2007 Horizon Awards
For Immediate Release
Fresno Arts Council
March 21, 2007
1245 Van Ness
Fresno, CA 93721
(559) 237-9734
For further information contact: Joyce Aiken, Director
The Fresno Arts Council is pleased to announce its 22nd Horizon Awards, celebrating 22 years of honoring those dedicated to excellence in the arts. This prestigious award is given to recognized individuals, organizations and businesses that have made significant contributions toward the enrichment of life in our community through excellence in the Arts.
We are proud to announce the nomination categories and awardees as follows:
- Artist: Dr. Anna Hamre
- Business: John Moses, Fresno Filmworks
- Citizen: Kaye Bonner Cummings
- Ella Odorfer Educator: Dr. Bob Bennett
- Special: Marcel Nunis, The Rogue Festival and Adolf Odorfer (1902-1995) Awarded Posthumously
- Youth: Kathryn Johncox and Marissa Honda
Please join us in honoring these recipients at the Horizon Awards Ceremony on Thursday, April 26, 2007 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers. Enjoy the entertainment before the presentation and reception following. Tickets are $15 per person available in advance at the Fresno Arts Council, 1245 Van Ness, or you may purchase at the door that evening at the event.
Artist: Dr. Anna Hamre is the Director of Choral Activities at California State University, Fresno (CSUF). She is responsible for the management of the choral program and directs the Concert Choir, Chamber Singers and Community Chorus. Anna also teaches undergraduate conducting and graduate conducting and literature. She has worked with university, church, community choirs and school ensembles of all ages. Anna has been a guest conductor of a number of honor choirs and several ensembles, and under her direction, has been invited to perform at music conventions. Anna’s various positions have given her opportunity to premier numerous works. She has received numerous prestigious awards. Anna has a B.A. Degree in Vocal and Instrumental Music Education from Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD; an M.M. Degree in Choral Music from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley; and a D.M.A. in Choral Literature and Performances from the University of Colorado in Boulder.
Business: John Moses is the President of Fresno Filmworks, a non-profit organization that has brought award-winning independent and foreign language films to the community since 2002. In his capacity as president of the board, John deals with film distributors, negotiates contracts, writes articles for the organizations newsletter, and introduces the movies each month at the Tower Theatre. For the last three years, John has enlarged Filmworks’ mission to include an annual film festival. This year on April 13-15, the Third Annual Fresno Film Festival will celebrate The Craft of Film, hosting filmmakers who work behind the scenes in production design, animation, music, and editing. John teaches Film Studies and English at Fresno City College. He has a Ph. D. in English Literature and has published articles and presented papers on world cinema, film noir and film adaptation.
Citizen: Kaye Bonner Cummings trained as a visual artist and showed her art work at over 20 solo and group exhibitions for many years. During the past ten years, Kaye’s love of music has led her to join and sing with the Fresno Community Chorus. However, it is her work as Executive Director of the Bonner Family Foundation, formed in 1984, which has allowed her passion for community service on behalf of the arts and art education to flower. The Foundation has provided grants to many arts organizations in Fresno County, most of which have outreach programs in the schools. In 2000, Kaye initiated the ArtsIEP program, which reached nearly 20 schools over a six-year period. The purpose of this program was to train classroom teachers to bring visual art, music, dance and drama to their students. The training was done with the students in the classroom. Today, the Foundation funds a similar program in the visual arts – ArtSmart – at the Fresno Art Museum; and, a series of workshops at California State University, Fresno (CSUF), training student teachers in visual art, drama and dance. Kaye is also involved with the Bonner Center for Character Education and Citizenship in the Kremen School of Education at CSUF.
