3rd Annual 40 North | 88 West
ACE AWARDS
Thursday, October 18, 2007, 5:30-7:30pm
SOMA Ultralounge, 320 N. Neil St., Champaign
2006 ace award winners | 2005 ace award winners
national arts and humanities month
40 North | 88 West - Champaign County's Arts, Culture & Entertainment Council - is proud to present the winners of its 2007 ACE Awards to celebrate and recognize outstanding contributions to the cultural life of Champaign County. Click here to find out who in our creative community is an ACE!
40 North | 88 West - Champaign County's Arts, Culture and Entertainment Council - proudly announces its 3rd Annual ACE (for Arts, Culture and Entertainment) Awards to celebrate and recognize outstanding contributions to the cultural life of Champaign County.
Find out who in our creative community is an ACE!
New Category
The 2007 ACE Awards event includes the addition of a new category — the Spotlight ACE — to recognize the people, programs and events that have brought national attention to Champaign County’s arts community. This year’s ACE Awards ceremony also coincides with the fifth anniversary of 40 North | 88 West, and the event on October 18th will celebrate the achievements of Champaign County’s entire creative community, its patrons and supporters, and the Champaign County Arts, Culture and Entertainment Council.
Nominees for the ACE Awards are not limited to, but may include: artists, students, faculty, non-profit administrative staff, business owners and employees, elected and appointed officials, and other individuals and organizations actively supporting the arts, culture and entertainment of Champaign County. You must be 18 years or older and a resident of Champaign County to be eligible to win an ACE Award. Nominations are now closed. Join us at SOMA Ultralounge on October 18th and see the winners of the 2007 ACE Awards be recognized for the way they have made Art Live Here!
2007 ACE Awards: Thursday, October 18, from 5:30pm
SOMA Ultralounge, downtown Champaign
A panel of seven independent judges representing a broad cross-section of the community will select a winner in each of the following seven categories:
- Education ACE: The Education ACE will be presented to an individual or institution that has made exceptional strides in educating in – and through – the arts at the elementary, secondary or post-secondary level. The winner will demonstrate a unique and creative approach to merging the arts and education and have made a demonstrable impact on their targeted audience.
- Media ACE: This award recognizes outstanding media support of the arts in Champaign County. Nominations for this award may include organizations that offer outstanding editorial support and coverage of the arts as well as donations of air time, print space, and professional services to artists and arts organizations in the county.
- Advocacy ACE: This award will highlight the individual or organization that has advocated on behalf of the arts effectively and consistently, forged creative partnerships, or stimulated collaborations that result in broader awareness, accessibility or participation in the arts, culture and entertainment of Champaign County.
- Spotlight ACE: This award will be presented to an individual, business or organization that has - through its activities, programs or events - garnered significant national exposure for the Champaign County arts community.
- Creative Community Service ACE: This award will be presented to an artist who, through their volunteer efforts, has made an impact on their community beyond the art that he/she produces.
- Business ACE: The Business ACE recognizes businesses and their leaders for outstanding support of the arts. The winner will also cultivate opportunities and relationships that support local artists and/or organizations in Champaign County.
- Lifetime Achievement ACE: This award will honor the accumulated successes of an individual for continued, outstanding support of the arts in our community.
ACE Award winners will each receive an ACE, a stunningly sculptural piece designed by Champaign native Andy Warfel and crafted in polished clear acrylic and digitally-routed aluminum plate by ID3 of Atlanta, Georgia. The ACE awards also feature hand-hewn finishing by sculptor Jose Marquez of ID3.
This program and event is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
The 2007 ACE Awards will be given out during National Arts & Humanities Month at a special event held inside SOMA Ultralounge, 320 N. Neil St., in downtown Champaign on Thursday, October 18, from 5:30-7:30pm.
ACE Sponsors
The 3rd Annual 40 North | 88 West ACE Awards are made possible by the generous support of the following sponsors.
Jon "Cody" Sokolski and Marci Dodds
Benefactors:
Additional support provided by:
Champaign County Convention and Visitors Bureau
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
40 North | 88 West - Champaign County's Arts, Culture and Entertainment Council - is proud to host the ACE Awards as part of local observances of National Arts and Humanities Month (N.A.H.M.). Held every October, N.A.H.M. is a coast-to-coast collective celebration of culture in America. Coordinated by Americans for the Arts, it is the largest annual celebration of the arts and humanities in the nation. From arts center open houses to mayoral proclamations to storefront banners and newspaper articles, thousands of communities across the United States are recognizing the cultural gems all around them.
Illinois Arts Week was established in 1978 by the Illinois Arts Council to focus attention on our state’s vast cultural resources and to increase public awareness of the arts. In the twenty-nine years since Arts Week’s inception, hundreds of communities and countless individuals throughout Illinois have come to appreciate and celebrate the animating force of the arts and creativity. This year’s campaign slogan, “Connect with the Arts,” invites all Illinoisans to establish, deepen, or expand our relationships with the arts – and to join together in making the arts a visible and vital part of everyone's everyday lives in Illinois.
Add your voice to the power of many during Arts Week – and make a difference. For Illinois’ great wealth of artists, arts workers, and arts lovers, every week is Arts Week – but Arts Week is not only for artists and arts organizations! Local businesses, civic leaders, media outlets, schools, senior centers, park districts, and all communities or individuals who recognize the value of the arts are encouraged to participate in this opportunity. Together we can build a statewide arts and cultural community which is stronger and better connected – to each other and the broader community – and use these new connections to advance a more vital and robust creative landscape for Illinois.
RESOURCES
Illinois Arts Week
http://www.state.il.us/agency/iac/artsweek/intro.htm
National Arts and Humanities Month
http://www.artsusa.org/get_involved/visibility/visibility_002.asp
40 North ACE AWARDS | PAST WINNERS
2006 ACE Awards
For more about last year's ACE Award ceremony, its winners and sponsors, and to view a slideshow of the awards ceremony, click here.
2005 ACE Awards
Learn about the inaugural ACE Award ceremony by following this link.