2006 ace award winners | 2005 ace award winners
national arts and humanities month
40 North Announces Winners of
3rd Annual ACE Awards
"The arts are everywhere and everything."
"40 North is fantastic...
It's become one of the premier arts organizations in Illinois."
- Jon "Cody" Sokolski, Advocacy ACE Award winner
Champaign - 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.
The winners were announced and the awards given out at a special event held Thursday evening, October 18, 2007, in downtown Champaign's Soma Ultralounge as part of local observances of National Arts & Humanities Month. Acclaimed actress and educator Mindy Manolakes hosted the proceedings before a standing-room-only crowd. Tyler Baldocchi assisted Manolakes in presenting the awards to the recipients. Performing artists Gordon Kay and Djibril Camara began the event with a short performance of African percussion and dance. Each of the seven award winners received an ACE, an original sculptural piece designed by Champaign native Andy Warfel and manufactured of polished clear acrylic and digitally-routed aluminum plate by Atlanta-based ID3. The environment inside SOMA Ultralounge was transformed for the 3rd annual awards ceremony by production designer and DJ Jason Finkelman with the assistance of Chicago-based Psymbolic Visual Communications, who contributed live video mixing and titles for the event.
"I think the arts are as healthy here as I could ever remember, and I've been in Urbana since 1940," said Lifetime Achievement ACE Award winner Daniel Perrino. "My only regret is that I'm not twenty so I could be part of it!"
The following individuals took home a 2007 ACE Award in these categories:
EDUCATION ACE: ROBIN KEARTON
As founder and director of both the Bow-Dacious String Band and the newly formed C4A Champaign County Center for the Arts in Lincoln Square Mall, Robin Kearton strives to create a space for art in our community. Along with her work with Bow-Dacious and C4A, she is serving on the Urbana Arts Task Force, teaches private lessons and performs with the C-U Symphony, Prairie Ensemble and numerous other groups. The Bow-Dacious String Band's members, ages 6-18, have played at the Millenium Park in Chicago, at the Krannert Center, the Virginia Theatre, and many other venues. Robin Kearton began the Community Center for the Arts in 2006 to try and make arts education accessible for everyone.
MEDIA ACE: JAY ROSENSTEIN
U of I journalism professor and independent filmmaker Jay Rosenstein is the creator of the documentary "The Amasong Chorus: Singing Out," which first aired nationally to public television audiences in 2004. His film gave Amasong a standing in the wider arts community, garnering the group national media attention while being viewed by over 767,000 individuals. "Singing Out" reached out, through the medium of television, to people scattered all across North America, effecting lives for the better while telling the story of Amasong. The impact of the documentary is still being felt by the group, earning it new fans, supporting its fundraising efforts, and bringing recognition to the arts in Champaign-Urbana by highlighting a thriving and unique chorus.
ADVOCACY ACE: JON "CODY" SOKOLSKI
One Main Development Chief Executive Officer Jon "Cody" Sokolski is actively involved in advocating on behalf of the arts, culture and entertainment of Champaign County. He recently served on the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts Marquee Council, as well as with the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation, and was co-founder of 40 North | 88 West, which he currently serves as an active member and advisor. Cody has shown continued and unqualified support of the art that lives here, contributing his time, space and financial resources and informing and encouraging the public to participate in our community's vibrant arts scene. In November of 2006, Cody and his wife, Marci Dodds, were recognized as philanthropists of the year by the East Central Illinois Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
SPOTLIGHT ACE: EBERTFEST, presented by Roger Ebert and the University of Illinois College of Communications - award accepted by Mary Susan Britt, UIUC College of Communications. Hosted and programmed by Chicago Sun Times film critic Roger Ebert, Ebertfest has put Champaign County on the map as the central Illinois venue for a major annual film festival featuring dozens of movies, panel discussions, book signings, live music performance, and more. Now entering its tenth year, Ebertfest has given Champaign County national standing as a venue for artists of all kinds - from writers and directors to producers, actors and critics - attracting nationwide media attention to our community from CNN, CBS and numerous other outlets.