Ella Odorfer Educator: Dr. Bob Bennett as both an artist-musician and a musical educator, he has given back in spades to our community with his absolutely stunning track record. The Selma born son of a farmer loved music from the start (piano, flute and violin). He graduated from California State University, Fresno (CSUF) as a Piano Major and entered Juilliard Conservatory from which he holds a Masters Degree and a Doctorate Degree from Stanford University. As a Fullbright scholar, Bob studied for 2 terms at the Paris Conservatory with Lazare Levy. He worked for CSUF in the Piano Department for 33 years; and aware of how many of his students were becoming teachers, he single-handedly organized the Pedagogy Major for CSUF. Bob’s teaching and pedagogy have influenced the growth and development of many piano teachers throughout the Central Valley, touching the lives of many generations. In the 1980’s Bob became Director of the Bennett Consort, a select small group of musicians specializing in solo and chamber works. He has received numerous prestigious awards and also an outstanding service award from the Music Teachers’ Association of California in 2006.
Special: Marcel Nunis, The Rogue Festival, the “Weedwacker Theatre” started in the early 1990’s and ran once every two weeks over seven summers—it was a fun reason to bring together fellow performance artists and put on shows for friends. It also saw the formation of Theatre J’Nerique, which produced an original play, Turn Up The Torment at the San Francisco Fringe Festival in 1995. Both these events greatly influenced the creation of The Rogue Performance Festival, which was founded by Marcel and members of Theatre J’Nerique. The Rogue Festival has since become a non-profit entity unto itself with a Board of Directors and a Production Core. The founding members include: Joel Dyer, Jennifer Lathrop, Laticia Hamburger, Terri Monson, Paul McCauley, Jodi Ballard and Jaguar Bennett. Marcel served as the first producer of the Rogue Festival until 2006; the current producer is Jon Jordan. The arts community truly benefits from this opportunity and the public has the biggest chance to see the largest gathering of talent that Fresno can provide. This year, the Fresno Rogue Festival was noted as the largest fringe festival of the west coast.
Special: Adolf Odorfer (1902-1995) Awarded Posthumously was one of Fresno’s foremost artists and, as a long-time professor of ceramic sculpture at California State University, Fresno (CSUF); he contributed to the growth of many artists from this area. Adolf was born in Australia in 1902, and was trained in ceramics and worked in an industrial art pottery factory before immigrating to South America and finally to Mexico. In 1935, Adolf met and married Ella Moehn, an art professor at Fresno State College, for whom one of our distinguished Horizon award is named, The Ella Odorfer Educator Award. Adolf began teaching ceramics at Fresno State College in 1949, and continued until his retirement. His large sculpture "Dos Amantes,” located on the Mariposa Mall, between the federal and sate buildings, is one of Fresno’s finest pieces of public art.
Youth: Kathryn Johncox is a senior at Sierra High School in Tollhouse and graduating valedictorian. She has proven to be an artist with a strong vision of academic success, artistic motivation, achievements and contributions to the community. Most recently Kathryn has taken on the challenge of painting a mural on the art building at Sierra High. She has received numerous fine art awards and honors. Kathryn has won several awards at the Fresno Fair for her art and also in the Chalk Art. She has also received the honor of having one of her drawings reproduced on the walls of the Reedley Train Station. Her outstanding achievements have included black belt holder; honor bands; completion of the Summer Program at Cal Arts; editor for her school newspaper; and writer/critic for the Fresno Bee’s Back Talk Column.
Youth: Marissa Honda is a senior at Clovis West High School with a 4.3 GPA. She has been selected principal oboe for every all-state honor band and orchestra: CBDA, CODA, CMEA, as well as the FMCMEA Honor Band and Orchestra. Marissa was selected twice to be a member of the Bands of America National Honor Band, which represents 100 of the best high school musicians in America. She is also principal oboe and soloist for the Fresno Youth Symphony. Marissa’s outstanding achievements include: earning consistent branch honors and superior ratings from the Musical Teachers’ Association for piano performance for the last 11 years; a 3-year Drum Major for the award-winning Clovis West Golden Eagle Marching Band; selected twice by her school for the Clovis Rotary Club’s Top 100 Students Award; National Honor Society; Lifetime CSF; CW Pep and Cheer Squad; studied dance for eight years at Sue Sampson Dalena’s Dance Studio of Fresno; participated in competition dance teams; reporter for her school newspaper; and has written editorials for the Fresno Bee’s Valley Voices.
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For more information, please contact the Fresno Arts Council at (559) 237-9734.