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The 14th Annual Encore
Arts & Business Council of RI Awards Dinner
Lighting the Way to New Business Opportunities
Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet
Cranston, RI
Thursday, January 22, 2004
Master of Ceremonies:
Karen Reed, WJAR NBC 10
Performances:
• Everett Dance Theatre • Providence Black Repertory Company • Jazz Combo of the Rhode Island Philharmonic • Timothy O'Keefe - Cozy
Music •
Scenic Design:
Robert Kieronski
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2004 Encore Honorees
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Encore Award
The Washington Trust Company
John C. Warren, Chairman and CEO
John C. Warren joined Washington Trust in January 1996 as President and Chief Operating Officer, was promoted to Chief Executive Officer in April 1997, and appointed Chairman in April 1999. Having served the people of Rhode Island for 204 years, The Washington Trust Company is committed to making our neighborhoods, cities and towns better places to live and work. After joining the company he eagerly continued the Bank's longstanding support of local arts organizations. Along with his wife Karen, he has co-chaired the Rhode Island Philharmonic Ball and has volunteered for events such as the Philharmonic's summer concert on Narragansett Beach and the Chorus of Westerly Summer Pops. Additionally, the Bank's employees serve numerous arts organizations, including the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts, the Granite Theatre, Providence Children's Museum, The Chorus of Westerly, WaterFire, Trinity Repertory Company, River Glow, First Night Westerly, Everett Dance Theatre, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
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Jabez Gorham Award
The Providence Black Repertory Company Donald King, Artistic Director
Since 1996, the Providence Black Repertory Company has been an organization with a dual mission: community service and artistic excellence. The Black Rep achieves this by providing accessible public programming, educational programs, and excellent artistic performances in theatre. Through the visionary leadership and commitment of Artistic Director Donald King, the work of Black Rep has brought to Rhode Island performances that provoke thought, inspire hope, create understanding, and bring people together. The work mirrors the rich cultural heritage of the U.S. and creates a venue where universal stories can be shared among all. The 2004 season, which will kick off in January with Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, promises to be just as exciting, and it will mark the grand opening of Black Rep's vibrant new performance and gathering space.
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Small Business Award
Buff Chace
Buff Chace has served as the Chairman of the Board at Trinity Repertory Company for an unprecedented eight years. This long-term commitment, together with his personal generosity, has been one of the most significant factors in the continued prominence of Trinity as a national theatrical treasure. His tenure has seen much needed improvements in the physical plant of the theater and the imminent expansion into the Pell Chafee Performance Center. He has also become one of the most important forces in creating residential space in Downtown Providence. Additionally, together with his wife, Johnnie, he has time and again pitched in to help AS220, Groundwerx Theatre, Perishable Theatre, Traveler's Aid, the Providence Children's Museum and the Gordon School.
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Individual Achievement Award
George Kent
George Kent has been a member of the music faculty of the University of Rhode Island since 1969, where he teaches music history as well as all graduate and undergraduate organ and trumpet students. For a period of time he was also the Music Director of the University Chorus. From 1971 to 1986 he was Associate Conductor and then Acting Music Director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1969 to 1985 he toured and recorded with Swiss trumpet virtuoso Edward Tarr, presenting concerts and workshops in the United States, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Germany and Switzerland. The Chorus of Westerly, which he founded in 1959, has grown in reputation and is now generally acknowledged as one of New England's leading organizations of the performing arts. In 1956 he became Organist and Choirmaster of Christ Church, Westerly. There he has overseen the planning and building of its now well-known three-manual Fisk Organ and has built the choirs into a strong tradition. For his achievement in this aspect of his career, General Theological Seminary in New York in 1996 presented him with an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree. Other awards and recognitions include the State of Rhode Island Governor's Arts Awards, an Award for Excellence in Music from the South County Center for the Arts, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Choral Arts, New England, a
History Maker's Salute
Award from the Rhode Island Historical Society, and a 2003 Outstanding Alumni Award from the New England Conservatory in Music in Boston, where he received his Master's Degree. In addition, in 1995, the Arts and Business Council of Rhode Island presented its
Jabez Gorham Award
for Excellence in the Arts to George Kent and the Chorus of Westerly. George Kent and his wife Lynn now own Ogontz Camp near Franconia where they run a world-class camp every summer.
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Arts Advocate Award
James E. Doyle
Mayor of Pawtucket
Mayor Doyle is a lifelong Pawtucket resident. His political career began in 1970, when he won a special election to fill the vacancy of the 2nd Ward seat on the Pawtucket City Council, a seat to which he was re-elected 13 times. During his 27 years on the council, he served as President from 1982 to 1987 and he served on or chaired many committees, including those on beautification, city property, claims and pending suits, licenses, recreation, cemeteries, public works, reapportionment and finance. Since becoming Mayor of Pawtucket, James Doyle has shown a remarkable ability to lead the community to support the arts and transform the Blackstone Valley region into a haven for creative activity. To attract a range of artists to the available building stock, Mayor Doyle set in motion several positive events with the assistance of a highly motivated planning department, other city departments, the private sector and supporters. Their hard work has led to the establishment of an arts and entertainment district providing tax advantages to qualified local artists, the compilation of a list of available properties for sale or rent, and the implementation of a customer service system. Additionally, Mayor Doyle approved the spending of $35,000 in CDBG funds to bring the historic Armory up to code for the proposed performing arts center. He has also been able to convince many artists to offer their creative skills to the rest of the community through painting exhibits, films at the Visitor Center, sculpture at the gallery, and Jazz at the Veteran's Memorial Park.
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BVA Consultant of the Year Award
James Mahoney
Born and raised in Providence, Jim Mahoney is currently finishing his seventh and last year as the Rhode Island Representative to the Board of Directors of the New England Museum Association. After leaving Rhode Island to attend Catholic University in Washington, D.C., he was appointed to a position in the Purchasing Office at George Washington University, where he also took graduate level courses in business administration. He quickly moved on to a promotion in the Business Office and lastly to the Admissions Office. After six years he was appointed Administrator of the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. until 1987 when he returned to Providence to become the Deputy Director for Administration and Development at The Rhode Island Historical Society. A few years later he was promoted to Associate Director, a position he held until the end of 2002. Other professional activities have included reviewing grants for the Institute of Museum and Library Services in Washington and doing periodic consulting for the American Association of Museums. He has served on boards and committees of several area organizations. About nine years ago he joined the Business Volunteers for the Arts program, working with, among others, the Providence Children's Museum, Groundwerx Dance Theater, and currently the Gamm Theater.
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Special Recognition Award
Maxwell Mays
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To see a listing of all Encore Award Honorees 1991-present,
click here.
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