CREATIVE COMMUNITY SERVICE ACE: DANIELLE CHYNOWETH
Danielle was a leader of volunteer efforts to create a nonprofit arts center in Downtown Urbana - efforts which resulted in a new home for the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center. The UC-IMC now houses numerous artists and arts organizations, a community radio station (WRFU), a large performance space, the Cherry Alley artists studios, and more. Danielle worked tirelessly to rehab the center's interior spaces and turn them over to artists. She was also a leader in the creation of the Public Arts Task Force in Urbana, a volunteer group now creating a plan for how the arts may have a permanent base of support within the City of Urbana. A member of the Urbana City Council, she has also supported the creation of the Urbana Public Arts program.
BUSINESS ACE: PAGES FOR ALL AGES BOOKSTORE
A locally-owned and operated bookstore, Pages for All Ages spotlights local musicians and artists throughout its store in Savoy and supports local performing arts organizations with its generous financial contributions. The business displays works by local artists on their walls, hosts reading and discussion groups, poetry events and booksignings by local authors, features musical groups in their café on a weekly basis, and provides a venue for local artists and authors.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT ACE: DANIEL J. PERRINO
Dan Perrino taught at Urbana High School in the 1950s, going on to revitalize the Music Extension program at the University of Illinois in the 60s. As dean of special programs and services at the University of Illinois in the early 70s, Dan recognized needs in the university and town and set forth to fill them, using a rich and powerful blend of arts and cultural opportunities. He was instrumental in the creation of the African-American Cultural Program, the Black Chorus, La Casa Cultural Latina, the Krannert Center Student Association, Quad Day, Medicare 7, 8 or 9, and many, many other projects and program too numerous to mention. During Dan's work in the School of Music in the 1980s and 1990s, he dramatically increased the opportunities available for student leadership and the quality of student life. He taught an exceptional course in the College of Fine and Applied Arts called "Exploring the Arts". In the 90s, Dan established arts and cultural activity programming for senior alumni and retired faculty through the University of Illinois Alumni Association. Even now, in the Urbana Rotary club, Dan is known as one of the members who keeps arts and culture flowing through their members' lives.
ACE Awards Judges' Choice Certificate: Jackie Taylor
New in 2007, the 40 North ACE Awards community judging panel selected an individual to receive a special Judges' Choice Recognition Certificate for dedication and service to the creative community of Champaign County. Artist and arts educator Jackie Taylor was selected to receive this special recognition for her years of service as an arts instructor and for her donation of free art lessons to numerous Champaign County residents. An artist and student of the arts for nearly all her life, Taylor has created many large-scale murals, displayed work at Parkland and Springer Cultural Center, served as an art teacher and art judge, worked on displays at Mahomet's Early American Museum, and made significant contributions to the lives of Champaign County residents through her free art lessons. She has mentored many area children and adults, including those with special needs, and has had a profoundly positive impact on the creative culture of Champaign County through her teachings.
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"We absolutely couldn't do it without the community."
- Mary Susan Britt, UIUC College of Communications
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The community panel of judges who selected the 2007 ACE Award winners was also revealed at the event:
Harold Allston - Great Impasta Restaurant
Cope Cumpston - University of Illinois Press
Anne Dill - WCIA Channel 3 News
Lisa Dixon - Theatre Department, University of Illinois
Robin Hall - Community Advocate
Sam Smith - University High School, Urbana
Terry Snyder - Commerce Bank
40 North Director of Operations Steven Bentz welcomed the crowd to Thursday night's event and explained the importance of having an event to recognize those who contribute to health and vitality of the arts in Champaign County.
Title sponsor of the 3rd Annual ACE Awards were Busey Bank and Illini Media. Sponsors were One Main Development, Ratio Architects, SURFACE 51, The News-Gazette, and Jon "Cody" Sokolski and Marci Dodds. ACE Benefactors were Commerce Bank, the C-U Gallery Guild, English Hedgerow, SOMA Ultralounge, and UpClose Marketing and Printing. Additional support was provided by the Champaign County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Dean's Graphics Division, Green Street Studio/Techline, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This program was supported in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
40 North's board of directors, its staff, committee members and volunteers extend their heartfelt congratulations to all of the 2007 ACE Award winners and nominees. With the contributions of individuals and institutions like these, art lives here in Champaign County!