts disciplines. As board president of the Philadelphia Art Alliance for 15 years, Mrs. Shanis led the revitalization of the historic organization. She has also served on numerous boards and commissions, and is currently on the Mayor’s Cultural Advisory Council and the boards of the Kimmel Center, the Curtis Institute of Music, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

     Moe A. Brooker will receive the Hazlett Memorial Award for the Artist of the Year. Born and raised in Philadelphia, he has been an artist and teacher for nearly 40 years, teaching at University of Virginia, University of North Carolina, Cleveland Institute of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and has served as the chair of the Foundation Department at the Parsons School of Design in New York. Currently, he is a professor and chair of the Foundation Department at Moore College of Art & Design. His works of art are in public and private, national and international collections and he has an extensive exhibition record, including solo and group shows in Philadelphia, New York, Mississippi, Denmark, Brazil, and China.

     The Outstanding Arts Leadership & Service to Youth Award goes to ArtsQuest, Bethlehem arts organization that began as a downtown music festival in 1984, now offers arts and cultural programs to more than one million people each year, comprised of arts-in-education classes, job skill initiatives for teens, after-school enrichment programs for students and art classes for the community. Annually, it presents Musikfest and Christkindlmarkt Bethlehem, and owns and operates the Banana Factory, a community arts center and gallery that features studio artists, two galleries, and a variety of classes and arts education programs, including programs developed to benefit at-risk youth. Each year ArtsQuest provides more than $38 million in economic impact in the Lehigh Valley.