Recent Grand Center, Inc Events

Grand Center, Inc. and Brown Shoe proudly announce the 2010 honorees of the Eighth Annual Visionary Awards, which recognizes women for their contributions to the St. Louis arts and culture community. The ceremony and cocktail reception will be held at the Sheldon Concert Hall (3648 Washington Blvd.) in Grand Center from 6 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, May 19.

Grand Center’s Visionary Awards is one of the most prestigious recognitions in the local arts community. The women selected not only demonstrate a mastery of their fields, but a vision that furthers the arts in new and innovative ways, thereby inspiring and promoting positive change in our community.

This year’s honorees were chosen by a Selection Committee chaired by Jill McGuire, Executive Director of the Regional Arts Commission.

“The stories and outpouring of nominees from the community was inspiring,” said Peg Weathers, Executive Vice President of Grand Center Inc. “As in years past, the Selection Committee had an extremely difficult task selecting from so many wonderful and talented nominees, and we are all delighted with the choices and incredibly humbled by the women representing their fields this year.”

With the large number of nominations and recommendations submitted by members of the St. Louis arts community, the Selection Committee narrowed its choices by the following criteria: vision, success, lifetime contribution, generosity and success in the areas of leadership and philanthropy, arts administration, arts education, visual and performing arts, and contributions by an emerging artist.

The 2010 honorees include:

Lifetime Achievement: Sally Brayley Bliss, Executive Director Emeritus of Dance St. Louis. A dancer with several world-renowned dance companies, Sally has performed with The National Ballet of Canada, was the principal dancer with both The Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera, served as artistic director for the Joffrey II Dancers, with whom she was affiliated for 16 years, and appeared as a guest artist with the American Ballet Theatre and the Joffrey Ballet. She is a guest teacher, lecturer and consultant both in the United States and Canada and her current project is authoring a book on the changes in the field of dance over the last 30 years. Bliss previously served on the National Council on the Arts, succeeding Martha Graham.

Major Contributor to the Arts: Alison Ferring, an industrious community volunteer and artist in her own right, is widely known as one of the most philanthropic figures in St. Louis. For more than 30 years, Alison has worked to advance some of our community’s most well-known institutions by her generous contributions of time, wisdom and philanthropy, including the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, the United Way, Forest Park Forever and the Center of Creative Arts (COCA), for which she and her husband John contributed the lead gift in the organization’s most recent capital campaign.  She is currently serving as co-chair for the Saint Louis Public Library’s Capital Campaign. 

Outstanding Arts Professional: Renee Franklin, Community Partnerships Director for the Saint Louis Art Museum since 1998. Franklin has instituted many successful Museum programs, including the Friends of African American Art Collectors Circle, Youth smART and Art With Us, art education residencies, and writes a regular art education column for the St. Louis American newspaper.

Outstanding Arts Educator: Lee Nolting, Director of COCAdance and Jazz Coordinator at the Center of Creative Arts.  Known as one of the most beloved instructors in the Region by her legions of current and former students, Nolting is especially known for developing COCA’s award-winning dance outreach programs in underserved portions of the community. Her career had an exciting start at the age of 17, when she performed as a Golddigger dancer on The Dean Martin Show.

Emerging Artist: Celia Shacklett, singer, songwriter, musician. Her 2009 CD release, Transformateurs, was nominated by the Riverfront Times as one of the top ten local releases for the year. Although the album was a solo effort, Shacklett collaborated with folk icon Bruce Cockburn on two tracks. Shacklett performs regularly with Celia’s Big Rock Band and Mark Pagano’s Firedog, both part of the multi-media collective Love-O-Rama. She also serves as a camp counselor at the Saint Louis City Open Studio and Gallery (SCOSaG).

Successful Working Artist: Susan Slaughter, Principal Trumpet since 1973 of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Slaughter was the first woman ever to be named Principal Trumpet of a major symphony orchestra. In 1992 she founded the International Women’s Brass Conference and started the very popular Holiday Brass Concerts performed at the Cathedral Basilica St. Louis, as well as in Baltimore and Houston, as a fundraising effort for the growing organization. Slaughter’s work is represented on numerous acclaimed Saint Louis Symphony recordings. She plans to retire at the conclusion of the 2009 – 2010 season.

Grand Center, Inc. created the Visionary Awards in 2002 to highlight and honor the wide-ranging work of women artists and arts leaders in the St. Louis Region. In the process, the organization also utilizes the annual awards ceremony to raise funds to support Grand Center Inc.’s arts programs. Individual ticket prices are as follows: 

Arts Patron ($125): Listing in program book, pre-awards reception, cocktail party, reserved seating at awards ceremony, and dessert reception

Arts Supporter ($55): Cocktail party, open seating at awards ceremony,  and dessert reception

Reservations and sponsorships can be made by calling Rachel Beatty at 314-289-1517 or e-mailing rbeatty@grandcenter.org.