History of the Governor's Awards for the Arts

Governor Edward G. Rendell's Administration has developed and refined five award categories, including an award to recognize those whose work in the arts benefits youth or arts in education, and an award for an outstanding Creative Pennsylvania Community that has utilized arts and culture to address important issues.  The following five categories are comprehensive and reflect the excellence and variety of Pennsylvania Community that has utilized arts and culture to address important issues.  The following five categories are comprehensive and reflect the excellence and variety of Pennsylvania's cultural landscape and pay tribute to the Commonwealth's rich cultural achievements and notable philanthropic traditions:

• Distinguished Arts Award -- It recognizes a Pennsylvania artist of international fame, leadership or renown whose creations or contributions enrich the state;



• The Patron Award -- It recognizes an individual, corporation, or foundation patron's significant contributions to the vitality and availability of the arts in Pennsylvania;



• Pennsylvania Creative Community Award –- It recognizes Pennsylvania organizations, neighborhoods, cities, communities, or community leaders that have creatively utilized arts and culture to address issues such as quality of life, downtown revitalization or regional issues of importance.



• Award for Outstanding Leadership and Service in the Arts for Youth or Arts in Education -- It recognizes an individual, organization, school, educator, or group for their outstanding leadership and service for youth; and



• Artist of the Year Award (The Hazlett Memorial Award) -- It recognizes an individual artist for their creations and contributions to the excellence of the arts in Pennsylvania.

The Governor’s Awards for the Arts represent a Pennsylvania tradition begun in 1980 by Governor Dick Thornburgh. Presented annually in Harrisburg at the State Capitol, these awards honored artists in each of the following categories: painting, sculpture, photography, music, literature, dance, theatre, crafts, and media arts. An award was also made for “service to the arts.” The awards, which recognized Pennsylvanians who contributed their creative talents to their communities, were named the Hazlett Memorial Awards for Excellence in the Arts, after the late Theodore L. Hazlett Jr. of Pittsburgh, the first chairman of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. The awards were administered by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. A Distinguished Pennsylvania Artist Award was also established to be chosen by the Governor. [Note: No standard policy was established for this category, but it was generally agreed that the recipient would be a native Pennsylvanian and an artist of world renown.]

Following the 1982 awards, the Hazlett awards were presented in no more than six disciplines, in alternating years, and architecture was added as a category.

The awards were suspended in 1987 in the first year of Governor Robert P. Casey’s administration. In 1988, through his cultural advisor’s office, Governor Casey established “a comprehensive Governor’s awards program” with the Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts, Humanities, and Sciences “to honor outstanding individual creativity and achievement, to focus attention upon the critical importance of the arts, humanities, and sciences in the life of an enlightened democratic society, and to pay tribute to Pennsylvania’s rich cultural and intellectual traditions.” A single award was presented in each area.

In 1996, oversight and administration of the Governor’s Awards returned to the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Four new award categories were established by Governor Tom Ridge to recognize not only the contributions of Pennsylvania’s individual artists and patrons of the arts, but also the outstanding arts organizations which make the Commonwealth a leader in the cultural life of the nation. For the first time, a category was established which recognizes the significant contributions to the arts made by corporations and foundations (the Patron Award).

Past Recipients of the

Pennsylvania Governor's Awards for the Arts

2009
2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2002
2001	2000	1999	1998	1997	1996
Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts and Distinguished Pennsylvania Artists
Theodore L. Hazlett Memorial Awards for Excellence in the Arts

