Mobile Arts Council is pleased to announce the recipients of the 10th Annual Greater Mobile Arts Awards. The awards acknowledge the important contributions that individuals, groups and businesses make to the cultural life of our community.

The awards will be presented in a ceremony to be held Thursday, Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. in the 1927 Room at the Saenger Theatre with a reception honoring the recipients immediately following. This event is free and open to the public.

This year’s recipients include:

Artist

Mike McKee

Business

Crescent Theater

Educator

Lori Bilbry Vaghefi

Patron

Dr. Thomas Rosandich

Organization

Mobile Symphony

Volunteer

Dan Silver

Additional Awards for the 10th Anniversary

To celebrate 10 years of the Arts Awards program, the Awards Committee, chaired by local artist/educator Katherine D. Seawell, has created two additional awards:

Emerging Artist-Riley Brenes

This award acknowledges the exceptional contributions of an early-career artist to the local creative community.

Lifetime Achievement-Carmen Brown

This award acknowledges individuals who display an extraordinary commitment to the overall health and vitality of the Metropolitan Mobile Area through creative means during the course of their lifetime.

Each year a different local artist is commissioned to create the awards. This year, the awards have been created by glass artist and previous Arts Awards recipient Rachel Wright.

The Mobile Arts Council is a private nonprofit organization that serves as an umbrella organization for arts and cultural organization in the Greater Mobile Metropolitan Area, receiving financial support from the City of Mobile, Mobile County Commission, Alabama State Council on the Arts (a State agency), the National Endowment for the Arts, and from local corporations, businesses and individuals.

For more information, contact Bob Burnett, executive director of Mobile Arts Council, 251-432-9796 or bburnett@mobilearts.org.