(light instrumental music) - Well, good evening, everyone.

It looks like everyone's about settled.

So we're gonna start our program.

I've always found the best way to do this is to warm up our clapping hands, because that's what we do with this event.

We a applaud a lot of people, so let's get started.

(audience applauding) My name is Sara Needles.

I am the Deputy Director for State Parks and Cultural Resources, and I want to welcome you to the 39th annual Governor's Arts Awards, honoring the 2020 and 2021 Governor's Arts Award recipients.

Obviously tonight we have a lot of recipients, because we unfortunately had to skip a year.

It's gonna be a great evening.

Thank you for being here, and it's my pleasure to introduce Darin Westby.

He's the Director of State Parks and Cultural Resources.

(audience applauding) - Thank you, Sara.

Hopefully everybody can hear me all right out there.

Welcome.

As Sara said, welcome to this event.

Really appreciate everybody coming out.

It's great to see everybody in person.

I think the past two years has exemplified the need and desire for social engagement, as well as the creative sector.

It has showed all of us that it is definitely the vehicle that has helped us get through the last couple years, and it gave us that shining light at the end of the tunnel.

I'm really proud to be a part of that sector, and everything that you all get to do every day.

Now, I would like to introduce our sponsors.

We're very fortunate to have six Governor's Circle sponsors, and three Advocate for the Arts sponsors this year.

Our Governor's Circle sponsors include Buffalo Bill Center of the West, and Naomi Tate, (audience applauding) Little America Hotel and Resort.

(audience applauding) Poppy's who provided the lovely centerpieces for the tables this evening, yep.

(audience applauding and cheering) Jackson Hole Still Works.

(audience applauding) JP Morgan, Chase and Company.

(audience applauding) And Wild Angus Ranch.

Thank you.

(audience applauding) Our Advocate for the Arts sponsors include Jody Levin and Levin Strategy Resources, who's responsible for all the wine on the table, so thank you very much.

(audience applauding and cheering) Beth Wilkins.

Thank you, Beth.

(audience applauding) The Wyoming Humanities Council.

Thank you very much.

(audience applauding) We are indeed fortunate in Wyoming to have a Governor and the First Lady who support the arts.

We're also very honored to have them here with us tonight.

So ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Governor Mark Gordon to the stage for his comments on the State of the Arts of Wyoming.

(audience applauding) Thank you.

My goodness.

My goodness.

Don't you all look just amazing, and we're all here in this great room, and it is wonderful to be together again.

So I was thinking about a couple things, you know, this last year, this pandemic year, I was thinking, well, what can I do to open a state of the arts kind of thing?

And I was thinking of a wonderful, and I have a very short memory span, so I can't go of many stands, but I was thinking Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Love is like a cigarette, the bigger the drag, the more you get.

And I thought, well, that's a nice statement about the pandemic.

But then I thought for this evening, and with all of us together and gathered, and just look at your neighbor and think about how wonderful it is that they're here, and you've had this incredible conversation.

And I thought, Wendell Berry might provide a nice after meal prayer.

So this is Wendell's prayer, Prayer After Eating.

I've taken in the light that quickened eye and leaf, may my brain be bright with praise of what I eat in the brief blaze of motion and thought, may I be worthy of my meat.

So as a rancher who raises beef, you know how important that is.

So, and it, First Lady, it is my honor to be with you this evening.

So thank you for all you do for the Hunger Initiative, and for kids of Wyoming, all around Wyoming.

(audience applauding) So, you see now I know some of you may be very envious about this, but you see that in Wyoming, we are blessed and particularly in northeast Wyoming, so tonight not only do the Poet Laureate, Jean, speak to you, but there are other poets here, like David Romtvedt over there.

David, very good.

And David was sort of part of the ambition of pulling together Worlds of Music, which goes around and brings wonderful bits of music to school kids all around the state.

So Paul Taylor, back in the corner there, just got to see.

And if you haven't had a chance to hear Paul mesmerize you about the magic of the didgeridoo, make an effort to go see Paul.

Because you see in Wyoming, we really value the arts, we value what the arts bring.

We know it to be a part of our culture, and we know it to be so enriching, and it makes something magical happen in Wyoming.

It happens really right across the state.

It's a little better in the northeast part.

But across the state, it's really remarkable.

So tonight, it is my great joy to be able to tell you the arts are very strong.

They're very strong in Wyoming.

(audience applauding) And in fact, we never really missed a beat.

You know, I had the great joy of serving for a while on the Ucross Foundation Board.

And I see Sharon Dynak over there, and Susan Miller, a board member.

And I remember something that the founder of the UCross Foundation, Raymond Plank, who is an oil and gas man, and Raymond had this view, that it was important, and only in Wyoming was there a chance that you could bring together artists from around the world, oil and gas people and, cowboys like me, and have them sit down at supper, and compare notes and talk with each other, because in this world today, and I heard this the other day, and it made a lot of sense to me.

You know, what we've done over the last year is we have said, we are all like fifth graders.

You know, there's a fight out in the parking lot after school, and everybody's gonna go watch that.

Social media makes sure that we watch it very, very carefully.

But what we find is that that fight really is irrelevant.

You know, a lot of people focus on it, but what's really important is what's going on with people, the conversations we can have, the opportunities we can have to share our views of the world, of each other, and we do that in the arts.

So tonight we're blessed to have a lot of legislators with us.

And I'm just gonna be a little bit political here.

You'll notice that this is not the political season in Wyoming.

This room is full of people who care about the future of Wyoming, am I right?

(audience applauding) Now, I'm also gonna say something about the legislature.

They care about the arts.

It's clear, they're here.

And if you wanna see their work product, just look at the map they've made on how we're gonna vote for representatives next year.

