The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts Announces 2009 Sally Award Recipients

The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts today announced the recipients of the 2009 Sally Ordway Irvine Awards. As in the past, four leading individuals or organizations from Minnesota's arts community were acknowledged for their outstanding contributions to the state's cultural life.

The awards were presented in the following categories:

VISION: VSA arts of Minnesota

COMMITMENT: MyRon Johnson

INITIATIVE: Bedlam Theatre

EDUCATION: T. Mychael Rambo

"Minnesota has a well-deserved reputation for the vitality of its artistic community," says Patricia A. Mitchell, Ordway president and CEO. "Each year, as we review the organizations and artists who have been nominated, I am amazed at the breadth and depth of talent that we have here in Minnesota. On behalf of the Ordway and the selection committee, we salute this year's recipients for their extraordinary contributions to Minnesota's artistic and cultural life."

The Sally Awards are based on the "First Trust Award" presented in 1986 to Sally Ordway Irvine, whose initiative, vision and commitment provided the inspiration for the creation of Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. Her award is permanently installed in Ordway's Marzitelli Foyer.

Vision Award: VSA arts of Minnesota
VSA arts of Minnesota has a long and storied history. It was first known as the Committee on Arts for the Handicapped and was part of the Minnesota Alliance for Arts in Education in the late '70s and early '80s. It incorporated as Very Special Arts Minnesota, an affiliate of the national Very Special Arts organization, in 1986. The name was changed to VSA arts of Minnesota in 1999, with VSA standing for Vision, Strength and Access. The organization has been housed in Hennepin Center for the Arts since 1989 and currently has a staff of four and a board of directors numbering 11.

The mission of VSA arts of Minnesota is to create a community where people with disabilities can learn through, participate in, and access the arts. The organization's success has come by working in partnership with the arts, disability and education communities throughout Minnesota. Artists with disabilities are assisted in advancing their artistic pursuits through Career Advancement grants, workshops, and both a statewide directory of artists with disabilities and a direct link to one of the largest Internet directories of artists with disabilities in the world. Programs include artist residencies for students with disabilities, professional development opportunities for artists with disabilities, and access to artistic programming by people of all ages with all types of disabilities. The Access to Performing Arts Project encourages theater, dance, music, and literary groups to provide accommodations for audience members and artists who are deaf or blind. Finally, VSA arts of Minnesota increases the public's awareness of disability and arts-related issues through its annual Arts Access Awards and visual arts exhibits as well as its newsletter and Web site.

Commitment Award: MyRon Johnson
MyRon Johnson is one of this country's most inventive choreographers, with over 50 years' experience in dance, theater, and mime performance and production. He began his training at the age of seven at the Moppet Players, which later became The Children's Theatre Company and School. At age 17, he was awarded a scholarship to study in Paris under the celebrated mime Marcel Marceau. While in France, he also studied with Mme. Janine Charat, Ren Bon and at the Paris Opera Ballet.

Best known locally for his work with Ballet of the Dolls, which he founded in 1986, Johnson has choreographed and mounted more than 100 original productions. Since its founding, Ballet of the Dolls has filled a unique niche in the arts community, offering intimate and innovative professional dance-theater performances that appeal to both dance and theater audiences. Now celebrating its 23rd season, Ballet of the Dolls continues to push boundaries by creating challenging original works, operating education and outreach programs, and by programming and managing the newly renovated Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis. The company typically runs shows for severAl Weeks, a schedule common in the theater world but rare in dance. It also supports itself primarily through box office receipts, unlike many dance companies that rely heavily on grants and other support.

Johnson's work defies classification, with styles ranging from classical ballet to club dance and hip-hop. Thanks to his knowledge of theater, ballet, mime, popular culture, musicals, and cult movies, he easily mixes genres to create memorable performances.

In addition to his work with Ballet of the Dolls, Johnson has choreographed and directed at the Guthrie Theater, Children's Theatre, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres and Arizona Theatre, and has served as choreographer in residence for many dance companies. Fashion aficionados may be familiar with his direction and choreography for major fashion events at Dayton's, Marshall Field's and Macy's over the past two decades.

