For Immeidate Release
21 August 2006
Chicago, IL--The Arts, Entertainment and Media Management Department (AEMM) at Columbia College will honor individuals and arts organizations for their entrepreneurial spirit and outstanding service at The Annual Arts Entrepreneurship Awards Luncheon on Wednesday, September 27 at 11:30 at the River East Art Center, 435 E. Illinois Street. The college will bestow this year's honors on six Chicago-area individuals and/or arts organizations that capture such spirit. They are:
• Maywood Fine Arts Association, Lois Baumann, artistic director, president-board of directors
• Kohl Children's Museum, Sheridan Turner, president and CEO
• Maria Pinto Designs, Inc., Mario Pinto, founder and fashion designer
• The Coleman Foundation, Inc., Michael W. Hennessy, president and CEO
• The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Laryssa Reifel, vice chairman and member of the board of directors
Tickets are $85 each or $150 for an individual sponsor ticket. Tables of ten may be purchased for $800 (benefactor), $2,500 (sponsor) and ($5,000 patron. To purchase tickets or for further information call, 312.344.7658. All proceeds benefit the Chuck Suber Scholarship Fund for students in the college's AEMM program.
Mikki Markowicz and Daniel McLean will keynote this year's luncheon. Markowicz is the executive director of the River East Art Center and McLean is the president and chief executive officer of MCL Companies.
The Annual Arts Entrepreneurship Awards Luncheon (formerly known as the Paul Berger Arts Entrepreneurship Awards Luncheon) was developed by the AEMM Department to further its mission to support entrepreneurship in the arts. The award recognizes arts organizations and/or leaders exhibiting exceptional entrepreneurial skills, innovation, willingness to take risks, leadership and management.
Dance Chicago is a festival designed as an audience development project. It features more than 250 individual performances and more than 2,500 artists. It was founded by John Schmitz and Fred Solari in 1995 as a means to support the infrastructure of the dance community through collaborative programming and educational initiatives.
Kohl Children's Museum is a community-based organization that provides a hands-on learning exhibit/laboratory for children from birth to eight years old. The Museum, which opened a new $18.1 million world-class facility in Glenview in October 2005, offers 17 interactive hands-on exhibits.
Maywood Fine Arts Association was established in 1996. It was formed out of community concerns from residents of Maywood and surrounding neighborhoods to help combat a rise in drugs, gang activity and teen pregnancies. The MFAA provides a safe and nurturing environment where children can develop their skills and appreciation of the arts that will enable them to pursue higher education opportunities and develop successful social skills.
Chicago-based fashion designer Maria Pinto designs elegant, ready-to-wear fashions and accessories. She has designed dance costumes for the Joffrey Ballet and is the recipient of many prestigious design awards including the Gold Coast Fashion Award. In June she was appointed to serve as a representative of Mayor Daley's newly formed Fashion Advisory Council, an organization that will identify ways to retain and support new and established designers in Chicago and assist design students in transitioning from school to career.
The Coleman Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit, private, independent foundation founded by the estates of Dorothy W. and J.D. Stetson Coleman. The Colemans were committed entrepreneurs who cared enough to voluntarily return value to society. The major areas of grant making for the foundation are cancer care, treatment and research; education, with a strong emphasis on entrepreneurship education; and service for the disabled, with a strong emphasis on development disabilities.
The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art was founded in 1971 in the heart of Chicago's Ukrainian Village. The museum is a non-profit organization and is staffed entirely by volunteers. It is committed to a program of cultural exhibitions, concerts, lectures and literacy events, film screenings and music recitals.
Columbia College Chicago, an urban institution committed to access, opportunity, and excellence in higher education, provides innovative practice and education in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to 11,500 students in more than 90 undergraduate and graduate programs. Founded in 1890 as a communications school for women, Columbia was revisioned in 1963 as a liberal arts college with a "hands-on, minds-on" approach to arts and media education and a progressive social agenda. Under the modern leadership of President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D., Columbia is aggressively pursuing its mission to bring a richness of vision and a multiplicity of voices to the creation of culture through the diversity of our students and graduates. For further information visit www.colum.edu.
Media Contact: Priscilla L. Hunter, 312.344.780, phunter@colum.edu