Award winners

In addition to Joel Sartore, a Lincoln photographer, the 2005 Mayor's Arts Awards winners are:

Howard and Barbara Dinsdale — The Halcyon Allsman Benefactor of the Arts Award.

Barbara is a native of Kearney, and Howard grew up in Palmer. They have lived in Lincoln since 1967. Howard is retired physician. Barbara has served on the boards of the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra and Foundation, the Nebraska Committee for the Metropolitan Opera Auditions and Friends of the Lied. Howard has served on the board of the Nebraska Repertory Theatre.

In addition to supporting those organizations, they also have contributed to the Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts, the Cather Memorial Foundation, the Lincoln Arts  Council, SAIL Music Camp, the Lincoln Community Playhouse; the   Nebraska Art Association, Nebraska Public Radio and Television; the Kearney Performing Arts Center and the Museum of Nebraska Arts. In addition, they have helped young people get a start in music by helping them attend a camp or buy an instrument.

The Lincoln Symphony Guild —The Arts Organization Award

Since 1957, the Lincoln Symphony Guild has worked "to stimulate community interest and support for the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra through education and fund-raising activities."

The guild has about 270 members. In 2004, the guild created the "Artistic Strings" project to raise fund to return the Lolly Pop Concerts to the public schools. Local artists hand-painted seven donated violins, which traveled the community before being raffled.

The guild received a silver ribbon for the project from the American  Symphony Orchestra League. In 2000, the guild won a gold ribbon for its fund-raiser, which featured tours of local Hindu, Muslim and Asian homes.

The guild's annual Symphony Balls have also been national award winners and have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support the Symphony Orchestra.

William Wyman — The Leadership Award

Wyman is a Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Nebraska Wesleyan University. 

He has been on the faculty since 1975 and conducts the University Choir and the Chamber Singers. He has directed the Chancel Choir at Saint Paul United Methodist Church for 25 years.  Since 1990, Dr. Wyman also has been the Music Director and Conductor for the Lincoln Civic Choir, and they were part of an all-Lincoln performance in Avery Fisher Hall called "Lincoln at Lincoln Center," which he conducted.

In 1996, he was named Nebraska  Outstanding Choral Director of the Year, and he was elected into the Nebraska Music Educators Hall of Fame in November 2004. 

L Magazine —  The Support of the Arts Award

L Magazine is a monthly publication focusing on culture, lifestyle and the arts, which  reaches about 15,000 Lincoln homes.  Its first issue in September 2002 featured local art collector and community leader Robert Duncan leaning against a giant chair sculpture. Since then, the magazine has consistently covered the arts in Lincoln with features and photos on visual and performing arts as well as special events and organizations.

More than 16,000 inches — nearly one-third of the available editorial space — has been devoted to arts coverage. Last year, the magazine was nominated for Lee Enterprises' national award for innovation.

Lincoln Irish Dancers — The Cultural Celebration Award

The Lincoln Irish Dancers began in 1996 with Director LuAnne Anderson's dream of teaching Irish social dancing for personal enjoyment. In the spring of 1997, members of her small "ceili" class performed at a St. Patrick's Day event. The positive response led to more performances.

The Lincoln Irish Dancers is now non-profit organization with 70 members who perform all year in the Lincoln  area. The group offers Irish dance classes, a separate step dance school and a yearly public ceili with live music and workshops on Irish dancing.

The group brings Irish performers to Lincoln through its "Heartland Celtic Artist Series."  In 2004, the group hosted a step dance workshop with a former "Riverdance" lead dancer and performed with the Lincoln Symphony.

Carol Conner — The Literary Heritage Award

Connor has been Director of the Lincoln City Libraries since 1978. She has overseen the process of moving the card catalog system online; the addition of computer labs; the construction of two new libraries and the renovation and enlargement of others; the growth of the children's summer reading program and the Polley Music Library; the introduction of adult reading and discussion programs such as One Book — One Lincoln; and the development of the  Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors.

The Lincoln Mall Renovation —The Larry Enersen Award

The Lincoln Mall is a four-block boulevard from the State Capitol to the City-County government center. It was originally developed in 1983 and was designed by the late Larry Enersen, founder of the Clark Enersen Partners, the architectural firm that designed the renovation project. Project partners were the City Parks and Recreation Department and the City Urban Development Department. 