It's an amazing work of art.

But seriously, truly, it is wonderful to have you all here this evening and the people that are gonna receive the awards tonight, they're so deserving of your applause and of recognition.

Wyoming truly is remarkable.

It's remarkable because of our sky.

It's remarkable because of the people who live here, the grit that we have, and the fact that regardless of what comes our way, regardless of what comes our way, we respect one another.

We love the place we live, and we will represent it in the best way that we possibly can.

So tonight it is truly joyous.

And I hope you just turn to your neighbor, just do that right now, turn to your neighbor and say, thank you for being here.

Thank you for being part of Wyoming, and thank you for representing the arts.

Lastly, thank you for making sure that our kids understand the value of art.

And I'll leave you with one last example, and it comes from David Romtvedt, who got a bunch of little kids together, way back when, and right before Asleep at the Wheel came on at the White Buffalo, which is now gone in Buffalo, Wyoming.

He had our kids playing a song, David, it was called Water Bound.

I think you spent an entire year.

- [David] Those were slow kids.

(audience laughing) - And there's Margo.

Margo, it is so good to see you.

A potter, unbelievable.

Thank you for this evening.

And Darin, you had a script here that I was supposed to follow, but it's right there and I'm supposed to introduce, but thank you again for this evening.

And let's really recognize these terrific artists, and these terrific performers that we'll see this evening.

God bless you, God bless Wyoming.

God bless the United States and America.

(audience applauding) - Definitely a lot to be proud of.

Thank you very much, amazing words.

And something that hopefully will carry us through the rest of this year.

Now we're excited to honor the 2020 Governor's Arts Award recipients.

So if everyone would please direct their attention to the screens for a short video.

(soft piano music) - We wanted to start a museum, but there wasn't any money to a museum here in Kaycee.

And so I said, oh, I'll write a play.

So I wrote a play.

And I wrote it, it's called, "The Whole Truth Behind the Hole in the Wall Gang," that featured old cowboys that had never acted before, and was very well received, and made $3,000, so we started a museum.

I just reread some of the letters that people had written about how important John was for some arts organizations, particularly the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund.

They were having a small committee meeting, and then John dropped everything else he was doing, and came into that meeting.

And they stood up and started talking about all the reasons why we needed this and why it should be funded.

And the end of his speech, they decided immediately to fund it completely.

The arts just perk you up.

We see something that's artistic or here's something that's artistic, it really helps.

Access to the arts just enhances your life.

- So I have the honor of inviting each and every one of you who has gotten an award to the stage.

And it is really truly an honor to have the opportunity to invite Nancy Schiffer, who has been a friend for a very long time.

Nancy, thank you for all that you've done.

You know, kids in Kaycee had a chance to learn about Matisse and others, because Nancy cared.

Nancy was a librarian in the Kaycee school, and she just was a dedicated parent and Nancy, it is truly amazing to have you here.

God bless you.

(audience applauding) - Thank you.

Hey Darin, where where's that script you were gonna give Mark?

I said, where's that script Darin was gonna give you?

I did.

Thank you all.

I did actually, I also taught seventh and eighth grade social studies and was the drama coach, but I did do for about five or six years, a unit on European history with my seventh grade geography kids, when they each took a different artist, and looked at European history from the viewpoint of that artist.

And I'm proud and happy to say that even though there were nudes involved, even though some of the pictures didn't look like people really looked, Picasso, the kids loved it.

And the parents never squawked once.

They all were really tickled, they were overjoyed that the kids learned something about it, and kids they've grown up now way grown up, but they still come to me and say, oh, I really liked Rafael, or gee, that Matisse guy was really cool.

And it pleases me.

And I'm glad we had such open reception from the people who lived there then.

So thank you for bringing that up, Mark.

I almost forgot.

You may be thinking, gee, a dead guy and a rancher from nowhere, that's what's leading this?

But John was truly involved in art, from as long as I've known him.

He didn't have any talent, and he loved music, but he only sang in the shower and the dog howled.

Well, sometimes the dog liked it.

He read the poems in the New Yorker all the time, every week.

And he would talk about them to other people.

He'd be proud to see two Buffalo residents as poet laureates, David Romtvedt and Gene Gagliano.

He really did love poetry.

He read all types of literature, and thought about all types of literature.

When he came back from Vietnam, he was very torn about the war.

He really thought the war was wrong, frankly, and he read everything he could read on it.

He read fiction, he read non-fiction.

He read articles, he read and read.

And that firmed his thoughts about our intervention in Asia.

He encouraged my playwriting and my directing, which was great.

And could he dance?

He could do the cowboy shuffle, with a little bit of rhythm.

Ben, my son, are you listening to this?

Your wife is a wonderful dancer.

So follow her, don't follow your dad.

The visual arts were really important to him, and we managed to visit hundreds of galleries and museums through our life together.

And importantly to the state, as a state Senator, he did everything he could to enhance the arts, and build possibilities for every community in Wyoming.

And these which we see through, and I particularly notice the ones that the Cultural Trust Fund has helped sponsor, the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund.

Some of these activities and projects in the tiniest of towns become the center of the town.

And suddenly the town starts to change a little bit, and looks at things differently, and thinks of things differently, which is an absolute blessing.

And John was the person who really did help get the Cultural Trust Fund to start.

And I'm proud to serve on their board, and excited when he traveled around the state and see projects that have happened, which would not have happened without us.

And thank you, Governor Gordon, and the legislators who continue to support this important granting institution.

I've been active in the arts as long as I can remember, not actually producing anything, well a play or two, but not being an artist, which I always wished I had been, but supporting projects and working with organizations and museums, serving on boards, contributing, but art, like almost all things, is really about the people.

And the creation of art takes courage.

