Gold Key Gala at the World Financial Center. Photo by Ronnie Wright.
As we head into summer, we bid farewell to our 2011 season. The last couple of months have been busy and full of excitement with our National Celebration, Carnegie Hall Awards Ceremony, Gold Key Gala, ART.WRITE.NOW. National Exhibition and Alumni Atelier project! We began our season last year with 185,000 submissions of art and writing from across the country and ended our season in late May with 800 National Award winners flocking to New York City for National Events. For a recap of the Awards Ceremony at Carnegie Hall, click here. But, the fun didn’t end with that very special evening. We still had a lot to come…
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Nick in "The Light in the Piazza." Photo Credit: Laura Durant
Primary role:
Nick Cartell’s primary role at the Alliance is preparing for the Awards by scanning in entry forms and answering questions from students, parents and teachers (if you called into the office you probably spoke with him at as some point!). Nick also helps facilitate regional and national judging panels, and organize and manage Awards Central. (He was behind the Help Desk, in case you were wondering.) Nick also does his best to make sure we can get as many people into Carnegie Hall as possible for the ceremony, and is currently in the process of mailing out all of the medals and certificates for this year. Don’t worry, they’re on their way! Nick also works on anything else that comes up on a day-to-day basis here at the Alliance. …Wow, that really is a lot!
Secret fact:
Nick is an actor and has worked Off-Broadway in Frankenstein, the musical. He even made it onto the cast album, and regionally across the country in different theatre venues. Nick also performed with Disney, working as a singer at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea for three years, which is where he met his wife, also a performer. Check out his website at www.nickcartell.com where you’ll see some of his special skills include baby cry, Mickey Mouse voice, balloon animals and puppetry!
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Teacher Diane Heath with award-winning daughter and students Rebecca Heath, Amber Dietz, Katie Doyle, Audrey Benjaminsen, Sara Harbin and Mandy Hess.
Diane Heath of Rochester Hills, Michigan, has had a great year. Diane works at Stoney Creek High School where she’s an art teacher. This year her students include Portfolio Gold and Gold Medal winners, and her own children are Scholastic Award winners as well!
In the following interview by Alliance Staffer Lisa Feder-Feitel, Diane shares her experience and advice.
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Tony Hawk at the awards ceremony. Courtesy of Scholastic.
This post originally appeared on Scholastic’s On Our Mind blog on June 2, 2011. Post by Yanique Hart.
I had the opportunity to watch 808 of the most talented teens in the country get honored in Carnegie Hall at the 2011 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards ceremony on Tuesday evening. It was one of the most amazing ceremonies I’ve ever been a part of. American conceptual artist, John Baldessari was presented with the Alumni Achievement Award by his former student and world renowned painter, David Salle.
Another huge surprise for the kids was when skateboarding legend, Tony Hawk, skateboarded all the way from the back of the auditorium to the stage! I have never seen an audience more excited. Read More
Alliance Board Member, Dwight E. Lee, Executive Director, Virginia McEnerney, Alliance Board Member, Gaynor Strachan-Chun, Scholastic CEO, Dick Robinson. Photo by Ronnie Wright.
It’s hard to believe that when the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards were begun in 1923 there were just six entries. This year, 185,000 works of art and writing were submitted to the Awards by students in grades 7 – 12 from around the country and in American schools abroad. Professional artists and writers were put to task selecting those that best exemplified our time-honored criteria of originality, technical skill and the emergence of a personal vision or voice. And when they were finished, we were wowed by another year of artistic and literary excellence.
Tonight our 2011 National Award winners join an elite group of alumni including Richard Avedon, Truman Capote, Sylvia Plath, Zac Posen, Robert Redford, Kay WalkingStick, Philip Pearlstein, Andy Warhol and the accomplished alumnus who will receive our Alumni Achievement Award, the renowned conceptual artist John Baldessari.
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www.artandwriting.org/hub
We hope 2011 Scholastic Award winners from across the country are gearing up for the National Celebration at the end of the month… we certainly are! Before, during and after the big shebang, we want to hear what all of you are saying, see what you’re up to, and give you some tips on what to do and see. Enter “The Hub”- your one-stop for all of the info you’ll need.
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