2009 Governor's Awards for the Arts -- York
			Distinguished Arts Award
			Patron Award
			Outstanding Leadership & Service in Arts for Youth
			Outstanding Leadership & Service in Arts in Education Award
			Pennsylvania Creative Community Award
			Artist of the Year
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2008 Governor's Awards for the Arts -- Williamsport
	Michael Keaton		Distinguished Arts Award
	Barbara B. Hudock		Patron Award
	The PAL Center for the Arts Unit of The Olivet Boys & Girls Club of Reading & Berks County		Outstanding Leadership & Service in Arts for Youth
	Taller Puertorriqueno Carmen Febo-San Miguel, M.D., Executive Director		Outstanding Leadership & Service in Arts in Education Award
	Phil Woods & the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts (COTA)		Pennsylvania Creative Community Award
	Sascha Feinstein		Artist of the Year
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2007 Governor's Awards for the Arts -- Gettysburg
	Rob Marshall		Distinguished Arts Award
	Kathleen Marshall		Distinguished Arts Award
	Jennifer & David LeVan		Patron Award
	Marcia Dale Weary		Outstanding Leadership & Service to Youth Award
	Settlement Music School		Outstanding Leadership & Service to Youth Award
	Pike County Arts & Crafts		Pennsylvania Creative Community Award
	Lorenzo “Rennie” Harris		Artist of the Year (The Hazlett Memorial Award)
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2006 Governor's Awards for the Arts -- Wilkes-Barre
	Nelson Shanks		Distinguished Arts Award
	Santo Loquasto		Distinguished Arts Award
	Marlene O. “Linny” Fowler		Patron Award
	Bradford County Regional Arts Council (BCRAC)		Outstanding Leadership & Service in Arts in Education Award
	Dr. Vernell A. Lillie		Pennsylvania Creative Community Award
	The Dixie Hummingbirds		Artist of the Year (The Hazlett Memorial Award)
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2004 Governor's Awards for the Arts -- Reading
	Lang Lang		Artist of the Year (The Hazlett Memorial Award)
	Regina "Ginger" Gouger Miller and Marlin Miller, Jr.		Patron Award
	Carole Haas Gravagno		Outstanding Leadership & Service in the Arts for Youth
	Donna and Al Brown and The Point Breeze Performing Arts Center		Pennsylvania Creative Community Award
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2002 Governor's Awards for the Arts -- Harrisburg
	M. Night Shyamalan		Distinguished Arts Award
	Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest		Patron Award
	The Harrisburg Housing Authority's Cultural Arts Program		Arts Leadership and Service Award
	Bob Dorough		Artist of the Year
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2001 Governor's Awards for the Arts -- Allentown
	Wolfgang Sawallisch		Distinguished Arts Award
	The Dexter F. and Dorothy H. Baker Foundation		Patron Award
	WHYY, Inc. President and CEO William J. Marrazzo		Arts Leadership and Service
	Leon Bates		Artist of the Year
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2000 Governor's Awards for the Arts -- Altoona
	Chaim Potok		Distinguished Arts Award
	Meyer P. and Vivian O. Potamkin		Patron Award
	The Heinz Endowments		Patron Award
	Lily Yeh		Arts Leadership and Service
	LaVaughn Robinson		Artist of the Year
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1999 Governor's Awards for the Arts -- Harrisburg
	Peter Nero		Distinguished Arts Award
	Lois Lehrman Grass		Patron Award
	Sunoco, Inc.		Patron Award
	William E. Strickland, Jr		Arts Leadership and Service
	Thaddeus Mosley		Artist of the Year
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1998 Governor's Awards for the Arts -- Philadelphia
	Patti LaBelle		Distinguished Arts Award
	Bell Atlantic		Corporate Award
	Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia		Arts Leadership & Service
	Robert Page		Artist of the Year
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1997 Governor's Awards for the Arts -- Pittsburgh
	Ken Ludwig		Distinguished Arts Award
	PNC Bank Foundation		Foundation Patron
	Leon Arkus		Arts Leadership & Service
	Charlotte Blake Alston		Artist of the Year
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1996 Governor's Awards for the Arts -- Harrisburg
	Paul Winter		Distinguished Arts Award
	Binney & Smith Inc.		Corporate Patron
	Carol R. Brown		Arts Leadership & Service
	Robert Montgomery Scott		Arts Leadership & Service
	Tito Capobianco		Artist of the Year
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Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts and Distinguished Pennsylvania Artists
1994	Lorin Maazel	Conductor
1993	John Edgar Wideman	Author
1992	Paul Plishka	Opera Singer
1991	Gary Graffman	Pianist
1990	August Wilson	Playwright
1989	Riccardo Muti	Conductor
1988	Judith Jamison	Dancer
1986	Andrew Wyeth	Painter
1985	Byron Janis	Pianist
1984	Bill Cosby	Entertainer
1983	John Updike	Author
1982	Marian Anderson	Opera Singer
1981	James Michener	Author
1980	James Stewart	Actor
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Theodore L. Hazlett Memorial Awards for Excellence in the Arts
1986
	Lester Breininger, Jr.	Crafts
	Joan Myers Brown	Dance
	Samuel Hazo	Literature
	Sidney Goodman	Painting
	Edgar Kaufmann, Jr.	Service to the Arts
	Katherine Minehart	Theatre
1985
	Mitchell/Giurogola	Architecture
	Anthony Buba	Media Arts
	Max Rudolf	Music
	Larry Fink	Photography
	Charles Fahlen	Sculpture
1984
	Stanley Lechtzin	Crafts
	Hellmut Fricke-Gottschild	Dance
	Daniel Hoffman	Literature
	Dorothy Dressler	Service to the Arts
	Charles Fuller	Theatre
	Henry Koerner	Painting
1983
	Linda Blackaby	Film/Video
	Andre Previn	Music
	Emmet Gowin	Photography
	Jody Pinto	Sculpture
	Robert Venturi Denise Scott Brown	Architecture
1982
	Rudolf Staffel	Crafts
	Paul Draper	Dance
	Fred Rogers	Film/Video
	David Bradley	Literature
	George Crumb	Music
	Larry Day	Painting
	Mark Cohen	Photography
	Rafael Ferrer	Sculpture
	John Allen, Jr.	Theatre
	Philip I. and Muriel Berman	Service to the Arts
1981
	George Nakashima	Crafts
	Barbara Weisberger	Dance
	Peter Rose	Film/Video
	Paul West	Literature
	Vincent Persichetti	Music
	Andrew Wyeth	Painting
	William Larson	Photography
	Selma Burke	Sculpture
	Margo Lovelace	Theatre
	Gregory Gibson	Service to the Arts
1980
	Natale Rossi	Crafts
	Arthur Hall	Dance
	Dwinell Grant	Film/Video
	Gerald Stern	Literature
	Eugene Ormandy	Music
	Edna Andrade	Painting
	Ray K. Metzker	Photography
	Harry Bertoia	Sculpture
	Dr. Alvina Krause	Theatre
	Sondra Myers	Service to the Arts
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