Initiative Award: Bedlam Theatre
Bedlam Theatre produces radical theater with a focus on collaboration and a blend of professional and community art. The company's imaginative mix of spectacle, satire, absurdism, multimedia and music theater has delighted local audiences since 1993. Over the years, as its collaborative approach has grown beyond the stage - from audience to community - Bedlam has become a leader in civic engagement and audience development.

The Bedlam philosophy is part performance, part community building, and part social networking. The company provides hands-on opportunities for community involvement in the creation of cutting-edge performances, and it has built a social framework around its productions that includes a full restaurant, bar and community spaces. Bedlam opens its space for classes, meetings and workshops, and supports metropolitan livability and sustainability initiatives with an on-site bicycle workshop, outdoor performances near the Cedar-Riverside LRT stop, alternative transit discounts, and a local food menu. This year, its Cedar Riverside Art Zone for Youth will engage over 300 neighborhood youth, mostly first and second generation East African immigrants, in creative skill building workshops, events and the creation of original performances.

In 2004 Bedlam was named by American Theatre Magazine as one of 12 innovative companies to watch nationwide. Over the past three years, Bedlam has grown more than ten-fold in terms of audience, creative output, community activity and budget. Bedlam is a recipient of a Doris Duke Future Audiences Award, the 2009 3M Innovation in the Arts Award, capacity investment grants from the McKnight and Bush Foundations as well as strong support for its neighborhood youth initiatives. Today, Bedlam finds itself at the center of a national dialogue to rethink the paradigm for arts organizations, with burgeoning success in its mix of community building, innovative art work and diverse earned revenue streams.

Education Award: T. Mychael Rambo
"The art of education is the art of assisting discovery." This quote by Mark Van Doren gives voice to the significant impact T. Mychael Rambo has had on the artistic community and arts education in Minnesota. An affiliate professor for the College of Liberal Arts, Theatre Arts and Dance at the U of M, Rambo has received two Century Community Awards from the University for outstanding service and achievement. Other accomplishments and awards include a 2008 Regional Emmy Award in conjunction with the Bell Museum and KTCA, fellowships from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the McKnight, Bush and Jerome Foundations, and a Leadership Initiative in Neighborhoods Grant awarded by the St. Paul Companies.

Rambo's commitment to arts education and mentorship is reflected in his numerous artist residencies with social service agencies and community organizations ranging from COMPAS and Young Audiences to the Plymouth Christian Youth Center and the Flint Hills International Children's Festival.

Known also for his indelible talents as a theater professional, Rambo has performed principle roles on virtually every stage in the Twin Cities. Productions range from "Caroline, or Change" and "Crowns" at the Guthrie to Penumbra Theatre's "Gem of the Ocean," "The Piano Lesson," "Get Ready," "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Black Nativity." A highly regarded vocalist and recording artist, he was honored to be selected to represent Minnesota in the singing of the National Anthem for President Obama, before a standing room audience at the Target Center during Obama's 2009 Health Rally Tour.

T. Mychael Rambo truly is an agent for change and discovery. His contributions have heightened awareness of the power of the arts to change lives and transform communities. He blends his many talents in varying portions to unlocks doors of imagination, shape pathways to academic success and unearth the "right stuff" in young people and adults alike, empowering them to expand and strengthen Minnesota's artistic and cultural communities.

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts
Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, the Ordway is widely recognized as one of the nation's leading not-for-profit performing arts centers and Saint Paul's most elegant and inviting performance space. The Ordway's Main Hall and McKnight Theatre stages attract diverse audiences with an array of productions encompassing the finest in American musical theater, world music, dance, jazz, and vocal performance. In addition, each year Ordway presents its Flint Hills International Children's Festival and serves over 50,000 children and adults through its Ordway Center Education programs. The Ordway is part of a unique Arts Partnership with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Opera and the Schubert Club, hosting their renowned productions each season. The Ordway is also proud to sponsor the Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, a professionally guided academic and artistic environment that trains aspiring pre-professional performing artists in the areas of instrumental and vocal music, theater and dance.