Think of, I think of Susan Stubbs and playing Metallica at a classical concert.

It was really cool, and this little girl sitting in front of me is going.

I mean, she finally liked piano music, but she hadn't before.

Steve Schrepferman, it takes courage to pronounce his name, I want you to know, (laughing) but I look at his creative work, and now he's working on creating sculpture, sculpture, sculpture, with ceramics, which is exciting, and I can't wait to see what comes.

All these take risks.

These things are hard to do sometimes.

And Nicole Crawford who runs the UW Art Museum beautifully and wonderfully, and is building a great institution.

And another risk taker that I adore connected with that museum is Susan Summers, without whom we probably wouldn't have Nicole.

And brave people are all through all of arts, and I love that.

I'm a great admirer of artists everywhere.

The creation of art takes great courage, as I said.

So it's an overwhelming joy for me when I can travel around the state, and see and hear art everywhere, in cities, in towns, tiny remote hamlets, mountains, resorts, and prairies and ranches.

I believe and love the fact that there is art in all of us.

Thank you.

(audience applauding) (dramatic piano music) - There is so much joy in movement, and we need that joy in our lives.

There's a profound effect for the audience.

It's fleeting, it's not permanent like a book or a documentary.

You can't go back and watch it again.

But there is something that's very moving.

There is a kinesthetic response that we have to watching other people dance.

It stirs something in us.

And I think what they take away from that is a sense that dance is something fun, but there's more to it than they really thought.

One of the things that we try to instill in our students is that they might not have a career in the arts, but what they will have, is an appreciation of the arts and an understanding of why dance is fundamental to human existence.

- So now it is my honor to invite Doctor Margaret Wilson.

You've seen her up on the screen.

Doctor Margaret Wilson.

(audience applauding) - That's a hard act to follow.

That was a fabulous accumulation of stories and inspiration.

And thank you very much.

I have been able to meet the team that I'm on, Team 2020, and really enjoyed getting to know some of the other artists, and very honored to be here.

I'm honored to have been nominated, to receive this recognition from my colleagues, from the Wyoming Arts Council, and from the Governor of Wyoming.

I'm a lifelong resident of Wyoming.

And this is a place where I find inspiring mentors and colleagues, rich, artistic collaborators, and a place in which I can share these experiences, although my dancing was in Greenland.

I am most appreciative of the support from the Department of Theater and Dance at the University of Wyoming, where I have had the privilege of working for almost 40 years.

I've been able to collaborate with creative and insightful colleagues, but I've also had the freedom to explore and develop my artistic and scholarly interests.

Within the department, every production, every project we do, is the cumulative effort of many artists, although usually it's only the director or the choreographer who gets the credit.

For example, my most recent production on campus was a vertical dance performance, but I wasn't really sure what I was going to do.

And my colleague scenic designer, Scott Tedman Jones, who's with me at my table tonight said, how about Alice in Wonderland?

How about the books of Lewis Carroll?

And that sparked an imagination, a fire in me.

We had a wonderful collaboration where he developed not only the set, but the costumes.

Art doesn't happen in a vacuum.

And we are very fortunate to have colleagues to work with who share a passion, and who nurture us as artists.

I am also a teacher and my interests intertwine with modern dance, vertical dance, dance history.

And I'm fortunate to be able to explore ways to bring these interests and passions together.

With my colleagues, we developed the first program in vertical dance as part of our curriculum.

And I'm proud to say, (audience applauding) I'm proud to say we also started a BFA in Dance Science.

I love to say, that a BFA, a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Science.

We're really trying to help dancers understand how to be better at teaching, performing, and it's been an honor to be able to do that.

I get to work with young people.

They are an inspiration to keep me seeking and to keep playing.

They are the next generation of artists, and I look forward to seeing how they develop in the world.

Our students at the University of Wyoming have been successful in local, regional, national, and international venues.

Some of them have stayed in the state, others have left, but are coming back to the state to give back and provide opportunity for more artistic development.

I'm proud of the ability to be a part of that legacy.

I'm extremely honored to be able to work with artists who also have been recognized with the Governor's arts awards.

Paul Taylor, who brought Australian culture to a children's program that he and I worked on a long time ago, to vertical dance, to my dance history class, to Wendy Bradahoft and Susan Moldenaur, inspiring visual artists and collaborators.

(audience applauding) And my mentor, my muse, and my closest friend, choreographer, Marsha Knight.

(audience applauding) So vertical dance, it's eye catching.

It's risky, it's dangerous, it's fun.

And yet, while I get a lot of credit for vertical dance, and I have the opportunity to perform, it wouldn't exist without the inspiration and the artistic development that comes from my partner, Neil Humphrey, who is a professor in geology and geophysics, he's adjunct in physical dance, and my dance partner for life.

Whether in our shared classes, theaters, on the outside of buildings in Laramie, or around the state, on rock faces at Vedauwoo, or on the ice in Greenland, where we collaborated with a former student, it is a gift to share something as rich as the art and arts with someone you love.

My heartfelt congratulations to the 2020 and 2021 winners of the Governor's Arts Award.

I've enjoyed meeting some of you and look forward to meeting others and sharing in the celebration of your work, and offer my congratulations for your dedication and passion for all that you do.

And finally, I'm almost done, I want to applaud the tireless and ongoing effort and initiatives of the Wyoming Arts Council.

I've been following the Arts Council for a long time, and I'm always impressed with the amount of work, the amount of dedication and the amount of impact that a small amount of money can have across the state of Wyoming.

Thank you, Governor Gordon, and your wife for your support of the arts, and thank you for this honor.

(audience applauding) (soft piano music) - Looking at works of art that I love, they're ever-changing for me.

And the things that I really love just get better over time.

