COMMUNITY

Read about 2007 CAA Winners
Read about 2006 CAA Winners
Read about 2005 CAA Winners
List of previous winners

CALL FOR 2008 NOMINATIONS

For the thirteenth year, the LCVA will sponsor the Community Achievement in the Arts Awards.  Organized by volunteers Candy Dowdy and Jean Lockwood, this year’s awards reception will be held at the LCVA on Saturday, April 19, from 6 – 8 p.m.  Come join us to celebrate the accomplishments of those who strive to advance the arts in our area.

The Membership and Marketing Committee of the LCVA Advisory Board invites nominations of individuals, organizations, and businesses that have volunteered to foster or support the arts in our region.  Nomination materials may be acquired from the LCVA or downloaded from its web site at:  www.longwood.edu/lcva/caa.pdf .  Previous winners and arts professionals are not eligible for nomination.

Previous Winners

Since its inception, over forty individuals, businesses, and organizations in Southside Virginia have received the LCVA’s Community Achievement in the Arts Award.  Former honorees include: for 2007, the Pamplin Depot Library, Odessa Pride, Mark and Tammy Southall of Creative Electrical Contractors, Inc., and Joy Boettcher Utzinger; for 2006, Carrington’s Music, Grace Putney, and The Women’s Club of Buckingham County; for 2005, Café Zelia, the Farmville Presbyterian Church, The Hampden-Sydney Music Festival, and Charlene Snoddy; for 2004, Citizens Bank & Trust, Cub Creek Foundation, Martha Pennington Lewis, Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, and Margie Watkins; for 2003, Carter’s Flower Shop, Nancy and Ralph Haga, and the Heart of Virginia Festival; for 2002, Shirley Blackwell, Outdoor Film Series, David Dodge Lewis and Sandy Willcox, and Rolleighdon Books; for 2001, the Commonwealth Chorale, Bernice “Penny” Hackett, Harlan Horton of Durette, Irving and Bradshaw, and Charles Kinzer; for 2000, Carol “Cricket” Edmonson, Grant’s Glass, William Lynn, and Denise Penick; for 1999, Central Virginia Arts, Edwilda Isaac, Richard and Deborah McClintock, and Wachovia; for 1998, Baker, Williams and Green Attorneys, Mottley’s Hardware, and Patton Lockwood (posthumous); for 1997, Belk-Leggett Department Store, James C. Kidd, and The Waterworks Players, Inc.; and for 1996, First Virginia Bank-Colonial Southside, Jaqueline J. Wall, and Wintertree.  

LCVA ANNOUNCES 2007
COMMUNITY ACHIEVEMENT IN THE ARTS AWARDS

From the advancement of gospel music, to the transformation of an old railway depot into a library and art venue, to the advancement of the arts through old-fashioned elbow grease, cheerleading, and organizing, there is much to celebrate in our region’s cultural life.  The Longwood Center for the Visual Arts and its Membership Council are pleased to announce the winners of the 12th Annual Community Achievement in the Arts Awards.  Honorees include Odessa Pride and Joy Boettcher Utzinger (joint winners of the individual award); the Pamplin Depot Library (organization); Mark and Tammy Southall of Creative Electrical Contracting (business); and volunteers of the year, Kristin Gee and Candy Dowdy.  In honor of the winners, the LCVA will host a free public reception and awards ceremony on Saturday, April 21, from 6 – 8 p.m. at the museum’s facility on Main and Third Streets in Farmville.

These awards recognize individuals and groups that have made significant and selfless contributions to the development of the visual, performing, or literary arts in the area (including Amelia, Appomattox, Buckingham, Charlotte, Cumberland, Lunenburg, Nottoway, and Prince Edward counties).   A committee consisting of past recipients, LCVA Membership Council members and community representatives selected the winners.

Although art professionals are not eligible to receive an award based on their paid services, two educators won for their efforts to promote cultural expression outside their day jobs.  Odessa Pride, assistant principal at Prince Edward County Middle School, was recognized, in the words of nominator Edwilda Isaac, because “she has contributed significantly to the preservation of gospel music” by organizing a community Mass choir, conducting choral workshops to educate the community about the history, repertoire, and techniques of gospel music, and volunteering with the Mass choir for important area events such as the fiftieth anniversary of the R.R. Moton High School walkout. 

