John, Helen Schaefer To Receive 9th Annual Shelley Award at 2014 Governor's Arts Awards

 

From: Steve Carr [mailto:scarr51@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Steve Carr
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2014 6:10 AM
Subject: John, Helen Schaefer To Receive 9th Annual Shelley Award at 2014 Governor's Arts Awards

 

Arizona Citizens for the Arts

NEWS RELEASE

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

JOHN P. AND HELEN S. SCHAEFER TO RECEIVE 9^TH ANNUAL SHELLEY AWARD AT 2014 GOVERNOR’S ARTS AWARDS, MARCH 25 AT MESA ARTS CENTER

 

            PHOENIX, Ariz. (Jan. 27, 2014):  John P. and Helen S. Schaefer, whose multi-faceted legacy spans arts, culture and education, will receive the 9^th annual Shelley Award at the 33^rd Governor’s Arts Awards on March 25 at the Mesa Arts Center, 1 E. Main Street in Mesa.

            The award, named in honor of former Arizona Commission on the Arts Executive Director Shelley Cohn, is presented to an individual or individuals who have advanced the arts through strategic and innovative work in creating or supporting public policy beneficial to the arts in Arizona.  Selections are made by a committee of business, arts and cultural leaders and past Shelley Award winners.

            The 2014 Governor’s Arts Awards will recognize honorees in six categories for their substantial and outstanding contribution to arts and culture statewide.

            “The Schaefers could easily have received the Shelley Award as individuals, but together they are a powerful and symbolic reflection of what the award represents,” said Catherine “Rusty” Foley, executive director of Arizona Citizens for the Arts.  “They have created a lasting and remarkable legacy that is most impactful in the depth and breadth of the people in and out of Arizona it touches.”

            John Schaefer is president emeritus of the University of Arizona, where he had an active 21-year career in teaching and research.  A conservationist and avid birdwatcher, he helped organize the Tucson Audubon Society and found the Nature Conservancy in Arizona.   In addition to his academic and conservation work, Schaefer is a skilled photographer who, with Ansel Adams, founded the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona.  He was instrumental in securing funding for the Phoenix Art Museum Norton Art Gallery.

            “The archives of Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Henry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, Eugene Smith, Frederick Sommer and many more are in Arizona for scholars to study and for a world-wide audience to appreciate,” wrote former Shelley Award winner Darryl Dobras.  “Seldom, if ever, does one individual have such a major impact on art collections housed in Arizona.”

            Schaefer has served on the boards of Arizona Theatre Company, Tucson Museum of Art, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson Audubon Society, Southwest Parks and Monuments Associations, Patronatos de San Xavier and the Arizona State Museum.

            Helen Schafer is the former chair of the UofA College of Humanities Advisory Board and a longtime member of the Poetry Center Development Committee.  The Helen P. Schaefer Building today is home to the Arizona Poetry Center, which houses one of the nation’s most exceptional library collections of contemporary poetry and is dedicated to the advancement and celebration of poetry.

            She also is a former member of the both the Honorary Advisory Board and Board of Directors of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and she has served on the boards of the YWCA Tucson, the Arizona Repertory Singers, the Council on Aging Foundation and the YMCA.  She also is a founding board member of the Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona, and an early board member and former president of Arizonans for Cultural Development, now known as Arizona Citizens for the Arts.

            Tickets for the Academy Award-style Governor’s Arts Awards are $135 for members of Arizona Citizens for the Arts and $150 for nonmembers and include hors d’oeuvres, silent auction, the awards ceremony and dessert.  Sponsorships are available.  Current sponsors include: APS – Presenting Sponsor; SRP – Audio-Visual and Print Sponsor; Resolution Copper Mining – Nominees’ Sponsor; Arizona Lottery – Artist Award Sponsor; Mesa Arts Center – Venue Sponsor.

            For more information and to register visit www.governorsartsawards.org.

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Arizona Citizens for the Arts

Arizona Citizens for the Arts is the premier arts advocacy organization in Arizona dedicated to promoting discussion and awareness of the importance and impact of the arts in achieving quality of life, educational excellence and economic vitality in communities across Arizona.  For information visit www.azcitizensforthearts.org.

Arizona Commission on the Arts

One of 56 state and jurisdictional arts agencies across the United States, the Arizona Commission on the Arts is an agency of the State of Arizona that supports a statewide arts network. The Arizona Commission on the Arts supports access to quality arts and arts education opportunities for all Arizona citizens; the development and retention of statewide jobs in the nonprofit arts, culture and education sectors; and increased economic impact in local communities through arts-based partnerships that develop tax and small business revenue. Imagine an Arizona where everyone can participate in and experience the arts.  For more information about the Arizona Commission on the Arts and its programs, visit www.azarts.gov.

Contacts:

Catherine “Rusty” Foley, Executive Director, Arizona Citizens for the Arts, (602) 253-6535

Steve Carr, The Kur Carr Group, Inc., (602) 317-3040