Individuals, Groups Honored For Contributions To The Arts

Sun., Sept. 17, 2000

Compiled By Kandis Carper.

The Spokane Arts Commission has announced its ninth annual Spokane Arts Awards, honoring “individuals and organizations whose contributions to the arts have made Spokane a better place to live.” Winners include:

Individual artist: Gina Freuen, clay artist.

Arts organization: Greater Spokane Music and Allied Arts Festival.

Individual benefactor: Rich Wohrle.

Business benefactor: The Pacific Northwest Inlander.

Arts in education: Spokane Civic Theatre.

Arts community leadership: Michael Smith, The Met.

Two special achievement awards also were given, to Jo “Space” Maher, a quadriplegic artist who draws with his mouth, and to The Assistant’s, Inc., a group of women who have raised money for the arts over the past four decades.

Awards will be presented at the regular Monday night meeting of the Spokane City Council, Oct. 2 at 6 p.m.

Arts in Education

The Washington State Arts Commission’s Arts In Education Program has awarded $666,300 in grants to schools and organizations partnering with public schools to provide arts programming for youth this school year.

Recipients include the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, $29,249; Columbia Basin Allied Arts, Moses Lake, $16,100; CREATE, Newport, Wash., $32,564; Orient School District, Orient, Wash., $8,385; and Republic School District, Republic, Wash., $13,812.

Improvisation workshop Unexpected Productions, Spokane’s improvisational theater troupe, will conduct a free improvisation workshop today at 3 p.m. at The Blue Door Theatre, 122 S. Monroe.

The workshop, focusing on basic improvisational skills, will be taught by the troupe’s artistic director, Mark Robbins. Robbins has been improvising on stage for more than 10 years and has received training from Del Close, one of the founders of Chicago’s famed Second City improv group.

For more information, call 747-7045.

Auditions

Valley Repertory Theatre will hold auditions for “Talking In Shadows” by Warren Carlson today at 4 p.m. at the theater, at the southwest corner of Sprague and Pines. Director Scott Rockwood is looking for four men and two women to appear 30 or older. Performance dates are Nov. 3-25. For more information, call 927-6878.

Auditions and rehearsals begin this week for several community music ensembles being organized by Spokane Falls Community College, with ongoing events and performances scheduled throughout the year. For information, call 533-3720.

Spokane Falls Community College will hold auditions for William Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night” Sept. 27-29 at 1 p.m. in the SFCC Playhouse, 3410 W. Fort George Wright Drive. Participants should be ready to perform a short prepared monologue or a sonnet by Shakespeare.

Performance dates are scheduled for late November and early December. For more information, call 533-3592 or 533-3608.

Dance Theatre Northwest will hold auditions for its Dec. 10 production of “The Toy Shelf” at The Academy of Dance Metropolitan, 820 W. Sprague, Sept. 30 between 3 and 6 p.m. There are 24 to 36 roles available for children of various ages and experience levels in dance training. The audition fee is $5; for details, call 922-3023.

Spokane Civic Theatre’s Reading Stage will hold auditions for Arthur Miller’s “Enemy of the People” Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. at the WestCoast Grand Hotel.

Director John G. Phillips is looking for 10 men and three women, ages 20-plus. Auditioners need to bring something of their own choosing to read, not longer than 1 minutes (time limits strictly observed).

The performance is one night only, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. in the Firth Chew Studio Theatre.

Classes

Spokane Art School, 920 N. Howard, is offering a half-day stained glass beaded bracelet workshop Sept. 23 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. The class is suitable for high school through adults. Tuition is $20 plus an $8 lab fee and a $5 registration fee for nonmembers.

The school also has scheduled an adult/ child papier mache workshop Sept. 30 and Oct. 7 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Adults and children will work together to create an animal sculpture the first Saturday, and paint it the following week. The workshop costs $30 for each adult-child team, plus a $4 lab fee and $5 registration fee for nonmembers.

For more information or to register, call 328-0900.

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