Similarly, Joy Boettcher Utzinger, an art teacher at Prince Edward County Elementary School, was selected not for her work during the school day, but for the many projects she undertakes after the last bell rings, whether she works to install special exhibitions of student work at the LCVA, at Southside Community Hospital, or for the Heart of Virginia Festival.  Utzinger is a regular volunteer at the LCVA and has served on several committees and councils; her own paintings have been highly sought-after at the LCVA’s biennial art auctions.  Furthermore, she has provided art education workshops for the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service and is active in promoting art, music, and creativity at Johns Memorial Episcopal Church.  As nominator Anne Lund wrote, “Joy goes well beyond the school day in encouraging, teaching, and inspiring everyone to love and participate in the arts.”

Opened as a library in 2004, the Pamplin Depot Library is a branch of the J. Robert Jamerson Memorial Library in Appomattox.  Located in a refurbished railway facility, the library directs patrons not only to its books, but to the art installed on its walls in regular rotating exhibitions that showcase the work of local artists.  The library primarily serves the residents of Pamplin and those who live in nearby portions of Appomattox, Charlotte, and Prince Edward Counties, but nominator Lee Munsick noted that the library and its special exhibitions have attracted people “from many miles away and from outside Virginia.”  He adds that the literary and cultural offerings of the library add “immeasurably to the benefit for Pamplin and a broad surrounding area.”

Three of the award-winners most recently demonstrated their commitment to the arts through their support of the LCVA’s February gala art auction.  Mark and Tammy Southall of Creative Electrical Contractors were major donors to the gala and provided incalculable support through the installation of special lighting for the evening.  Ms. Southall served on the planning committee for the gala, as well.  Co-chairing the committee were volunteers of the year Candy Dowdy and Kristin Gee.  In addition to their work on the gala, Dowdy, with Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, and Gee, an attorney with Durrette & Bradshaw PLC, both serve on the LCVA’s advisory board.  “We were delighted to have such strong support for the gala,” noted LCVA Director K. Johnson Bowles.  “And I’d like to thank the Southalls, Gees, and Dowdys for their assistance with that event.  But they are recognized this year because their support for the gala is only one small part of their larger support for the arts in the Farmville area.”

2006 Community Achievement in the Arts Award Winners

The Longwood Center for the Visual Arts Membership Council announced the 11th Annual Community Achievement in the Arts Awards. This year, the CAA committee, chaired by Kerry Mossler, recognized the following honorees: Grace Putney (Individual Award), Carrington’s Music (Business Award), The Women’s Club of Buckingham County (Organization), and Volunteer of the Year Michael David Whaley. A reception and ceremony sponsored by Dr. and Mrs. Robert Cosby Wade of Farmville was held at the LCVA on Saturday, April 22. A special performance entitled From the Chinese: A Recital of Works for Voice and Piano Inspired by the Music and Poetry of China was presented by Longwood University faculty members Christopher Swanson and Lisa Kinzer. 

Each year CAA recipients are recognized for significant achievement in arts advocacy in South Central Virginia. Honorees have made a positive impact in the community through selfless gifts of their talents, time, and resources. Their contributions enhance the overall quality of life and build community through the arts. A nominating committee consisting of past recipients, LCVA Membership Council members, and community representatives reviews submitted applications that nominate individuals, organizations, and businesses.

This year, nominator Mary Prevo wrote of Grace Putney: “Grace first came to Farmville from New York City as a student at Longwood in 1936. She stayed for one year, leaving for secretarial school and a career teaching secretarial skills. Despite her short stay as a student she has been an active alumna, lending her support to many programs at Longwood. She and her husband returned to Farmville in 1946. An early member of Central Virginia Arts, she served as treasurer for many years. She has been active in various garden clubs and the Farmville Woman’s Club. Over the sixty years she has lived here, she has been an active participant and sponsor of the arts, particularly music. She was a member of the first incarnation of the Commonwealth Chorale, the Heart of Virginia Chorale, in the 1970s. Some of the programs she has supported include: The Longwood Chamber Music Series, the Commonwealth Chorale, and the Hampden-Sydney Music Festival. I met Mrs. Putney when I was developing programming for LCVA when I first came to Farmville. She was very encouraging and attended many programs and lectures. She is a true patron, providing a quiet buttress to arts programming continuously over the years. One recipient of her help called her ‘a mentor and a light.’ It is her role as a sustainer of the arts over many years that I feel qualifies her for a Community Achievement in the Arts Award.”  

