GCAC Announces 2007 Business Arts Partnership Award Winners

The Greater Columbus Arts Council awarded three businesses with a 2007 Business Arts Partnership Award for their exemplary support of the arts as part of GCAC's annual event at the Ohio Statehouse Atrium on April 17.

Columbus City Council President Michael C. Mentel announced this year's winners at the event, presented by National City, with additional support from Time Warner Cable and NBC 4. Chemical Abstracts Service, nominated by the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, received the award in the large business category. Ologie, nominated by Thurber House and the Jazz Arts Group, received the award in the medium business category. Shively Photography, nominated by BalletMet Columbus, received the award in the small business category.

Franklin County Commission President Mary Jo Kilroy and Mike Gonsiorowski, President and CEO of National City Bank's Central Region, also spoke, along with keynote speaker Rebecca Ryan, founder of Next Generation Consulting.

The Business Arts Partnership Awards, given annually, recognize the business community's support of the arts and its impact on greater Columbus' cultural and arts organizations. Nineteen businesses were nominated by local arts organizations for this year's Business Arts Partnership Awards.

Each business chosen for a Business Arts Partnership award received an original work of art by a local artist. Shively Photography received Linda Langhorst's Nest Builders. Ologie received four works by Laura Bidwa - To Shine, Some People Say, I See it Coming and In This World. Chemical Abstracts Service received Boryana Rusenova's 35 Leaves a Minute.

GCAC also presented its Artistic Excellence Award - a $10,000 prize given annually to an arts organization that has demonstrated innovation, risk and artistic excellence in a performance, exhibition or program - to BalletMet Columbus and the Jazz Arts Group for Jazz Moves. Each organization received $5,000 for this unique partnership.

The other 2007 Artistic Excellence nominees were:

• BalletMet Columbus for its new performance space
• Columbus Museum of Art for Kehinde Wiley: Columbus
• Columbus State Community College for Vault
• cm2 (Columbus Movement Movement) for Gallery Hop, Skip, Jump!

The 2008 Business Arts Partnership Awards luncheon, which will celebrate the 25th anniversary of this unique program, will be announced in the next issue of Portfolio. Stay tuned.