The Fresno Arts Council (FAC) is pleased to announce its 23rd Annual 2008 Horizon Awards, celebrating 23 years of honoring those dedicated to excellence in the arts. The 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.

The nomination categories and the winners are as follows:

* Artist: Stanley C. Bitters
* Artist: Peter Everwine
* Business: Ronald Eichman, Fresno Grand Opera
* Citizen: Pat Wolk, Fresno Folklore Society
* Ella Odorfer Educator: Kaye Migaki
* Special: Jon Carroll, Fresno Reel Pride
* Youth: Yifan Luo, Buchannan High School

You are all invited to the Horizon Award Ceremony on Thursday, April 10, 2008, from 6:00-9:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of Fresno City Hall with a reception following. Tickets are $15 per person and free for children less than 12 years. Tickets are available at the FAC office, 1245 Van Ness, or you may purchase tickets that evening; please RSVP at 237-9734.

Artist: Stanley C. Bitters, a Fresno native, has made his living from his art. In 1959, he received his BA degree in painting from UCLA and studied at the Los Angeles Art Institute in Environmental Sculpture. His architectural installations have been an important part of Fresno since the early 1960s. Some of his major local installations include the cast bronze doors of the Saroyan Theatre at the Fresno Convention Center; the 600 ft. long by 20 ft. tall outdoor display of ceramic relief forms at Duncan Ceramics; and the sculpture/fountain, “Dancing Waters,” 14 ft. cast concrete fountain on the Fulton Mall. Other sculpture and architectural relief have been installed in large buildings, offices and homes both nationally and internationally. His book, Environmental Ceramics, which includes photos of his installations in private homes, commercial and public locations, is a bible for ceramists interested in functional ceramics.

Artist: Peter Everwine joined the English faculty at CSUF in 1962. Among his books of poetry are Collecting the Animals, Keeping the Night, Figures Made Visible in the Sadness of Time, and, most recently, From the Meadow: Selected and New Poems. His translations include two volumes of Aztec poetry and, with Shulamith Yasny-Starkman, the selected poems of the Israeli poet Natan Zach. Peter is the recipient of the Lamont Award from the Academy of American Poets, a Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. He was a senior Fulbright lecturer in American poetry at Haifa University, Israel. In 1991 he retired from CSUF.

Business: Ronald Eichman, Fresno Grand Opera, is a distinguished arts administrator and has earned praise for his unique ability to creatively build new performing arts organizations and achieve exceptional results. He has been the General Director of the Fresno Grand Opera since its incorporation in 1998. Ron quickly built the non-profit company into a successful $2.5 million performing arts enterprise. The Fresno Grand Opera has earned a national reputation for producing world-class opera with a unique ability to entice internationally renowned artists. In celebration of its 10th anniversary this year, it engaged tenors Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras and soprano Renee Fleming. In 2003, it inaugurated the new Save Mart Center at Fresno State with a performance by world-renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli, which set a three-year record as the highest grossing single event; and in 2005, Mr. Bocelli returned to yet another sell-out audience.

Since Ron’s arrival in Fresno in 1989, he has produced shows featuring more than 150 internationally acclaimed concert artists. In 1990, while serving as Senior Project Manager for the Napa-based VenueTech Management Group, he directed the $2 million historic restoration of Fresno’s Tower Theater, which was ultimately listed in the National Register of Historic Places by the US Department of Interior. Ron received his undergraduate training and BA from UCLA where he was inducted into the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society.

Citizen: Pat Wolk, Fresno Folklore Society retired from teaching in 1991, and was immediately recruited to be president of the non-profit Fresno Folklore Society, and has served on the board ever since. In her first year as president, a concert series was initiated and still continues to exist. In her present position as volunteer concert manager and promoter, she books nationally and internationally known touring groups of traditional musicians to perform in Fresno, publicizes the concerts and handles ticket sales. Her devotion to seeking out the best and luring them to Fresno coupled with her incredible energy and skill in promoting and publicizing the concerts, has drawn in many from the community at large to experience the unique genre of music from varied traditions. The Folklore Society is a community, not only of local musicians and folk enthusiasts, but of families and appreciators of traditional music. Her acre-garden has been a gathering place for parties, jam sessions, concerts and a place for the young members to earn money while working alongside her.

Ella Odorfer Educator: Kaye Migaki is the Owner/Director of Fig Garden Dance Studio of Fresno and Kaye’s School of Dance in Dinuba and Sanger since 1964, where she has taught countless valley students. She has her B.S. in Advertising from CSUF. Kaye has taught intermediate and advanced jazz dance students since the inception of the Roosevelt Arts Magnet School in 1984. Every year, her advanced students choreograph and produce a dance for adjudication. She was the Associate Artistic Director, choreographer and a principal dancer with The Fresno Ballet. She has been a choreographer, instructor and performer for Good Company Players since its early years and has choreographed for the Central California Ballet, Children’s Musical Theaterworks and the California Dancing Raisins. In addition, she has choreographed commercials, pageants and special community celebrations. Kaye is also involved in many community dance projects. Largely due to her countless efforts, dance is thriving in the valley.

Special: Jon Carroll is Chairman of the Board of Directors and Festival Director for Fresno Reel Pride, a volunteer non-profit organization that presents an annual film festival of award-winning LGBT feature films, documentaries and short films. Now in its 19th year, Reel Pride is the sixth oldest gay and lesbian film festival in the United States that attracts thousands of attendees, filmmakers and actors each year. Under his direction, Reel Pride has grown into a five-day festival utilizing two venues with over 80 national and local sponsors.

Jon moved to Fresno from Los Angeles in 2000 after a 16-year career within the performing and visual arts. He recently served as Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for Fresno’s Coalition of Arts, Science and History. He is a board member of Fresno’s Cultural Arts District Association and has performed volunteer service for All About Care/Camp Care and Valley Public Radio. Jon currently serves as the Director of Development at the Fresno Metropolitan Museum where he is directly responsible for development and legislative advocacy for the Museum.

Youth: Yifan Luo is a 16-year old pianist who began his piano study at the age of four in China. He came to the US with his mother at the age of five knowing no English, but proved to be a quick learner and skipped the 2nd grade. Yifan is a Junior at Buchanan High School and is ranked No. 1 with a GPA of 4.5. For the past several years, he has studied under the tutelage of Professor Andres Werz at CSUF.

Yifan has achieved the following awards: 1st place in the Music Teachers Association of California competition at both the junior and intermediate levels; the Philip Lorenz Award in the junior division in the 8th grade and the senior division in the 9th grade; individual 1st place in forensics and debate teams; 1st place in the Parliamentary debate; 2nd place for County Champion for the San Joaquin Valley; 1st place in the Regional Mathcounts competition in the 8th grade. In addition to his academic and music study, Yifan currently works as a volunteer floor assistant at St. Agnes Hospital and a volunteer for the Fresno County Library.

Please support your Fresno Arts Council, its event, and its local artists! For further information call (559) 237-9734.