2012 Vermont Arts Awards Gala
Monday, December 10, 2012
Latchis Theatre
50 Main Street
Brattleboro, Vermont
2012 Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts Recipients:
Karen Hesse, author
Archer Mayor, author
Sharon Robinson, cellist
Stephen Stearns, teacher and professional clown
Exclusive Event Sponsors
Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee
in association with
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
WATCH THE 2012 VERMONT ARTS AWARDS GALA (FULL CEREMONY)
Credit: Brattleboro Community Television
WATCH THE 2012 VERMONT ARTS AWARDS GALA (FULL CEREMONY) in HD
Credit: Brattleboro Community Television
2012 GOVERNOR’S AWARDS for EXCELLENCE IN THE ARTS RECIPIENTS
KAREN HESSE grew up in Baltimore and has written over 20 novels, primarily for young readers. She studied at Towson State College and graduated from the University of Maryland, with degrees in English, psychology, and anthropology. In 2002, Hesse received a MacArthur Fellows Program award. She has also received a 1993 National Jewish Book Award, the 1998 Newberry Medal, the 1998 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, the 1993 and 2002 Christopher Awards, and the 2006 Kerlan Award from the University of Minnesota. Her book Out of the Dust, which won the Newbery, is a story of the dust bowl and the depression. Hesse’s other novels include Witness, the story of the Ku Klux Klan’s attempt to recruit members in a small town in Vermont; The Cats of Krasinski Square, a portrayal of the Holocaust and, her latest novel, Safekeeping, was published in October. Hesse lives in Brattleboro.
Credit: Vermont Films
ARCHER MAYOR is the author of the Joe Gunther detective series and is a Yale graduate. Before turning to popular fiction, Mayor held several jobs, both in the US and in France, working as an editor, researcher for Time–Life books, photographer and journalist. He also worked for the University of Texas Press in the late 1970s, where, as Special Projects Editor, he found and caused to be published The Book of Merlyn, the hitherto barely known conclusion to T. H. White’s famous The Once and Future King. Mayor’s first novel, Open Season, was published in 1988, and was the first of his popular 23-book Vermont-based mystery series. Since then, a new novel has been published almost every year, typically in the fall. Mayor works as a death investigator for the Vermont State Medical Examiner’s office and as a deputy for the Windham County Sheriff’s Department. He also has 25 years’ experience as a firefighter/EMT. Mayor lives in Newfane.
Credit: Vermont Films
SHARON ROBINSON, cellist, was born in Houston, where both parents were members of the Houston Symphony Orchestra. She graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Peabody Institute. Robinson made her New York debut in 1974, collaborating with violinist Jaime Laredo and pianist Samel Sanders. Robinson has performed with the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and San Francisco; the National Symphony; and the English, Scottish, and Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestras. In 1976, Robinson joined colleagues Jaime Laredo and Joseph Kalichstein, to create the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio which has performed worldwide and is considered among the finest chamber ensembles in existence. Robinson has participated in music festivals such as Aspen, Edinburgh, Granada, Madeira, Marlboro, Mostly Mozart, and Spoleto. She teaches privately and leads master classes worldwide. She has served on the faculty at Indiana University and recently joined the faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Robinson lives in Guilford.
Credit: Vermont Films
STEPHEN STEARNS is a teacher, director, professional clown, mime, and actor. He holds degrees from the London Academy and the University of Washington. Stearns taught theatre at Bucks County Community College, went to England for actor training, and returned to the US to perform in Shakespeare Festivals in Oregon and Vermont. In 1977, he began his solo clown/mime career while simultaneously creating the Horizons Project, a Federal Title IV program bringing Vermont artists into rural Vermont schools. In 1980, he and writer Peter Gould formed Gould & Stearns, The Clown Jewels of Vermont. Their play, A Peasant of El Salvador, has won several national awards. They are Vermont Arts Council grant recipients and have been sponsored by the Lincoln Center Institute. Stephen’s solo clown show, Right Under Your Nose, teaches children to transmute their handicaps into opportunities. In 1998, Stearns founded the New England Youth Theatre, which has built theatres in an abandoned Chinese restaurant and an unused automobile machine shop, as well as produced dozens of plays over the years. Stearns lives in Brattleboro.
Credit: Vermont Films