History of the Governor's Awards for the Arts

Governor Edward G. Rendell's Administration has developed and refined five award categories, including an award to recognize those whose work in the arts benefits youth or arts in education, and an award for an outstanding Creative Pennsylvania Community that has utilized arts and culture to address important issues.  The following five categories are comprehensive and reflect the excellence and variety of Pennsylvania Community that has utilized arts and culture to address important issues.  The following five categories are comprehensive and reflect the excellence and variety of Pennsylvania's cultural landscape and pay tribute to the Commonwealth's rich cultural achievements and notable philanthropic traditions:

• Distinguished Arts Award -- It recognizes a Pennsylvania artist of international fame, leadership or renown whose creations or contributions enrich the state;

  
   

• The Patron Award -- It recognizes an individual, corporation, or foundation patron's significant contributions to the vitality and availability of the arts in Pennsylvania;

  
   

• Pennsylvania Creative Community Award –- It recognizes Pennsylvania organizations, neighborhoods, cities, communities, or community leaders that have creatively utilized arts and culture to address issues such as quality of life, downtown revitalization or regional issues of importance.

  
   

• Award for Outstanding Leadership and Service in the Arts for Youth or Arts in Education -- It recognizes an individual, organization, school, educator, or group for their outstanding leadership and service for youth; and

  
   

• Artist of the Year Award (The Hazlett Memorial Award) -- It recognizes an individual artist for their creations and contributions to the excellence of the arts in Pennsylvania.

The Governor’s Awards for the Arts represent a Pennsylvania tradition begun in 1980 by Governor Dick Thornburgh. Presented annually in Harrisburg at the State Capitol, these awards honored artists in each of the following categories: painting, sculpture, photography, music, literature, dance, theatre, crafts, and media arts. An award was also made for “service to the arts.” The awards, which recognized Pennsylvanians who contributed their creative talents to their communities, were named the Hazlett Memorial Awards for Excellence in the Arts, after the late Theodore L. Hazlett Jr. of Pittsburgh, the first chairman of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. The awards were administered by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. A Distinguished Pennsylvania Artist Award was also established to be chosen by the Governor. [Note: No standard policy was established for this category, but it was generally agreed that the recipient would be a native Pennsylvanian and an artist of world renown.]
 

Following the 1982 awards, the Hazlett awards were presented in no more than six disciplines, in alternating years, and architecture was added as a category.
 

The awards were suspended in 1987 in the first year of Governor Robert P. Casey’s administration. In 1988, through his cultural advisor’s office, Governor Casey established “a comprehensive Governor’s awards program” with the Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts, Humanities, and Sciences “to honor outstanding individual creativity and achievement, to focus attention upon the critical importance of the arts, humanities, and sciences in the life of an enlightened democratic society, and to pay tribute to Pennsylvania’s rich cultural and intellectual traditions.” A single award was presented in each area.
 

In 1996, oversight and administration of the Governor’s Awards returned to the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Four new award categories were established by Governor Tom Ridge to recognize not only the contributions of Pennsylvania’s individual artists and patrons of the arts, but also the outstanding arts organizations which make the Commonwealth a leader in the cultural life of the nation. For the first time, a category was established which recognizes the significant contributions to the arts made by corporations and foundations (the Patron Award).

Past Recipients of the

Pennsylvania Governor's Awards for the Arts

2009 Governor's Awards for the Arts -- York
	Jeff Koons		Distinguished Arts Award
	Louis J. Appell Arthur J. Glatfelter		Patron Award
	Caroline S. Nunan		Outstanding Leadership & Service in Arts for Youth
	Ridgway Chainsaw Carvers		Pennsylvania Creative Community Award
	Del McCoury		Artist of the Year
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2008 Governor's Awards for the Arts -- Williamsport
	Michael Keaton		Distinguished Arts Award
	Barbara B. Hudock		Patron Award
	The PAL Center for the Arts Unit of The Olivet Boys & Girls Club of Reading & Berks County		Outstanding Leadership & Service in Arts for Youth
	Taller Puertorriqueno Carmen Febo-San Miguel, M.D., Executive Director		Outstanding Leadership & Service in Arts in Education Award
	Phil Woods & the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts (COTA)		Pennsylvania Creative Community Award
	Sascha Feinstein		Artist of the Year
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