In the mid-80's, I worked at Trailside Gallery, and I saw the interaction with the artist and the collector, and how that creative bridge is crossed.

I said, maybe we should go to Cody and start a gallery.

And fortunately, for us, all of the artists who we'd had relationships with and a history with, said yes, and I will be forever grateful.

You can never have too many galleries in a place, because the more galleries you have, the more diversity of work that you show, and the more people are exposed to those who see the world differently.

- It is now a distinct honor also, to invite Sue Simpson Gallagher to the stage to give an acceptance address, Sue.

(audience applauding) - Hi.

Thank you, Governor Gordon.

And first lady Jenny, the Wyoming Arts Council and Ken Schuster for nominating me, and Sarah Mentock, Kathy Wipfler, Tim Lawson, Joel Losland, Skip Whitcomb, and Gary and Susan Miller, for writing letters in support of my nomination for this award.

I'm honored and humbled to accept it, especially because many who have received this award that have received this award, are institutions, and people which I support, and in several cases whom I love, namely my mom.

(audience applauding) That's pretty early for me to start crying.

Namely, my Mom, Anne Simpson, and my Aunt Lynn Simpson.

(audience applauding) Tonight, I wanna recognize my cousin sister friend, Amy Simpson, who is heroically fighting for her life after suffering a stroke last Saturday.

For over 30 years, Amy has taught music in elementary schools.

Her dedication to the arts and to art education has transformed hundreds of children's lives.

And perhaps in the process saved quite a few.

It is Amy's kind of dedication that deserves awards.

Still, I yeah.

(audience applauding) Still I accept this award with gratitude.

I have spent much of my life immersed in art.

I am not an artist, but I am in awe of them.

I am fascinated by the influences and experiences in our lives that define us.

Fortunately for me, I was raised by open, still being raised, by open-minded open-hearted parents, who allowed their children to find their bliss and supported them in pursuing it.

I found mine pretty early on.

My paternal great-grandfather was a painter.

My paternal grandmother was a musician and a painter.

My parents are self-trained art historians.

My oldest brother and uncle are gifted draftsman.

My aunts and uncles, sister-in-laws nieces, nephews, and cousins, are singers, songwriters, drummers, guitar players, jewelry makers, actors, and writers.

My family sees the arts as a necessity for a happy, fulfilling life.

Growing up in Cody, I had the Buffalo Bill Historical Center as a heart home for me, a place that helped me find and fuel my passion.

It is still that.

When I was 11 years old, my parents took my brothers and me to Europe.

And along with my very hip, fabulous, polyester pantsuits from Montgomery Ward's, I was really enthused about most everything on that trip.

Even the charleyhorses I received in the backseat of the car, back of the rental car, as my dad drove very fast.

We went to art museums in every city we visited, we saw symphonies and ballets.

We soaked it all in.

I came away with not only a lifelong love of down comforters, but an indelible appreciation for great art that changed my life.

It set me on a path.

I studied art history at Colorado College.

My focus was the Italian Renaissance, which enabled me to go to Italy for a few months for an independent study.

I studied the Hudson River School of Painting in graduate school, and my parents never once said to me on my journey, what are you gonna do with an art history degree?

Along my way, I found mentors and heroes at every turn.

I was at the right place at the right time as a young person in Jackson, Wyoming, who wanted to work and was okay with only skiing on the weekends, when Bill and Joffa Kerr Governor's Arts Award recipients in 1997, asked me to be the first curator of the Wildlife of the American West Art Museum, now the National Museum of Wildlife Art.

It is a place that still feeds my soul.

In my life, I'm especially grateful to my husband, John Gallagher, who helped me realize a dream I didn't even know I had, to own an art gallery, and who supports and loves me, and is the reason I am not living in a van down by the river.

(audience laughing and applauding) Because I think money is meant to be spent, even if you don't have it.

Because of John encouraging me and my vision, I represent incredible artists, who are my business partners and my dear friends, and who make me feel validated as an artist of being alive.

I have worked with soulmates, people who are the reason I still have the gallery, who allow me the time for volunteering and consulting that energize me.

I have developed friendships with clients that are a gift and a surprise.

I have amazing friends who love and support me, and watch the gallery when I need help, and think what I do is worth doing.

I'm blessed with two wonderful kind children, Fiona and Aiden, who know that art makes their lives better, and that it makes their mother's heart sing, and that makes them happy.

I close with the words of Goethe, not because they make me look erudite and fancy, but because they ring true for me.

"A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful, which God has implanted in the human soul."

Thank you for this wonderful honor.

(audience applauding) (bright piano music) - If you were looking at art carefully and thinking about what is the difference between a painting by da Vinci and a painting by Michelangelo, you are looking for very subtle details.

I've talked to doctors when they are thinking about a diagnosis for a patient.

Maybe they have multiple symptoms, so they need to think about those symptoms in detail, with the same nuance that we might apply when looking at works of art.

So we're really training our mind, our brain, to see the world around us so carefully.

Creative thinkers solve problems.

And in the 21st century, we can all look to the creative arts to express ourselves.

And in that too, we can find great joy.

- Now, if I might invite Doctor Valerie Innella Maiers to the stage to give her acceptance address, Doctor Maiers?

(audience applauding) - Governor, First Lady, honorees and art supporters, especially the Wyoming Arts Council.

Thank you.

This recognition is an honor of, and a reflection of how we value and support each other in the state of Wyoming.

As an educator at Casper College and supporter of the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, I'm fortunate to be surrounded by art exhibition and the power of live music.

I appreciate my family, friends, and many former students here this evening, students who worked hard in their studies at Casper College, and are now art educators, curators, and professional artists.

Your work and the initiatives of Wyoming Humanities, Ucross Foundation and the Arts Council among others enrich our lives.

