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St. Cloud Arts Award
The Arts Award is presented annually before the Lemonade Concert at the Granite City Days opening ceremonies
Carolyn Garven
Carolyn Garven is a dedicated arts advocate, volunteer, patron, and donor to the arts in the St. Cloud Community. She has been instrumental in raising the profile of public art in our community. From her time as a champion of the arts on the St. Cloud City Council, to her work with the North East Wilson Park Neighborhood Association, Carolyn has advocated for the inclusion of artists and their creativity in transforming our public spaces. In addition to this, she has given generously of her time and resources to many of our local arts organizations, from the Paramount Center for the Arts, to GREAT Theatre and as a long-standing member of the St. Cloud Arts Commission.
The St. Cloud Arts Commission is honored to recognize Carolyn Garven as the 2016 City of St. Cloud Arts Award in recognition of her wonderful contributions to the arts in our community.
KVSC 88.1 Radio
KVSC has made significant contributions to the arts in our community for many years, but especially in the past three – with their dedicated arts and cultural heritage programming, made possible by the state Legacy fund, which includes the Granite City Radio Theatre at Pioneer Place on 5th, Untold Stories of Central Minnesota, and a Spring Concert series that has brought in Minnesota artists like Trampled by Turtles, Har Mar Superstar, and Jeremy Messersmith.
Mimi Bitzan
Mimi Bitzan is a tireless arts advocate, volunteer, patron, and donor to the arts in the St. Cloud Community. For the past six years she has been the leader of the ArtWORKS initiative which brings community leaders together to move the goals of the St. Cloud Cultural Arts Plan forward. She has been instrumental in the creation of the online arts event site Around the Cloud.org, the inclusion of the arts in the Greater St. Cloud Community Priorities, and the completion of the St. Cloud Placemaking Plan – which focuses on incorporating art and artists into all community building projects.
As if all of this weren’t enough, Mimi also gives her support generously to Quiet Oaks Hospice House, the United Way of Central MN, the Greater St. Cloud Economic Development Corporation, and the Central MN Community Foundation – where she continues to lead the charge for a long-term arts endowment.
Mimi has served on numerous arts organization boards, including United Arts of Central MN; and has been the Chairperson of the Paramount Gala. She continues to be a generous giver of time, talent, and support to the arts in St. Cloud.
St. Cloud Rotary Club - Summertime by George!
Paramount Theatre & Visual Arts Center
Renovated in 1998, the Historic Paramount Theatre is the jewel of downtown St. Cloud.
The Paramount Theatre serves as a stage for rent by numerous community groups to perform as well as a location to attend professional performances by touring musicians and theatrical groups. The Visual Arts Center offers visual arts classes for children, families, beginning and experienced artists in the community.
Over the past 14 years the Paramount has brought a variety of artists to the St. Cloud community, including: the Oak Ridge Boys, Joan Baez, Leon Redbone, Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers, Tonic Sol Fa, and many more.
GREAT Theatre
The Great River Educational Arts Theatre was founded in 1998 by a group of passionate theatre enthusiasts who started with a vision that has since grown into the premier community theatre in Greater Minnesota. GREAT serves an average audience of 60,000 community members each season. In addition to this, GREAT has provided performance opportunities for more than 11,000 youth in our community, instilling a love for performance and nurturing self‐esteem. GREAT has produced 115 shows including five world premieres and has earned numerous artistic awards for directing, acting and musical talent.
GREAT continues to build new relationships and strengthen existing ones by collaborating with a wide variety of community organizations including: the Boys and Girls Club of CentralMinnesota, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, RSVP, The Paramount, the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra and 177 Central Minnesota schools.
GREAT accomplishes their work every year with the help of 10 dedicated board members, 90 artists, and 400 volunteers, and a remarkable staff. GREAT’s core mission is “To make theatre a vital part of the lives of young people and their families.”
St. Cloud Art Crawl Collaborative
Since January 2006, downtown art galleries, businesses, and restaurants have opened their doors to host a wide variety of regional visual and performing artists four Fridays a year. They invite the community to stroll through downtown, experience amazing art, enjoy a bite to eat, and visit with their neighbors – to participate in the Downtown St. Cloud Art Crawl.
