Thanks to everyone who attended our first-ever Vermont Arts Gala! The event was a huge success, and your kind donations brought in more than 110 pounds of food that we will be donating to Vermont food shelves.
- Julia Alvarez, receiving the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts
- Christian Wolff, receiving the Walter Cerf Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts
- Sydney Lea, the newly appointed Vermont Poet Laureate
The Vermont Arts Council is pleased to announce the first-ever Arthur Williams Award to be presented to Steve Ames of River Arts in Morrisville. The award will be presented as part of the opening reception for the 2011-2013 Sculpture Garden exhibit on October 7th as part of Montpelier's Art Walk.
The award is named in honor of Arthur Williams, the Arts Council’s founding Executive Director. His long career in the Arts included chairing the effort to restore the Vermont State House, and he has served the highest artistic standards while remaining grounded in the type of community-based activism that is the hallmark of Vermont’s essential character. The award will be presented by Mr. Williams and other Vermont dignitaries. “Steve Ames is a perfect ‘first recipient,’” said Alex Aldrich, the Council’s executive director. “The work he does in Morrisville is very much up to the standard set by Arthur himself, even though the tools available to someone in Steve’s generation are very different.”
After majoring in Asian studies and Anthropology years ago at Williams College, Steve decided to leave for New Zealand with his wife Heidi to escape the Northeast... but after a year he realized Vermont really was the best place on earth and returned.
Since 1988 he has worked to build community in Vermont, starting with the Rutland Food Coop in the early nineties, followed by helping to start four public access television stations in Northern Vermont, and, since 2002, helping to enrich the community through the Arts in Lamoille County at River Arts.
Steve's also been working in the ski industry for the same period of time, a terrific balance of work - single focus high speed on the snow, and mult-tasking at the Arts Center.
Steve has three homeschooled musician kids, and lives with Heidi in Elmore, Vermont, and plays the accordion.