The development of One Landmark Centre on the Mall was the impetus for the renovation, which was funded through the tax increment financing generated by the building.  The project was cited for its conservation of existing trees, curbs, lights and turf; the addition of attractive bus shelters, benches, trash receptacles and raised planters; sidewalk improvements; the use of historical elements through inscriptions and illustrations; and the landscaping.

Fred Stuart — The Sam Davidson Award

Stuart is an actor, director, writer and teacher who serves as  Executive Director of The Haymarket Theatre.

He founded the theater in 2001 and developed a children's theater program which provides classes and performance opportunities. He also developed a repertory theater which provides a venue for professional actors and directors as well as quality productions for Lincoln and the Midwest.

A native of Lincoln, Stuart spent 15 years in California working as an actor and theater administrator for the Nederlander Organization, the world's largest live theatre company.  In 1997, he was hired by Music Theatre International in New York City to launch its Broadway Junior program. 

Stuart has taught children's theater since 1992 and has directed locally for the Lincoln Community Playhouse, The Nebraska Repertory Theatre, Pinewood Bowl and The Haymarket Theatre.

Ariel Bybee and Jim Ford — The Artistic Achievement Award

Bybee is an artist in residence and associate professor in the Opera Department at the UNL School of Music. She was the featured mezzo soprano with the Metropolitan Opera in New York for 20 years before coming to Lincoln in 1999. 

Her husband, Ford, is a professor of  English at UNL.  In 2003, they produced UNL Opera's "The Bohemian Girl," which was presented in several local venues before winning four first place awards at an international competition in Ireland. 

As part of the 2003 "One Book, One Lincoln" project, Bybee sang and Ford narrated arias and songs featured in the book, "Bel Canto." They helped start the "Friends of Opera" organization and have created opera touring programs in Nebraska and neighboring states. Ford created a musical adaptation of a Willa Cather story for Bybee to perform at the Cather Spring Festival in Red Cloud in April.

Lucy Buntain Comine — The Heart of the Arts Award

Buntain Comine, director of special projects for the University Foundation, is an arts advocate who has dedicated countless volunteer hours to ensure that the arts are accessible and available to all residents.

President Clinton appointed her to his Advisory Committee on the Arts in 1994, and she was a member of the Kennedy Center's 25th Anniversary Committee in 1996.  Buntain Comine is on the boards of the Friends of the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center, the Nebraska Repertory Theatre, the Lied Center for Performing Arts,  MEDICI Arts, Friends of Opera, the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts. 

Buntain Comine co-produced Pinewood Bowl productions for 10 years and has served on the boards of the Nebraska Arts Council, the Lincoln Arts Council, the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra, the Lincoln Community Playhouse and Theater  Arts for Youth.

Paul Barnes and the Nebraska Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission — The Event of the Year Award

In 2004, UNL music professor and pianist Paul Barnes facilitated the commission of  "After Lewis and Clark," Piano Concerto No. 2 by  internationally acclaimed composer Philip Glass.

The project was funded by the Nebraska Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission, the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts and the Lied Center  for Performing Arts. The concerto premiered in September at the Lied  Center, with Glass in attendance.  The performance by Barnes and the Omaha Symphony also featured world-renowned musician R. Carlos Nakai on Native American flute.

The concerto, now known as the "Lewis and Clark Piano Concerto,"  has been performed in Omaha and Boston, and performances have been scheduled for this year in Santa Cruz, Calif., and Seattle.

Nancy Childs — The Gladys Lux Education Award

Childs is curriculum specialist in the visual arts for the Lincoln Public Schools. She has bachelor's and master's degrees from UNL and  is working on her Ph.D.  As a practicing artist, she participates in the Artist in Residency program of the Nebraska Arts Council. She shows new work at the Burkholder Project every October.

As a master teacher in the NAC's Artist in Schools/Communities project, she completed more than 50 residencies in classrooms across Nebraska. She has been involved in the Arts Are Basic Program since its inception. Childs has served as President of the Nebraska Art Teachers Association and has been active in the national association. She also has taught art methods at UNL and supervised student teachers. 

Childs has served on many community boards and was a member of the Nebraska 2000 Ad Hoc Arts Committee which succeeded in     adding arts and humanities to the America 2000 educational goals.