And when we support the arts and teach the arts, we give voice to multiple manners of expression, and build creative minds that rise to any challenge.

Even active looking at art, cultivates a perceptive critical eye that reads communication in all forms to better understand ourselves, each other, and our world.

The arts can surprise, soothe, shock, and/or be a balm to the soul.

And my soul is enlightened by the work of those in this room.

And I am lucky to be on this life journey and education.

Explorations of the world through fellowship at the University of Wyoming, and experiencing our history and heritage through our museums, like the Nick and the National Wildlife Museum, the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center, the Warner Wildlife Museum, the State Museum, and so many others.

We are truly building a rich state when we support the arts.

Thank you.

(audience applauding) - Tonight, we will hear from students involved with Off Square Theatre Company in Jackson.

Off Square Theatre Company's mission is to produce and present theater of the highest professional standards that inspires, stimulates, and entertains diverse audiences, and to conduct training, and educational programs that enhance the quality of life for those they serve.

Performing "Dentist" from "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Season of Love" from "Rent," Please help me welcome Alexia Carmichael, Claire Eddy, Tatum Graham, Dylan Hannah, Oscar Erickson, and Mia Haas.

(audience applauding and cheering) ♪ When I was younger, just a bad little kid ♪ ♪ My mama noticed funny things that I did ♪ ♪ Like shooting puppies with a BB gun ♪ ♪ I'd poison guppies ♪ And when I was done ♪ I'd find a pussy cat, bash in its head ♪ ♪ That's when my mama said ♪ What did she say?

♪ She said, my boy I think some day ♪ ♪ You'll find a way to make your natural tendencies pay ♪ ♪ You'll be a dentist ♪ You'll be a dentist ♪ You have a talent for causing things pain, pain ♪ ♪ Son be a dentist ♪ Son be a dentist ♪ People will pay you to be inhumane ♪ ♪ Your temperament's wrong for the priesthood ♪ ♪ And teaching would suit you still less ♪ ♪ Son be a dentist ♪ You'll be a success ♪ Here he is girls, the leader of the plaque ♪ ♪ Watch him suck up that gas ♪ Oh my God ♪ He's a dentist and he'll never ever be any good ♪ ♪ Who wants their teeth done by a Marquis de Sade ♪ ♪ Oh, that hurts ♪ I'm not numb ♪ Oh, shut up ♪ Open wide, here I come ♪ I am your dentist ♪ Fitting braces ♪ And I enjoy the pain I inflict ♪ ♪ Love it ♪ I am your dentist ♪ Fitting braces ♪ And I get off on the pain I inflict ♪ ♪ Really love it ♪ When I start extracting those molars ♪ ♪ You girls will be screaming like holy rollers ♪ ♪ Dentist ♪ And though I may cause my patients distress ♪ ♪ Distress ♪ Somewhere, somewhere in heaven above me ♪ ♪ I know, I know that my mom is proud of me ♪ ♪ 'Cause I'm a dentist, and a success ♪ ♪ Say, ah ♪ Ah ♪ Say, ah ♪ Ah ♪ Say, ah ♪ Ah ♪ Now spit (audience applauding) (bright piano music) ♪ 525,600 minutes ♪ 525,000 moments so dear ♪ 525,600 minutes ♪ How dare you measure, measure a year ♪ ♪ In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee ♪ ♪ In inches, in miles, in laughter and strife ♪ ♪ In 525,600 minutes ♪ How do you measure a year in the life ♪ ♪ How about love?

♪ How about love?

♪ How about love?

♪ Measure in love ♪ Seasons of love ♪ Seasons of love ♪ 525,600 minutes ♪ 525,000 journeys to plan ♪ 525,600 minutes ♪ How do you measure the life of a woman or man ♪ ♪ In truths that she learned ♪ Or in times that he cried ♪ In bridges he burned ♪ Or the way that he died ♪ It's time now to sing out ♪ Though the story never ends ♪ Let's celebrate, remember a year ♪ ♪ In the life of friends ♪ Remember the love ♪ Remember the love ♪ Remember the love ♪ Measure in love ♪ Measure, measure your life in love ♪ ♪ Seasons of love ♪ Seasons of love ♪ Measure you life, measure your life in love ♪ (audience applauding and cheering) - So for, for this portion of the program, are we feeling like the arts are okay in Wyoming?

(audience applauding) Yeah.

So we're now at the second half of the event, which will now honor the 2021 Governor's Awards recipients.

If everyone will please direct their attention to the screens for a short video.

(acoustic guitar music) - I can't remember not making things.

I draw, I make sculpture, I use clay.

I make video animations.

Art-making is an essential part of being human.

And it is one of the sort of inherent sort of drives that we have.

I do have a lot of people that I know say, well, I'm not very creative.

And I'm like, we need to think about what that actually means.

I always want to encourage a broad definition of being creative.

So the Art Association provides studio space and classroom space to the Jackson Hole community.

We welcome and provide art classes for anyone from preschool to lifelong learners.

Art-making and art-sharing creates an understanding.

It creates empathy, arts is beneficial to mental wellbeing, physical wellbeing, and social wellbeing.

- So it would be a great honor again to invite Bronwyn Minton to the stage to give an acceptance address, Bronwyn?

(audience applauding) - Hello, big, beautiful Wyoming.

Good evening.

Thank you, Governor Mark Gordon and First Lady.

Thank you to the Wyoming Arts Council, and the Wyoming Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.

Thank you for recognizing the arts.

I am a very reluctant speaker, bear with me and I might get emotional.

So thank you for recognizing the arts.

I am proud to be in the company of the many, many people and organizations who have received this award since it was realized in 1982.

(audience applauding) It's very old.