Each Art Crawl draws between 300-700 community members into the downtown area visiting art crawl destinations which currently include: the Paramount Gallery, The Arts Co-Op, Jules’ Bistro, The Paper Collector, Studio 505 Salon, the Veranda Lounge, Northern Brights, BumbleDee’s, StudioJeff, Meeting Grounds, the Black Box, St. Cloud Floral, The White Horse, Bachman Jewelers, Falcon National Bank, the Historic Federal Building, and Marishka’s.
Through the initiative of these collaborating businesses the community has had the opportunity to experience art in a variety of venues at no cost – truly providing St. Cloud with accessible arts programming that has made our community a better place to live.
In February of 1997, Mark and Dan Barth purchased Pioneer Place on Fifth. During Phase I of the building renovation a decision was made to leave the theater portion of the building intact and open it back up to the public as a venue for professional theater, comedians, musicians, and other traveling shows, as well as a meeting and lecture hall for businesses needing space.
In 1998, Pioneer Place on Fifth officially opened its professional theatre with a touring production of Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged), produced by Actors Theater of Minnesota. Since that first production, the theater has grown to present a complete, 8-show theater season featuring all professional tours. These have included Park Square Theater, Fifty Foot Penguin Theater, Pigs Eye Theater, Starting Gate Productions, Theatre L'Homme Dieu, Get Out of the House Players, Giant Step Entertainment, Burning House Group, and even a couple off-Broadway tours have made their way to Pioneer Place.
Dan and Mark don't limit themselves to only high quality theatrical presentations - in 2005 they added a wildly successful concert series, and recently feature dance productions and even art shows in both the theater and Veranda Lounge. Performers include the likes of Big Brother and the Holding Company, the New Standards, Mason Jennings, Ann Reed, Martin Zellar, Alana Davis, Pat Donohue, gb leighton, Neal & Leandra, among many others. Local acts like BLIMP, the Fabulous Armadillos, Slip Twister, Paul "Stretch" Diethelm, Collective Unconscious, Ring of Kerry, and many others also find comfort at Pioneer Place on Fifth.
The mission of Pioneer Place on Fifth is to bring to St. Cloud high quality, professional entertainment to art enthusiasts who would normally have to venture to the Twin Cities to enjoy. As Mark Barth, co-founder of Pioneer Place said, "There are many wonderful community theater, opera, and symphony organizations in St. Cloud, so we felt there wasn't a need for another. But there is a need for professional entertainment in our community, and we hope St. Cloud will welcome this high quality entertainment."
In just 10 years, the Pioneer Place on Fifth has become THE go-to destination for high-quality, cutting edge artistic performance in Downtown St. Cloud.
Over 300 performers from St. Cloud State University, the College of Saint Benedicts, Saint John’s University, the Saint John’s Boys Choir, and the St. Cloud State University Cantabile Girls Choir undertook the production of Stephen Paulus’ Holocaust Oratorio “To Be Certain of the Dawn”. Two performances were held locally on the campuses of St. Cloud State University and the Abbey Church of Saint John’s University. These concerts were free and open to the public, and were met with standing room only audiences. In May and June of this year, the whole production toured Europe with a performance at the former Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp in France.
The originator of the project was St. Cloud State University’s Rabbi Joseph Edelheit, a leader in SCSU’s Jewish Studies curriculum. Rabbi Edelheit enlisted the talents of many individuals from all three campuses to undertake this tremendous effort. Among these individuals are: Bernard Reuter, Mark Springer, Lee Nelson, Axel Theimer, Daniel O’Bryant, David Arnott, Andre Heywood, Jane Oxton, Mary Jo Bot, and Terry Vermillion.
The oratorio, written by Minnesota composer Stephen Paulus, has been presented to the community by community artists as an interfaith gift of healing to the communities of St. Cloud, St. Joseph, and Collegeville.
Br. Paul Richards has been a leader in the arts community for over 25 years. During this period he has influenced hundreds of young men through his work as Artistic Director of the St. John’s Boys’ Choir.