This year’s Community Achievement in the Arts Award (Business Category) went to Carrington’s Music. Owner Perry Carrington fulfilled a lifelong ambition when he opened Carrington’s Music in 1992. A 1968 graduate of Charlotte County High School, Perry is possessed of a love of music and an entrepreneurial spirit that blossomed in his early teens. He tirelessly shares his love of music and his musical gifts with numerous civic and cultural organizations. He is pianist for the Mt. Ellis Baptist Church in Keysville and has played as guest pianist in several other area churches. He has served tirelessly on the Heart of Virginia Festival Board for many years and is co-chair of “Fire Works After Dark.” He is also a member of the Farmville Industrial Development Authority, Enterprise Zone Committee, and Commonwealth Regional Council Advisory Committee for Civil Rights. Perry and wife Mickie have three children and four grandchildren. His civic-mindedness and spirited community volunteerism made Perry Carrington of Carrington’s Music a deserving recipient. 

About the recipient of the Organization award, nominator Martha Pennington Lewis wrote: “The Women’s Club of Buckingham County has consistently promoted the arts in the rural county of Buckingham through its numerous sponsorships of music, art, and literary events.  They have sponsored the Art & Crafts Exhibition since the 1950s. Thousands of works by primary, middle, and high school students have been entered in the show, as well as the works of WCBC members, community artists, and crafts persons. Through their volunteer efforts, music programs in the public schools were kept alive following drastic federal budget cuts for arts and music in the 1970s. They maintain membership with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and were instrumental in providing seed money for grants to renovate the old school building which now houses the Buckingham Arts Center. Their selfless support and determination to expose the community and especially our children to the arts make their organization deserving of the Community Achievement in the Arts Award.” 

After careful consideration and review of the volunteer efforts of numerous candidates, the CAA nominating committee selected Michael David Whaley of Richmond to receive the LCVA Volunteer of the Year Award. David is an exceptional example of giving selflessly and tirelessly for the benefit of others. For theLCVA he is a volunteer Advisory Board member who also serves on the Collections Sub-Committee. In this capacity he has given generously of his time and resources by advising the LCVA on potential gifts of art as well as giving works of art and financial contributions. He has lent works from his private collection for several exhibitions, most notably the exhibitions Improvisation: African-American Quilts from the Collection of Michael David Whaley and The Design of Charles and Ray Eames. Additionally he has spoken on the LCVA’s behalf to many prospective donors, garnering significant financial and in-kind support. Behind the scenes he assists with a range of projects from special events to exhibitions by offering his time and expertise.  

2005 Community Achievement in the Arts

Charlene Davis Snoddy of Buckingham (Individual Award)
The Farmville Presbyterian Church (organization)
The Hampden-Sydney Music Festival (organization)
Café Zelia (business).
In addition, a special Volunteer of the Decade award recognized Bob Alden for his selfless commitment to the LCVA over the years.
Julie Kline Dixon received the Volunteer of the Year Award in recognition of her dedication to the success of the LCVA art auction and gala.

Charlene Davis Snoddy (Buckingham, VA)
Nominator Julie Shield wrote, “Charlene Snoddy has made a lasting contribution to Buckingham County and is an outstanding civic leader.” Indeed, Charlene Snoddy has been the driving force in bringing the arts to people of all ages in Buckingham County. In 1982 she helped found the Buckingham County Arts Council, Inc., and the Buckingham Arts Center. She has served as volunteer director since their founding. Under her direction there have been extraordinary accomplishments including grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the County of Buckingham and the securing of a permanent home for the Arts Center and funds for its subsequent renovation. In addition, Charlene Snoddy has led educational programming efforts that have included offerings in the public schools, classes in visual and performing art, a summer arts camp now in its 18th year, juried and traveling exhibitions, performing arts events of national and international artists, free studio space for artists, a teen center, and after-school activities.

