CONWAY — Members of the community gathered April 2 in the Trieschmann Fine Arts Building at Hendrix College in Conway to celebrate the arts in all of their many forms. The Conway Alliance for the Arts hosted the event to recognize artists and supporters of the arts during the sixth annual Conway Arts Awards celebration.
Ron Jensen-McDaniel, chairman of the Conway Arts Awards Committee, and Joshua Miller, committee member, served as masters of ceremonies. Ruthann Curry Browne, CAFTA Board chairwoman, assisted in the presentation of the awards, which consisted of a certificate and a memento created by Perry-Munn Pottery of Mountain View.
Recipients of the 2019 Conway Arts Awards are as follows:
• Outstanding Student Achievement Award: Augustine Nguyen, a senior at the University of Central Arkansas who is studying theater and creative writing.
“I’m very honored and thankful to receive this award,” said Nguyen, 22, who is originally from Fort Smith.
“It’s not something I thought I would achieve, but when I heard about it, I got so excited. It’s something I’m extremely grateful for,” he said.
“I’ve attended UCA for four years, and I will have to take a few more semesters to complete my minor in creative writing. After the end of the spring 2019 semester, I will return to the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre for a third season as both an ensemble member in Guys and Dolls and as Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet,” Nguyen said.
“Soon after that is finished, I will be leaving Arkansas for eights months because of a job that I’ve booked with the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line,” he said. “I’ll be working in musicals and entertainment shows as a singer and dancer. I do plan on coming back to UCA to finish my degree and graduate, approximately in the spring semester of 2021.
“I’d like to thank Chris Fritzges, Shauna Meador, Ruthanne Curry Browne, Kevin Browne and Rebekah Scallet (all UCA faculty members). They’ve all helped me in my pursuit of creative expression through theater. Without them, I never would have discovered my love for such a beautiful art form.”
• Gene Hatfield Outstanding Individual Artist Award: Louise Mandumbwa, an art major at UCA from Botswana, South Africa.
“I’ve been in the United States four years,” said Mandumbwa, 22. “I studied for the first two years at the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Tech, then transferred to UCA. I hope to graduate in 2020. I consider myself a figurative artist … a portrait artist.
“I was so surprised to learn I had received this award that is named for Gene Hatfield,” she said. “I have read about him. … He was an amazing artist.”
As a Windgate Scholar, Mandumbwa shared her experiences as an artist during UCA’s announcement of the Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts earlier this year. Her work has been displayed at the Hearne Fine Art Gallery in Little Rock and, most recently, at UCA Downtown during the first Black History Art Show in March.
• Outstanding Educator Award: Israel Getzov, music director and conductor of the Conway Symphony Orchestra.
Getzov, who was unable to attend the Conway Arts Awards ceremony, said he was “honored” to be recognized for his work.
“The importance of arts education goes beyond side effects such as keeping the kids off the streets or increasing brain functions,” he said in a prepared statement that was read at the awards ceremony. “My goal as an arts educator is to share the tools that maximize the impact derived from art. Inside of art, there can be a lifetime’s worth of emotions and ideas. Having the power to receive all those messages can give meaning and context to one’s life, therefore amplifying their human experience.”
Getzov is in his 13th season as music conductor of the Conway Symphony Orchestra.
• Mayor’s Award for Community Advocate of the Arts: Marilyn Rishkofski, owner of Art Experience Inc. and a past co-president of the Conway League of Artists.
“I am just overwhelmed and so surprised by this award,” said Rishkofski, who was presented with her award by Mayor Bart Castleberry. “I am so grateful for this award. I am just happy to be here and a part of the arts in Conway.”
Rishkofski moved to Conway four years ago from New Hampshire, where she owned and operated a similar business. Art Experience Inc. offers art-consulting and framing services.
“Art Experience was opened in New Hampshire in 1982,” she said. “I reopened in Arkansas when we moved here rather than retiring. I am so glad I did.”
Since coming to Conway, she has become active in a variety of community projects, including The Art Ministry at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, the Conway Winter Market and St. Peter’s Guatemala medical mission’s fundraiser, Art Pray Love.
“As much as I enjoy working in the gallery-and-frame workshop, moving beyond the gallery walls and into the community where I live and do business is very important to me,” she said. “I enjoy working with other organizations to help make Conway a great place to live and work by offering opportunities to enjoy and experience great art.”
• Rollin R. Potter Outstanding Arts Patron Award: Amanda Horton, director, UCA Performances and CAFTA Board member.
“Rollin Potter hired me,” Horton said, smiling, “so it’s pretty fitting that I’m receiving this award.
“My family has given me tremendous support. … They are my patrons, just like you and others in the community are patrons of the arts,” she said. “We could not do any of it without you. If it were not for patrons of these artists, we would not have this awards ceremony.
“Thank you, patrons. You make this happen in Conway.”
In the 2015-2016 school year, Horton and her team at the Donald W. Reynolds Performance Hall at UCA launched the Main Stage Education Series, which brings educational, professional performances for pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade students to Conway. Tickets are only $5 each; Horton makes up the cost difference through fundraising.
• Faulkner County Library Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award: Jess Setzler, assistant director of marketing and engagement at the Arkansas Educational Television Network.
“I’m a little floored … blindsided … by this award,” Setzler said, smiling. “When I received an email about it, I thought it was some kind of spam. ‘What is this?’ I thought. Then I learned it was the real deal. … I was really taken aback.”
Setzler, 66, is a native of Conway and a graduate of Conway High School and UCA, where he majored in art. He is a longtime employee of AETN.
“In June, I will have been there 42 years,” he said, laughing. “I started my career in this business at Ida Waldron Auditorium. I worked there through school … working with lights, sounds and sets. When I graduated, I just stayed on there. I was the only person who knew how to operate all the equipment. I managed a wide variety of shows — Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top. Then I went to work at AETN, first as a studio hand and a member of the art department, building and constructing sets.
“I’ve seen a lot of changes in the business.”
In his nomination letter to the CAFTA Board, Danny Grace, theater professor at Hendrix College and founder of the band The Frontier Circus, called Setzler “a multitalented artist.”
“On any given day or at any given time, you can find his set-design work at AETN or his marketing and designs in numerous publications,” Grace said. “He is the staff photographer for AETN and has also lent his expertise in photography to the Miss UCA Pageant.
“He is well-known in local music circles as an accomplished album-art and show-poster designer. His three-dimensional talent, as well as his whimsical side, is very evident in the many entries he has created for the Youth Home Eggshibition.”
The Conway Arts Awards ceremony, which was followed by a reception in the Trieschmann Gallery, was interspersed with various performances, including two by members of the Irby Dance Studio and a vocal solo of “Maybe This Time” by UCA student Liberty Dickson.