The Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance (ICCA) announces the winners of the 2015 Collaboration and Reaching Out Awards at Celebration of the Arts on November 4. The annual awards are designed to recognize ICCA partner organizations for their most innovative collaborative programming throughout the year.
The ICCA Collaboration Award recognizes successful collaborations between ICCA members. Coe College, Brucemore, the African American Museum of Iowa, the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, and the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library were recognized for their collaboration on organizing the Night at the Museum series.
The Reaching Out Award recognizes a successful partnership between an ICCA member and a non-member organization. Theatre Cedar Rapids was recognized for its collaboration with Hy-Vee and the Cedar Rapids Blue Zones Project. The groups worked together on Eat Green with Shrek.
All ICCA partner organizations were eligible to nominate programming and vote on the ballot.
“It was an outstanding year for Arts and Culture in the Cultural Corridor, and we congratulate all of our nominees and winners for their innovative and collaborative programming,” said Eric Hanson, ICCA President.
Individual arts advocate awards were presented to Debbie Stanton (Washington Public Library) as the recipient of the 2015 Larry Eckholt Award and Leslie Charipar (Theatre Cedar Rapids) as the recipient of the 2015 Peggy Whitworth Award. The Eckholt Award recognizes a community member in the southern part of the Corridor, while the Whitworth Award recognizes a member of the northern part of the Corridor.
The ICCA Celebration of the Arts annual meeting luncheon was held at Cedar Ridge Winery in Swisher and featured a keynote presentation by Diana Nollen, arts and entertainment writer for The Gazette. Celebration of the Arts is ICCA’s annual meeting event, intended to elevate the awareness of the artistic and cultural organizations in the Corridor and to celebrate the outstanding collaborations of ICCA partners.
“This year was also special as we celebrated our tenth anniversary, complete with a photo montage of events from the past decade and anecdotes from past board members.” added Hanson. “This organization embraced collaboration and regionalism ten years ago to help coalesce and strengthen our arts and culture community.”
Celebration of the Arts was made possible thanks to generous support provided by the Iowa City/Coralville Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Cedar Rapids Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Hills Bank and Trust Company.
The Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance is a partnership of cultural organizations throughout eleven counties in and around Iowa’s Creative Corridor. The mission of ICCA is to promote the varied cultural activities of its partner organizations and to nurture a sustainable cultural community. ICCA is the community resource for Arts, Culture and Entertainment, offering our members and the community advocacy-focused events, educational programming, professional development, and arts and culture awareness.
Photo courtesy of ICCA