Under Br. Paul’s direction, the St. John’s Boys’ Choir has become a recognized leader in providing quality music education, social development and leadership training for boys. Over the years, Br. Paul has served as a national speaker, conference presenter, and individual trainer of youth music directors. But most importantly, he has provided the musical and artistic leadership that has transformed hundreds of young boys into skillful musicians as well as caring, respectful, and poised young men – in the process bringing thousands and thousands of listeners more deeply into the beauty and power of music.
Flo is truly the godmother of community theatre in the St. Cloud community. Every community theatre in St. Cloud over the years - from the Troupe Theatre to GREAT - has been influenced by and created from the work of Flo Goodrich.
In addition to this, she is an extraordinary actress. Her passion for the theatre is exhibited in her performances, along with the time and energy she has devoted to nurturing theatre in St. Cloud. Some may remember Flo from her role as the Fairy Godmother in “The St. Cloud Sleep”. Others may remember her from her final moving performance in Driving Miss Daisy.
Whatever role Flo takes on she approaches it with gusto, and leaves her audience with an indelible memory of character. This can be said of her performances and of her devotion to the arts in St. Cloud.
Ginny has organized the Lemonade Arts Fair since its inception. She has done this exclusively as a volunteer. Her community spirit and enthusiasm for the arts include her lifetime membership in Visual Arts Minnesota (formerly the St. Cloud Community Arts Council) and her coordination of the annual Holiday Art Fair at Centre Square.
Ginny has generously given her time, talent, kind spirit, and enthusiasm to the arts in St. Cloud for over 30 years. She exemplifies the meaning of making St. Cloud a better place to live through the arts.
Dr. Frohrip is a retired professor from the Department of Music at St. Cloud State University where he was the Department Chairperson for 11 years and Research Director for the College of Fine Arts and Humanities.
Dr. Frohrip has been an active member of community arts organizations. He has served on the boards of the following organizations: the Central MN Arts Board, the St. Cloud Arts Commission (1991-1996), the Chamber Music Society of St. Cloud, the Minnesota Orchestra at the College of St. Benedict, the St. Cloud State University Foundation, the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra and the David Swenson Foundation. Dr. Frohrip has also maintained an active performing schedule with the following organizations: the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra, the Class Brass, Riverside Brass Quintet, Granite City Brass Quintet, the Lake Wobegon Brass Band, the Nocturnes, the St. Cloud Municipal Band, and most recently the Paramount Jazz Orchestra.
In addition to all of this, Dr. Frohrip is an eloquent and passionate advocate for the arts. He was instrumental in bringing about the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra’s Classics for Kids program, which now reaches 1,400 fourth graders in ISD 742. Dr. Frohrip also spearheaded the Music in the Gardens series regularly enjoyed by visitors to Munsinger Gardens throughout the summer. Dr. Frohrip’s op-ed pieces for the St. Cloud Times illustrate his passion and dedication to the arts in our community.
Jefferson Elementary has developed an innovative arts infusion curriculum to assist children in learning and developing skills that can be carried throughout their lifetimes. The school has been able to sustain their creative programming through diligent grant writing efforts, which ensure that all forms of art may be utilized to maximize students learning potential.
From their contributions to local theater and music, the Hams have been passionate supporters of the performing arts in our community for decades.
The Chamber Music Society has been in existence for 22 years. In that time they have presented well over a hundred concerts, giving local residents the opportunity to hear world class chamber music in a local setting. In addition to this, the Chamber Music Society has given thousands of young people a chance to hear, meet, and learn from these visiting artists.
This past year was no exception for the Chamber Music Society. Not only did they present six exceptional performances, but they also facilitated master classes and school workshops from these events. New York, Los Angeles, and St. Cloud – this would accurately describe the concert sites for one of the Chamber Music Society’s most thrilling events this past season the Skampa String Quartet and Christopheren Nomura performance. Through the Chamber Music Society, St. Cloud residents have the opportunity to see remarkable artists and amazing performances every season.