By Erin Williams—
MUNCIE, IN—Save the date! The Mayor’s Arts Awards return September 30, 2023, and the event to celebrate our nominees and award winners will be bigger than ever.
The Muncie Arts and Culture Council (MuncieArts), in conjunction with the City of Muncie, is excited to announce that nominations are now being accepted for the 5th Biennial Mayor’s Arts Awards. Nominees for this year’s awards will be celebrated at a special reception preceding the award ceremony on September 30th at Munsee Lanes. The ceremony will be in the Southside Middle School Auditorium —more details to come.
The deadline for nominations is Friday, September 1st, 2023. Nominations can be submitted online at MuncieArts.org/2023-maa, by email, by mail, or dropped off at the Mayor’s Office at City Hall, 300 S. High St., 3rd Floor. Details and nomination packets are on the website.
What are the Mayor’s Arts Awards?
The Mayor’s Arts Awards are the most prestigious honors given by the city to individual artists, teachers, non-profit organizations, and patrons of the arts. The Mayor’s Arts Awards recognize the contributions to the cultural community by all visual, performing, and culinary artists, musicians, writers, poets, rappers, directors, producers, craftspeople, arts educators, arts patrons, arts professionals and volunteers, as well as organizations, institutions, government agencies, corporations, and businesses who work in or for the arts primarily benefiting the residents of Muncie. The goal of this program is to help cultivate greater visibility and understanding of the value of the arts, as well as grow new leadership and new patrons of the arts in our fabulous city of Muncie.
Who Can Be Nominated?
Nominations are welcome for artists, advocates, supporters, or businesses in any arts discipline or category, not limited to the categories listed above. Nominees should be dedicated to the arts in their field and should show a demonstrated commitment to their community, neighborhood, school, or the city of Muncie.
Nominations can be made for a specific award category, but if a category is not specified by the nominator, the awards committee will make its best judgment as to which award category the nominee will be placed in.
The 2023 award categories are:
Arts Advocate—an individual or organization whose strong support of the arts has been ongoing through philanthropic and/or volunteer service
Arts Leader—an arts professional or organization who has demonstrated outstanding leadership, organizational stewardship and partnership within the local arts community
Arts Educator—an individual whose achievements and contributions to arts education have been significant and far reaching
Corporate Arts Award—a business/corporation that shows exemplary support of the arts, artists, and arts organizations within the Muncie area
Artist in the Community—an individual visual, performing, or culinary artist, musician, writer, poet, rapper, director, craftsperson, etc. (in any discipline) recognized for artistic excellence and singular efforts in contributing to Muncie’s cultural vitality
Next Generation Artist—a working visual, performing, or culinary artist, musician, writer, poet, rapper, director, craftsperson, etc. (in any discipline) under the age of 40 who has demonstrated outstanding promise and commitment to the arts community
Muncie Maker Award—a local for-profit business owner who exemplifies the impact and vitality of Muncie’s creative economy
Lifetime Achievement Award—an individual or organization recognized for significant and sustained contributions to the field of arts and culture in the Muncie area
And new this year—People’s Choice Award–a special award that will be both nominated and awarded during the ceremony only. No nomination form is required for this award – just come to the free ceremony on September 30th and make your nomination! Votes will be tallied during the ceremony and the winner will be announced at the end of the ceremony.
Nominee Eligibility:
- Nominees must reside in Muncie or Delaware County.
- Nominees must work in Muncie, produce the majority of their artistic work in Muncie, or make significant contributions to benefit the arts in Muncie.
- Self-nominations are not accepted (but you can find a friend to nominate you!)
- You CAN Nominate someone who has been NOMINATED before. A list of all past nominees and winners is located at MuncieArts.org/2023-maa
- You CAN Nominate a group, collective, or team if they meet the requirements for the nomination and award category.
- You CAN’T Nominate someone who has RECEIVED an award before. Let’s spread the love!
All nominations must be submitted to MuncieArts by Friday, August 18th, 2023.
The nomination form and list of nomination packet requirements is available for download at MuncieArts.org/2023-maa. If you require a paper nomination form, please contact Erin at erin@munciearts.org or (765) 201-0182. Nominations can also be submitted online using the form located on the website.
“We honor all nominees,” said MuncieArts Executive Director Erin Williams. “It is great to win an award, but being nominated by your community truly celebrates the hard, and often invisible, work and perseverance by artists, advocates, educators and patrons in Muncie. We have a huge creative community – let’s get together, have a blast, and recognize this important asset to the community.”
The 2023 Mayor’s Arts Awards are made possible through support from the Muncie Arts and Culture Council and the City of Muncie.
Interested in supporting or sponsoring this highly publicized community event? Sponsorship inquiries can be sent to erin@munciearts.org.
Erin Williams is Executive Director, Muncie Arts & Culture Council and PlySpace Artist Residency.
