On January 22, 2017, ArtsATL will celebrate the first recipients of our ArtsATL Luminary Awards — our commemoration of the passionate, creative and innovative spirit of Atlanta’s arts community. Our inaugural awards ceremony will take place at Terminal West from 6-8 p.m. on Sunday, January 22. The evening will pay tribute to the winners of our four awards: The Amaranth Award for philanthropic legacy, The Beacon Award for community engagement, The Catalyst Award for social discourse, and The Kindle Award for innovative practice.
The ceremony will feature emcee Lucky Yates and include special performances by Atlanta-based creatives, award presentations, and sneak peaks of original short films produced by ArtsATL for each of our four award winners.
But before issuing the announcement of the four winners chosen by our esteemed selection panel, ArtsATL would like to commemorate this year’s nominees. “It was inspiring to have the opportunity to review such a large volume of nominations for the inaugural ArtsATL Luminary Awards,” said committee chair Ivan Pulinkala. “These nominations affirmed the incredible impact so many artists, philanthropists, organizations, and administrators are having on the arts ecology in Atlanta.” Cumulatively, over 80 nominations were issued for the four awards — organizations, individuals, exhibitions, performances and artists were all represented. This year’s nominees included:
The 49 Portraits Project
Neda Abghari, The Creatives Project
Karen Lynn Anderson, Tiny Doors ATL
Aurora Theatre
Miya Bailey, City of Ink
Peter Bahouth, Artist
Robin Bernat, Poem88
Kathy and Ken Bernhardt
Lela Brunet, Artist
Monica Campana, Living Walls
Morgan Carlisle, Eyedrum
Fyodor Cherniavsky, DeKalb Symphony Orchestra
Pearl Cleage, Playwright
Annette Cone-Skelton, MOCA GA
Counter Narrative Project
Makeba Dixon-Hill, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art
Dad’s Garage Theatre
Dashboard
Robert G. Edge
Jody Feldman, Alliance Theatre
Anthony Harper, The Goat Farm Arts Center
IDEA Capital Atlanta
Camille Russell Love, City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs
Sara Hehir
Tamara Harper, Atlanta Music Project
John Hiner, Artist
The Lucky Penny
William Massey III, Artist
John McFall, Atlanta Ballet (formerly)
Jack Michael, Lucky Hand Press
Amy Miller, Atlanta Celebrates Photography
Christopher Moses, Alliance Theatre
North Gwinnett Arts Association
Masud Olufani, Artist
Brenda Porter, Actress
Sheila Pree Bright, #1960NOW
Joshua Rashaad McFadden, Artist
Matthew Terrell, Artist
Usher and Georgia State University, “Chains” Project
Sue Schroeder, CORE
Lauri Stallings, gloATL
DoT Wilson, Artist
The Vega String Quartet
Zuckerman Museum of Art
Tomer Zvulun, The Atlanta Opera
“We were thrilled to see the breadth of nominees that were selected for the inaugural Luminary Awards. It was important to us that our readers and members of the arts community be an integral part of selecting who has mattered the most to them over the past year,” said ArtsATL executive director, Susannah Darrow. “We are delighted to honor this year’s nominees. They are all included because of the tremendous work they have done to propel Atlanta’s arts community forward.”
A limited number of Host Committee tickets are now available. Host Committee members and event sponsors will join ArtsATL for a private pre-ceremony reception at Southern Exposure from 5-6 p.m., located immediately adjacent to Terminal West. More information about Host Committee membership and tickets may be found here.