Some of whom are in this room.

I would like to thank Amy Goicoechea for her nomination.

I would like to thank Sue Simpson Gallagher, Katy Niner and Jane Lavino for writing letters of support.

I would like to thank my husband, Mike and my son, Odin, for your undying support and collaboration, and my parents and my grandparents on both sides for being artists and creative people with a lot of encouragement.

I have been involved with the Wyoming Arts Council for the better part of the 30 years I've lived in Wyoming, and it has created huge opportunities for me.

And I have made many, many friends.

The arts are important to me on many levels.

I have been able to make my life in Wyoming through the arts.

Many other people have too.

From the Wyoming Arts Council website, in 2014, the arts employed thousands of Wyomingites and provided 4.7% to our Wyoming economy.

Good job guys.

(audience applauding) It's probably bigger now.

The arts help rural communities thrive.

The arts employ critical thinking and problem solving.

The arts create empathy through shared experiences, engaging with the arts enhances physical and mental wellbeing.

The arts have helped us tell our story.

I encourage all of you to go to the theater.

Go listen to live music, go listen to poetry.

Read a work by an author, a Wyoming author.

Visit a museum or a gallery, or buy a cup from a potter and drink your coffee from it.

It is a great honor to be recognized for my work as an artist, arts administrator, curator, teacher, and instigator.

Thank you so much.

(audience applauding) (western piano music) - He really did capture the everyday life of the American cowboy in the American west, and really showed what they were going through, and what they dealt with day after day.

He got interested in photography about 1909.

And then after moving to the ranch, he started in taking pictures of the west and the way of life out here.

Well, I think being out there, working with the cowboys and being one himself, he really became one himself, and seeing what was going on out there caught his attention.

And he wanted to capture that.

He had a horse named Pinky that he really liked, and he trained Pinky to stand perfectly still.

He could set up his camera and his tripod, and take pictures.

So it really is amazing when you think of packing those glass negatives all over.

It's amazing to me, the interest that his photography is still bringing.

The artists still today are using it, making bronzes.

It's used in furniture.

It's been used for labels on hot sauce.

I think there was a real freedom of lifestyle, and the rugged individualism that those people really lived, and it was captured in his photography.

- And now this is a special favorite of mine.

I would like to invite the family members of Charles Belden, Lili Turnell, Kathy Avar, Margo Belden.

If you would come to the stage.

Thank you for being here, and anyone else from the Belden family for that matter.

We got five.

We got room, we got seven, we got 12.

25.

That might be a little crowded, but we'll love you.

- Well, thank you, Governor Gordon and Missus Gordon, and the Wyoming Arts Council, and all the others involved with this.

First of all, I would like to say we do have 25 members here tonight.

(audience applauding) Including two great great great granddaughters of Charles Belden, whom you've seen running around.

Special to the Meeteetse Museum, (audience applauding) to David Cunningham, our former director, (audience applauding) Alex Deselms our interim director and collections manager, and to Amy Phillips, who is our programs director, with their nomination.

We really appreciate that they've taken the time and the work to do that.

And also to Rachel Sailor, and Mac Frost, who wrote letters of recommendation.

We didn't know our grandfather, my grandfather, or our grandfather and grandmother were divorced in the early 40's, but we grew up with his work, surrounded by it, visiting his dark room in the big house.

And it was an awesome place to go visit.

He said, if a picture doesn't tell a story it's not worth taking.

And that was his model.

In his lifetime he figured he rode over 60,000 miles, taking pictures, and working every day on the ranch.

Yeah, on horseback.

It's pretty amazing when you think of that.

And last but not least, I would like to think my husband, Jack, who had the vision in the foresight to start the Belden Museum to honor our grandfather's work.

And then it was.

(audience applauding) And then later combined with the Meeteetse Museum, and we're on a cornerstone of the Meeteetse, so if you get there, please stop in and see us, we'd love to have you.

Thank you so much.

(audience applauding) (light piano music) - I wouldn't know what to do without the arts to tell you the truth.

It's always been a part of my life.

Something inspiring, brings another aspect to our lives and enriches our lives.

One of the fun parts of being here at the Fine Arts Center is the kids tours.

We have a couple of paintings that were donated by a Robert Zuppke.

So I share with the kids, look at these paintings, look how solid those rocks are, and very professional looking.

And so I ask the kids, what do you think this guy did for a living?

And of course they say, well, he was an artist.

And I said, well, he had a very different job.

He was a football coach for the University of Illinois.

The last 10 years or so of his career he became a painter, and I ask them, what do they think they wanna be when they grow up?

And I tell 'em that no matter what you are doing to put food on your table, you can always include the arts.

Art doesn't have to be a separate thing, it can be part of their life.

That's what we're here for, we are here to make it a part of everybody's life.

There's a quote by Kurt Vonnegut.

"Practicing in art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow."

And he says, "for heaven's sake, sing in the shower, dance to the radio, tell stories, write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem, do it as well as you possibly can.

You will get an enormous reward.

You will have created something."

- Now I would like to invite Deborah Soule to the stage.

Soule.

(audience applauding) - All right, bear with me because I do get nervous at these things.

My role as an art administrator is really behind the scenes and that's where I'm most comfortable, but I have my notes.

I'm so very honored to be recognized with this elite group.

And I see the passion that we all share, and that gives that connection.

So thank you, Governor Gordon.

And of course the Wyoming Arts Council for making this possible.

The work I've been doing at the Community Fine Arts Center for 21 years is really the reward.

For those who are not familiar with this little gem in Rock Springs, Wyoming, it began 83 years ago at the high school.

Their science teacher, Elmer Halseth, shared his knowledge beyond the science classroom.

