The late Senator Paul Simon was the center of attention at the Governor’s Award for the Arts sponsored by the Illinois Arts Council. It was the inaugural presentation of the Paul Simon Leadership in the Arts Award. The recipient was former Senator Paul Simon. Paul Simon was a chief sponsor of the legislation that created the Illinois Arts Council in 1965 when he was an Illinois state senator.
Presenting the award was Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. She spoke of times she would spend in the car traveling around the state with the late senator. There were frequent sing-alongs in the vehicle; it was mandatory when driving with Simon that everyone sing in the car.
Accepting the award on Simon’s behalf was his daughter, Sheila Simon. Sheila, a professor of law at Southern Illinois University ? Carbondale and banjo player, spoke about the early importance Simon placed on practicing her music, which led her to play the banjo in a band later in her life.
As in past Governor’s Awards for the Arts ceremonies, artists’ works are featured. At this year’s award, they debuted the documentary Beauty Rises: Four Lives in the Arts. It is an original WTTW production that brought to life the work of four Illinois artists.
As featured in the documentary, Laura Wiley is a dance director in Chicago, and her journey looks at her direction of teenagers in Chicago in a dace production, as well as her battle with cancer. Orbert Davis devotes his life to teaching jazz, and launched the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic Orchestra. Dessa Kirk, a sculptor from Alaska currently living in Chicago, is known for her work Goddess Delphina, now in Chicago’s Grant Park. Her story involves coming to grips with her past and moving into the future of a new studio. Allison Joseph is an associate professor at Southern Illinois University ? Carbondale who finds inspiration for her poetry in things as simple as a basketball game. The documentary gave an inside look of the artists’ struggles, inspiration, and past that developed their work.