The Juneau Arts and Humanities Council on Wednesday announced the winners of the ninth annual Mayor’s Awards for the Arts in 2016.
The awards honor artists, volunteers, businesses and organizations for their work in Juneau’s arts scene.
Meet this year’s winners: Vera Starbard Bedard, Jim Fowler, Scarlett Adam, Alaska Music One (Keith Giles), Mark Kelley, Jeff Duvernay and R.T. “Skip” Wallen.
Vera Starbard
Starbard wrote “Our Voices Will be Heard,” a play that debuted this year at Perseverance Theatre. It follows a Tlingit family and community dealing with sexual abuse.
“The play started numerous dialogues about a complex and challenging issue facing far too many women and families in Alaska, and brought together groups as varied as SEARHC, AWARE, Sealaska Heritage Institute, the Alaska Legislature, and both the Governor’s and Lt. Governor’s offices, calling attention to the play’s simple message that challenging problems can only be solved when communities can talk about them,” the JAHC release said. The play also featured a Native playwright, director and cast.
Starbard was recently awarded a three-year residency with Perseverance Theatre, which began in July.
“Vera’s work on advocacy has raised awareness of domestic violence for thousands of Alaskans, and her leadership as an indigenous theatre artist has placed Juneau at the forefront of a national movement to bring native voices onto our most prominent stages. She is making a difference in many ways,” the release says.
Jim Fowler
Local artist Jim Fowler received the Arts in Education award. Fowler is a teacher, illustrator and artist who led after-school art classes in Geneva Woods and Cedar Park for almost 20 years, retiring in June. He has also illustrated 13 children’s books and creates acrylic landscape paintings.
“It’s a nice surprise,” Fowler said in an interview, also noting that there are many others who work in arts education.
Cedar Park and Geneva Woods’ programs were drop-in, which makes for a particular dynamic, he said.
“I think just having a consistent adult (there) through a period of time is one of the key contributions you can make — just being there,” he said.
The kids frequently taught him things, as he’s not very “craftsy,” he said — how to fold a paper crane, or weave, for example. He said he’ll “enjoy being able to paint all day” but will miss the kids’ “creativity and their spirited enthusiasm.”
“Fowler’s work as an artist, illustrator, and educator has had a great impact on children over the years, especially the generation of children he worked with in those two locations,” says the JAHC release.
Scarlett Adam
Scarlett Adam, a volunteer, donor, performer and patron of Juneau’s arts, has won the Arts Organization Leadership award. She served as the vice president of the Juneau Lyric Opera until the end of July, and in that role she “produced a wide variety of events, established collaborative ventures with other arts organizations and the high school theater programs, and took a lead role in fundraising for performing arts here in Juneau,” the release said. She was pivotal in JLO’s Opera Film Festival, whale-watching trip, Halloween Ball and the Ave Maria event at the Shrine of Saint Therese. She also played the lead role in “Hairspray,” a joint production of JLO and Juneau-Douglas High School, and starred in “Man of La Mancha” this spring.
“It is hard to imagine how any one person could perform so many different functions so well,” the release says. “Although JLO will sorely miss her presence on the Board, Scarlett will continue to volunteer her services to JLO as time allows.”
Alaska Music One
Alaska Music One received the “Business Leadership for the Arts” award. When Alaska Music One owner Keith Giles opened his email Wednesday morning, he said “I figured somebody was pranking me.”
“It made me think about why I got into this in the first place,” he added.
Because of his positive experiences with music as young person, he said he’s always felt he needed to give back.
“I hope to see other people’s lives changed, like mine was,” he said. “Owning a business that’s in the arts … it’s not generally a lucrative field, so it’s nice to have people understand that you’re in a support role.”
In its release, the JAHC highlighted some of the store’s activities — selling instruments, doing repairs, giving lessons to young people, offering workshops, bringing in musicians from the Lower 48, partnering with nonprofits and businesses to bring live music to Juneau, and more. Giles is also a sound technician who with his “dedicated sound crew can tackle both traditional and unorthodox arrangements.”
“Bottom line, when performers see Keith at the sound booth, they know they’re in good hands. And without his generosity, expertise and local storefront, Juneau would not be the dynamic music community it is today,” the release said.
Mark Kelley
Juneau photographer Mark Kelley, who has been photographing Alaska for more than 40 years, won the award for Innovative Application of the Arts. “His deep photographic knowledge of our great state is unsurpassed,” the release said.
Kelley worked at the Juneau Empire for 13 years — until 1993, when he made the decision to pursue photography full time. Since then, he’s won several prestigious awards for his work. He’s also published calendars whose proceeds benefit Discovery Southeast, local soccer teams, the Sitka Sound Science Center, whale research and the Juneau Raptor Center, and worked with local authors and businesses to publish books that, according to the JAHC release, have sold more than 250,000 copies.
“Mark is an outstanding artist with a strong dedication to his local community. His Juneau and Alaska images travel the world — cherished by visitors and folks who might have lived here once. His self-publishing business has had small but consistent economic impact to be proud of. Juneau is so lucky that Mark Kelley calls it his home,” the release says.
Jeff Duvernay
Jeff Duvernay, president of Juneau Dance Theatre’s Board of Directors, received the Volunteer in the Arts award.
“Within the last few years, in particular, he devoted a tremendous amount of his time, energy, and resources to ensure a successful leadership of transition at JDT. He recognizes the importance of JDT’s place in the community and has guided the organization through a tenuous time of change and uncertainty,” says the JAHC press release, adding that he has long supported the arts. “Jeff is incredibly generous with his time, expertise, energy, and resources. Without his support, JDT would not be the organization it is today.”
R.T. “Skip” Wallen
R.T. “Skip” Wallen received the Lifetime Achievement in the Arts award.
Wallen started out as a biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. While living on Little Diomede Island, he began sketching animals. He began pursuing his art full time in 1967, when he left ADF&G and opened a gallery on Seward Street. He’s also the creator of the well-known “Windfall Fisherman” near the Capitol Building, has art around the world, including Africa, Fairbanks and Lake Michigan, and is creating the life-size breaching humpback whale statue, “Tahku,” that will soon be installed downtown. The release also calls Wallen “an environmental conservation pioneer.” He’s worked to establish “the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, the Mendenhall Wetlands, Admiralty Island National Monument, Petersburg Creek/Duncan Salt Chuck Wilderness and extension of Denali National Park,” the release said.
Celebration
The celebration for the awards is Aug. 19, 5:30–7:30 p.m. at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center. There will be live music, election of new JAHC board members, and award presentation, among other things. The event is free; anyone can attend.