He wanted to help focus the arts or focus with the arts for the kids to learn something about culture.

He organized the fundraisers.

The kids did bake sales, collected scrap metal, 'cause this was the late 1930's, and at least one painting has a notation on the back, donated by class of 1941 with carnival proceeds.

Over the years, the collection outgrew the school.

And again, with his driven for the arts, Mister Halseth made it possible.

Through a federal grant and then for rent LDS church, to open the Fine Arts Center, November of 1966.

And we just celebrated our 55th anniversary.

(audience applauding) The CFAC continues to exist due to this unique collaboration between the Sweetwater County School District Number One, the city of Rock Springs and Sweetwater County.

They came in and bought the building.

Then they didn't know what to do with it, and it became part of the library system, the county library system.

It's always fun educating new board members and directors of the library system to how this all really works.

The directors before me, Mister Halseth, high school art instructor, Alan Keeney, and Gregory Gaylor, set a high bar, introducing performances and educational opportunities, not just for the students of Rock Springs, but for the community as a whole.

My goals have been to continue those efforts and expand by working in collaboration with many individuals and organizations to promote the arts.

So I wanna thank those people right now.

First and foremost was, or is, excuse me, Wyoming legislator, Chad Banks, who nominated me for this.

(audience applauding) Yeah Chad.

He nominated me for this recognition.

He also manages the Rock Springs Main Street and URA organizations, and we often collaborate on art events and projects.

And to the many individuals who did write in support of this.

I have to acknowledge them because they're who I work with.

They're those collaborations that make the arts expand in Rock Springs, Sweetwater County School District Number One Board President Carol Jelaco, Rock Springs Mayor, Tim Como, the Rock Springs Chamber of Commerce, Sweetwater Travel and Tourism, Sweetwater BOCES director, Doctor Bernadine Craft, who is here tonight, hey Bernie.

(audience applauding) The Rock Springs URA Board, Diane Springford of the Wyoming Shakespeare Festival Company, which I know a lot of you are familiar with her work, and she's brought Shakespeare to Rock Springs for many, many years.

The recently retired Director of the Sweetwater County library system, Jason Grub, who took having a fine arts center as a part of a library system, with grace, 'cause it's been questioned many times.

And finally, long term advisory board member and fine art photographer, RJ Peeper, along with our advisory board, we've got a couple of members of that board here tonight too.

They volunteer their time, knowledge, and passion, helping make Rock Springs a wonderful place to live.

So thank you to all the patrons, students, and artists who walk in our doors.

Thank you.

(audience applauding) (light piano music) - James Elliott Bama was born in 1926 in New York City, and developed his love of art and drawing by copying Flash Gordon, and other comic strips.

After serving as a mechanic and mural painter in the Army air forces, he used his GI Bill to study with the Art Students League in New York.

Starting in the early 1950s, He began a 22 year career as a commercial artist producing paperback book covers, movie posters, and illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post and Readers Digest.

His work includes 62 covers of Bantam's Doc Savage series of paperbacks.

After visiting Wyoming several times, James and his wife left New York in 1968 to live on a ranch near Cody where he began painting western subjects, while still making freelance illustrations.

By 1971, the north fork painter known for oil paintings with photo realistic appearances was successfully selling western art in New York galleries.

James' paintings have not only preserved part of Wyoming's culture, but shared it with the rest of the world.

Speaking of his adopted state, he has quoted as saying, "Here, an artist can trace the beginnings of western history and you can stand surrounded by nature's wonders."

- So now for this next one, I have to give a little story.

You know, everyone this evening, it's my honor to have a chance to call them.

And they all have, you know, comments like, oh my God, this is unbelievable.

Thank you so much.

I can't believe I got this on honor.

In the case of Sue Simpson Gallagher, she said, oh my God, this means so much to me because you heard, Anne and Lynn both had gotten it.

And she said, it really feels amazing to me.

This one, this next one was somewhat unique.

You can't, you can only have unique, it's not somewhat.

So it was unique.

So when I called James Bama, I said, sir, are you sitting down?

And he said, yes.

And I said, well, and he said, now just a second, I want to tell you I'm on the toilet.

(audience laughing) True story, true story.

When I said you received the Governor's Arts Award, you can imagine what his next comment was.

Imagine for yourselves, that's what arts are about.

So I'd like to invite Don Smaltz to the stage, to give an acceptance speech on behalf of James Bama, who could not be here this evening.

(audience applauding) You know, the reason that we are picking this up for Jim, he's gonna be 96 years old in April.

So when I decided, (audience applauding) And when I found out, well, I've been a member of this Arts Council, actually I'm Commissioner for the State Parks for the last 10 years.

And tonight is my, the end game I've been on here 10 years, and it was the most thankful job I've ever had in my life.

It's just been delightful, I promise you.

However, when I decided to do this, the first thing I did, well Jim has been a friend of mine for 50 years.

And when I called Al Simpson and I said, Al, you don't suppose you could, big Al said, you don't suppose you could, you could write a letter to the historical center, or maybe even the governor and we'd get it all put together.

And for nomination, for arts awards, and Al said, you mean, he's never been in there.

Why the hell not?

You know, and my gosh, I needed a lot of help.

And so that's the reason that we all got together here.

When I first met Jim, was back in about '72 or 3, and it was a, a cold morning, one morning.

And I was a young guy, an outfitter.

And I was heading up this trail, every year it seemed like there was more and more, no trespassing signs on each side.

I'm trying to get up there with a couple of deer hunters, and it was cold.

I had my collar up on my sheepskin coat, and I'm riding along and all of a sudden I hear somebody from behind says, hey you up there, hold up, hold up, please.

So I just stopped, and this guy jogs up alongside of me and he says, I like the way you look.