Every part of Charlene Snoddy’s life has included the arts and the generous sharing of her many creative talents. As a charter member of the Woman’s Club of Buckingham, she served as Arts Chairman for three terms, during which she led efforts for the club’s annual arts and crafts contests and exhibitions. For her church, White Hall United Methodist Church, she directed the Annual Christmas Pageant for ten years. For the Dillwyn Ladies Auxiliary of the Dillwyn Fire Department she served as float chairman for many years. As program chairman for the 1996 Buckingham County Bicentennial she directed the historical pageant.

The Hampden-Sydney Music Festival (Hampden-Sydney College)
Eunice Carwile, who nominated the Hampden-Sydney Music Festival, wrote, “For twenty-three seasons, the Festival has provided a vital cultural resource to Central Virginia through its chamber music concerts. Further, its artists have reached out beyond the College’s gate, performing concerts in Buckingham and Charlotte Counties and other locations throughout the region. The Festival has offered, as well, a significant teaching venue, giving musicians-in-training a chance to study with seasoned chamber music artists. And outside the region, thousands of people have been moved by the Festival’s concerts broadcast on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today.” The Hampden-Sydney Music Festival has, indeed, brought the best of chamber music to Southside Virginia, year after year.

“Although I work at Hampden-Sydney College, I make this nomination as a private citizen and a member of the Farmville community who has derived great pleasure from the Festival for a number of years. More, I have seen the effect of the music on other community members, some of their lives transformed by the beautiful music the Festival offers."

Farmville Presbyterian Church (Dr. Joseph C. McCutchen, Minister)
While many churches support efforts to improve the health of their community, few accomplish this through the arts. The Farmville Presbyterian Church is one among the few. Under the spiritual leadership of Dr. Joseph C. McCutchen, the church has supported the visual arts as well as the performing arts for many years. Most notably the Farmville Presbyterian Church provides financial support and rehearsal space for the Commonwealth Chorale, a fine group of more than 60 participants who perform concerts in the region throughout the year. The Longwood Center for the Visual Arts’ ART Kids program also thrives through financial support afforded by the Church. ART Kids provides arts programming to students in Prince Edward County Elementary School identified as at risk. In addition to sponsoring an adult choir, handbell choir, and children’s choir, the church presents organ recitals that are open to the public.

Café Zelia (Rob Chapman, Owner)
Rob Chapman, owner of Café Zelia (formerly Cheese & Company), has been a familiar face on Main Street in Farmville for nearly ten years. Through his business he embodies the very nature of an arts advocate. Working with Central Virginia Arts, Rob has made Café Zelia not only a great place to eat but a great place to view original art. Every two months Central Virginia Arts selects an artist to show their work in the restaurant. Café Zelia hosts an opening reception for each exhibition. All proceeds from the sale of art works go directly to the artists. Customers come from all over the country and enjoy the benefits of dining in a gallery atmosphere. Thanks to Rob Chapman and Café Zelia, original art works by area artists have found homes in places as far away as New York, Florida, and California. A native of Farmville, Rob graduated from Prince Edward County and attended Chowen College in North Carolina as a graphic design student. He enjoys the gallery so much at Café Zelia that he plans on expanding the exhibition space to display more works of art.

Bob Alden (Farmville, Virginia) was named Volunteer of the Decade for his outstanding service to LCVA for more than ten years. Although Bob served as LCVA Preparator for more than 5 years, many people may not know how he so many times volunteered for programs such as ART Print, tours, and the annual High Bridge Railroad Club’s holiday train display. He also selflessly used his woodshop, tools, and materials for the benefit of LCVA.

Julie Kline Dixon (Dillwyn, Virginia) was saluted as Volunteer of theYear for her leadership in organizing the LCVA’s first art auction and gala. As gala chair, Julie worked tirelessly on the event for over a year, providing a framework for the event as well as garnering support from businesses and volunteers. Her thoughtful and generous advice as well as her hard work made the event a tremendous success.