Pat Smith-Thurman & Solomon Thurman Will Co-Chair St. Louis Arts Awards

Pat Smith-Thurman and Solomon Thurman, owners of 10th Street Gallery, will co-chair the Arts and Education Council's 2019 St. Louis Arts Awards in January. Adrienne Davis, Washington University in St. Louis professor and vice provost, will emcee the event. Celebrating its 28th year, the St. Louis Arts Awards is the region's preeminent event honoring artists, educators, individuals and organizations that achieve a legacy of artistic excellence and enrich St. Louis's arts and cultural community.

"Since 1992, the St. Louis Arts Awards has celebrated our region's exceptionally diverse and vibrant arts community and we are honored that Pat, Solomon and Adrienne have joined us as leaders of this year's event," said Cynthia A. Prost, Arts and Education Council president and CEO.

Pat Smith-Thurman, a retired IT executive at Mastercard, served on the Arts and Education Council (A&E) Board of Directors from 2003 to 2006. Solomon Thurman is a respected artist, researcher and teacher, widely recognized for his painting commissions, including "Celia", a portrait of a slave girl commissioned by St. Louis civil rights attorney Margaret Bush Wilson, and "Black Americans in Flight", a 51-foot-long mural depicting the Tuskegee Airmen, located at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. He received the Missouri Arts Council's 2018 Individual Artist of the Year Award. In 2011, the couple opened the 10th Street Gallery downtown, focusing on representing the work of regional artists.

Adrienne Davis is the William M. Van Cleve Professor of Law and Vice Provost of Washington University in St. Louis. Davis served for three years as the President of the Board of Trustees of the Saint Louis Art Museum. Currently, she is the Secretary to the museum's Board of Commissioners. She is also a member of the boards of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Our Little Haven, december literary magazine, Saint Louis Fashion Fund and the St. Louis Visionary Awards. She served on the board for Laumeier Sculpture Park for seven years and chaired their executive director search in 2017. In 2017, Davis was honored as a St. Louis Woman of Achievement for Arts Advocacy.

Among the event's honorees is Broadway and film star Ken Page. He will be honored with the 2019 Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award, the same award presented to Johnetta Haley, retired music educator and community leader, in 2018. Page served as emcee of the event in 2017 and 2018.

The 2019 honorees also include: Brent Benjamin, Saint Louis Art Museum, Excellence in the Arts; Noémi and Michael Neidorff, Excellence in Philanthropy; Amy Freet, Airport Elementary School, Art Educator of the Year; Sue Greenberg, Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts, Champion for the Arts; Chris Hansen, Kranzberg Arts Foundation, Arts Innovator; and Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis, Arts Startup of the Year.

The 2019 St. Louis Arts Awards will be January 21 at the Chase Park Plaza. Presenting sponsor is Centene Charitable Foundation. Principal sponsor is Edward Jones. Proceeds from the event benefit the Arts and Education Council, supporting nearly 100 arts organizations across the bi-state region annually. Tickets go on sale later this summer. For more information about the St. Louis Arts Awards, visit KeepArtHappening.org/2019ArtsAwards.

Photo courtesy ProPhoto STL

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