Art, Business, and Awards

I had the pleasure of attending the Arts and Business Council of Sacramento’s annual Interlude to the Season, co-produced by the Blue Line Gallery, at Sacramento State University on Wednesday, January 25th.  The event brought together local artists and art activists working in the Sacramento area, with awards given to recognize outstanding achievements from this past year in the arts.

The evening starting with a speech delivered by newly elected Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, addressing not only the city’s need for art and the support of the arts, but also his enthusiasm for the arts; I hope he sees this through.  PBS Television Host and Executive Producer Rob Stewart hosted the evening, announcing the awardees and introducing the entertainment acts during the program.

There were two performance art acts during the ceremony. The first, a musical act—Vox Musica— and the second, a dance number by performers of the Capital Dance Project.  In describing Vox Musica, they featured a choir of women, supported by a tribal-like drum rhythm on a bass drum.  Both of the songs they played evoked a sense of spiritual and tribal elegance; the second song they performed more successfully integrated these two ideas.  The combination of a deep pounding drum complemented the harmonies of the voices by providing a contrasting pitch—in essence, allowing the softness of the tenor and alto vocals to soar above the bass of the drum—which created an entrancing mood, transporting its listener to a different place, both emotionally and cognitively.  Equally impressive was the dance number, though I will confess that I am not as familiar with critiquing this art as others.  However, I can appreciate the synchronicity of the dance and the physical skills of the dancers themselves in completing all the various lifts and spins.

There were numerous awards handed out over the evening.  On a side note, all the awards were hand blown glass sculptures in the shape of an upside down teardrop with a colorful core, which can be thought of as symbolizing the inner flame and passion that burns within an artist.  Though many awards were handed out during the evening, below is a short highlighted list from the night’s ceremony....

• Artist of the Year, given to Gale Hart, for her installation at the Golden 1 Center; 
• Arts Journalism, given to Beth Ruyak, host of Capital Public Radio’s weekday Insight program; 
• The Muriel Johnson Award for Arts Advocacy, given to Shelly Willis, director of the City and County of Sacramento’s Art in Public Places program;
• The Lifetime achievement Award, given to Marcy Friedman, local artist and art activist

University Union Ballroom, Sacramento State; a photo of the pre-awards ceremony, just as the guests started arriving.