Meet the 2023 Phoenix Award winners; they’ll soon be honored as leaders in Lawrence arts

Four people and two local organizations will soon be honored for their achievements and contributions to the Lawrence arts scene.

The City of Lawrence recognizes outstanding artistic achievements in the Lawrence community with the Phoenix Awards. The recognition usually occurs every other year, but the 2023 winners are the first set since 2019 because of a pandemic hiatus. 

The award winners are selected after the Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission asks for nominations from the community to recognize exceptional achievements in the arts, according to a news release from the city. This year’s six winners will be recognized during an event Sunday.

“The Cultural Arts Commission received many qualified nominations for this year’s awards and was honored to select this year’s awardees as exemplary representatives of the Lawrence arts community,” according to the city’s news release.

Cider Gallery and the Indigenous Community Center were both awarded for Creative Spaces in the Arts. Heidi Gluck was awarded for Musical Arts; Mike Jones for Musical Arts Educator; Rita Rials for Social Justice in the Arts; and Richard Renner for Performing Arts.

• In nominating Cider Gallery, Tiffany Hill of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce wrote of the current owners of the gallery, Codi and Simon Bates: “Their love for art in all forms defines their place in our community.”

Hill wrote that the gallery is most widely known for promoting visual arts, but its mission also includes highlighting talented writers, musicians, thespians and culinary artists.

Hill also listed numerous artists whose works have been displayed there: “There is no disputing the quality of the artists and work that has rotated through the space, from Stan Herd to the NCECA conference satellite show, from Cara Romero to John Sebelius, from John Gary Brown to Aaron Morgan Brown, from Javy Ortiz to Louis Copt, from Clare Doveton to Jeremy Rockwell, from Stephen Grounds to Lisa Grossman. The level of talent within our community can be held up against any in the world. The gallery is committed to shining a light on these local gifts, a tribute to the Midwest work ethic playing out in a creative format,” she wrote.

• Felice Lavergne, of Lawrence Transit, nominated the Indigenous Community Center for the Creative Spaces category for its collaborative work to feature Indigenous artists’ works on bus shelters across Lawrence.

The nomination also lists the names of the six artists responsible for artwork at 10 bus shelters: Aubrey Anne Bell, Zoe Bell, Iris Cliff, Mona Cliff, Tokeya Waci U and Odessa Star Comes Out. The city celebrated the works with a community gathering in July.

“Without the ICC’s skilled facilitation and community connections, this stunning round of art installations would not have been possible,” Lavergne wrote. “These pieces of art on our bus shelters add greatly to the community’s sense of place and highlight local (I)ndigenous talent. … It has been a privilege to collaborate with such an outstanding, community-based organization.”

• Heidi Lynne Gluck is “a brilliant composer and lyricist and has an incredible singing voice,” Brad Allen, director of the Lawrence Public Library, wrote in nominating her in Musical Arts. He noted that “Pony Show,” Gluck’s 2016 recording, may be his favorite album by a local artist.

Gluck has been part of the Lawrence music scene for many years, working as a session musician for numerous artists for more than 20 years and releasing albums under her own name since 2015, Allen wrote. She has also been a volunteer board member and instructor for Amplify Lawrence, a summer camp where girls and transgender or nonbinary youth are encouraged to be unapologetically themselves through music.

“In my career as a musician and music fan, I’ve seen hundreds of rock bands live and listened to thousands. Most music is OK to forgettable, I’m sorry to be the one to say it. Some musicians are special though,” Allen wrote. “Heidi Gluck is a special musician whose musical talent–from musical composition and lyrics to musicianship and vocals are among the very best Lawrence has to offer.”

• Tim Metz of the Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission nominated Mike Jones, band director at Lawrence High School, in the category of Musical Arts Educator, writing that Jones “is an outstanding educator that gives selflessly to not only students at Lawrence High, but to students across the district.”

Metz cited numerous award and accolades Jones and the students in his programs have earned, calling him a role model who shows how a career in the arts is possible.

“Mike has an innate ability to get the very best from each student musician. He meets them where they are and he lifts them up higher,” Metz wrote. “Many Lawrence students discover their musical talent and their overall love for music under Mike’s careful hand.”

• Rita Rials has distinguished herself as a wonderful playwright, Derek Kwan, of the Lied Center of Kansas, wrote in nominating her for Social Justice in Arts.

Rials knows how to push for more, motivate each actor and lean into social justice aspects of productions in a thoughtful manner, Kwan wrote, specifically mentioning her productions, “Love Does: A Celebration of Juneteenth” and “April 4th, 1968: Dare to Dream,” as triumphs.

“While tackling some very complex social justice issues, Rita has an incredible ability to leverage the stage setting to provide a sense of hope,” Kwan wrote. “Instead of dictating to audiences what they should think, she provides space for attendees to explore their own lived experiences, all with the underlying theme of unity, healing and coming together as a community.”

• Larry Carter nominated Richard Renner in Performing Arts for his lifelong career entertaining as an actor, clown, slapstick comic, improv artist and creator of the Recycle Cycle, and his work starting the Vodvill Entertainment Company — which Renner spelled that way intentionally so it would fit on his car tag, Carter wrote.

Renner launched the Lawrence Busker Festival — which Carter described as “a gift that he gives the city who pays him back in applause and appreciation” — in 2008. And in 2018, he launched City Play Corps, which produces popup adventure playgrounds for kids in Douglas County.

“Throughout it all Richard has combined the seriousness of causes and concerns with his love of humor and play,” Carter wrote. “It is this spirit he brings to our community and why I believe he is a deserving nomination for this year’s Phoenix Award.”

Celebrate the Phoenix Award winners

Mayor Lisa Larsen will present the awards during the 2023 Phoenix Awards reception and ceremony at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15 at Theatre Lawrence, 4660 Bauer Farm Drive. Attendees will also hear keynote remarks from Curtis Young, the recently appointed director of the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission. The event is free to attend.

Each of the awardees will receive a unique award created by local artist Toni Brou.

See a list of the previous 23 groups of Phoenix Award winners at this link.

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