Well, that was a little bit, actually, he was embarrassed by it, and he quickly said, oh, I'm a famous artist and I'd like to paint you.

And so ever since then, we've been best friends.

And when, when we, you know, Michael told me to keep this down to two to three minutes.

So I put everything on this little tiny card right here, and I did it in the sun back there in the room this afternoon.

And now I can't read it cause it's too little.

Anyway.

Bear with me please.

Michael, I'm still trying to keep it down to two to three minutes.

I guess I'm just about to the point to where, oh, about two weeks later after he wanted to do a painting of me, he said he called me up there and there I stood out there in a snow bank.

He liked subdued lighting and I'm holding my saddle until your wrist feels like it's about to break, 'cause you gotta hatch it on there, and the saddle bags and a whole big heavy mountain saddle.

And he paid me $55 and had to sign a release.

And I thought, man, that's pretty good money, you know, for a afternoon in '72 or 3.

So anyway, ended up when I found out that he got 66,000 out of it, it didn't bother me so much.

Anyway, when I had this idea, and I went back and looked, and I seen where he had never been nominated.

So I needed some help though.

I don't have, if it was gonna stop right there.

And I went back and looked and realized he'd never been nominated, so I needed some help.

So my wife, Becky, and she's my supporter here.

And then I got Scott and Nina Weber, and we got together and had dinner and I said, we need to put this thing together for Jim Bama.

They live just down the road from him, and I lived right across the highway there, too.

But anyway, and Nina by the way is a new national committee woman for the Republican Party.

She just flew in today and got here in time to be at this thing tonight.

So anyway, I sure want to thank everybody and thanks to the Wyoming Arts Council and the State Parks.

(audience applauding) (upbeat electronic music) - One of the most beautiful joys of theater is that electricity and energy and excitement of being together with a random group of people and laughing at something that could never happen again.

It is something that cannot be replaced by viewing anything alone in our home.

You know, we try to find the things that speak to our community and our audience, and that can connect them.

When you come to one of our Shakespeare shows, you're not gonna see Renaissance Shakespeare.

You're gonna be see Shakespeare that's from Wyoming.

And it's got our outdoors incorporated into it.

In our production of "As You Like It," we had some park rangers, our actors interact with the audience in a very visceral way.

And it breaks down some of the barriers that you might traditionally think occur when you turn off the lights, and there's a very formal theatrical setting.

Participating in theater from the youngest ages to our oldest adults, allows you to really develop important life skills that can be hard to come by.

things like self confidence with public speaking, building relationships with people.

It helps you feel alive.

And when we lose that and we lose those opportunities to connect, it gets harder and harder to find it again.

We were committed before, but we are doubly committed now to what the experience is because you cannot replace the joy that comes from expressing humanity through that type of shared experience.

- So the other call that I made that was unique was to the Off Square Theater Company.

So before we announced who's coming up, how about that performance?

(audience applauding) Unbelievable.

So they must be busy because I left a message on the answering machine, and about, oh, I don't know, three weeks later, the County Commissioner from Teton County called me, and I thought, uh oh, here we go.

County Commissioner.

But Natalia said, I'm calling you about, thank you for that call for the Governor's Arts Award.

So can Natalia come up?

(audience applauding and cheering) - Thank you, governor Gordon, and thank you for moving the podium for us.

That was very kind.

It's really a delight to be here with all of you tonight, and what a wonderful honor.

And thank you to the Wyoming Arts Council and Governor Gordon for celebrating the arts in our great state.

I'm Natalia Duncan Macker, the Producing Artistic Director of Off Square Theater Company.

And it's my humble privilege to accept this tonight on behalf of our staff, our board of directors, the hundreds of students and artists that we work with, and the thousands of audience members and supporters that comprise the Off Square Theater Company family.

Theater has been part of the human experience for millennia, evolving alongside our societies and cultures around the globe throughout time.

Oscar Wilde described the theater as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another, the sense of what it is to be a human being.

Theater is about storytelling and connection.

It's about entertainment and laughter.

It holds up the mirror and it can provide a vehicle for having difficult conversations.

Theater is about bringing all of us together, and our ability to stay connected and empathic has certainly been tested over the last two years, but we've all persevered through adaptation.

And what we know at Off Square Theater is what everyone in this room knows, is that the arts are about the regular practice of transformation.

At Off Square Theater, we thrive on collaboration and creative exchange, bringing together many voices, crafts, and artistic disciplines to create unique experiences that reveal the complex layers of humanity.

What started as creative energy and collective action by a group of artists nearly 25 years ago, has grown and evolved into the professional theater we are today, producing an annual season and providing theater arts education.

We remain focused on supporting the next generation, not only by training in the artistic disciplines that make the magic of performing arts possible, but by providing the tangible skills needed to navigate our complex world, skills that teach us how to connect, understand, and empathize with people who are different from us, by literally putting ourselves in their shoes.

As we look ahead, we're focused on accessibility, on continuing to bring underrepresented voices, artists, and stories to the stage, and strengthening and expanding our collaborations.

Congratulations to all of tonight's honorees.

It's really invigorating to be in the room.

Usually I'm in rooms with a lot of elected officials like this, so this is really a lot more fun.

I have no doubt that there isn't a problem that a group of artists can't solve.

So Governor Gordon, if you need us, here we all are.

And we at Off Square Theater, (audience applauding and cheering) we look forward to working with all of you to write the next chapter in our state's creative life.

Thank you.

(audience applauding) - Governor Gordon, thanks so much for hosting us all tonight.

As Natalia said, all these artists are waiting to help you out.

Thank you all for joining us this evening, as we celebrated both the 2020 and 2021 Governor's Arts Award recipients.

Have a lovely evening and go enjoy some arts.