On Saturday, March 29, nearly 500 business and arts leaders attended the Arts Council’s 17th Annual Celebration of the Arts in Howard County Gala at Howard Community College’s Peter and Elizabeth Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center in Columbia. Presented by Howard Bank, this year’s annual benefit gala raised $104,000, with an additional $69,000 in donated goods and services in support of the arts in Howard County. Since 1998, over $1.2 million has been raised through Celebration of the Arts!
A highlight of the evening was the 2014 Rising Star competition. After viewing ten amazing Rising Star finalists, the audience selected opera singer Steven Eddy as the 2014 Rising Star winner and recipient of a $5,000 professional development award for his energetic and immensely entertaining performance of Largo al factotum from Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. The other talented finalists who performed at the Celebration were Curtis Bannister (Musical Theatre), Leiland R.W. Charles (Contemporary Dance), Joe Duffey (Irish Step Dance), Annie Gill (Classical Voice), Yoshiaki Horiguchi (Double Bass), Benjamin Lurye (Musical Theatre), Carolyn Rosinsky (Cello), Maya Shivani Thakar (Classical Indian Dance), and Trent D. Williams, Jr. (Contemporary Dance).
The 2013 Howie Awards were presented for outstanding leadership in the arts in Howard County. The recipients were: Bruce Casteel for Outstanding Artist, Raissa Howera for Outstanding Arts Educator, and Toba Dobkin Barth for Outstanding Community Supporter of the Arts.
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During the reception guests were entertained by Howie honoree Bruce Casteel on guitar, Brian Simms on piano, and by roving characters in costume from Drama Learning Center's Teen Professional Company.
Guest performers featured on stage were brothers Alex and Zach Brown on piano and bass, and accompanist Douglas Lawler on the piano.
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Sixteen of the county’s finest restaurants and caterers provided food for the gala and competed for Best Display. Absolutely Perfect Catering was awarded first place for Best Display; Putting on the Ritz Catering finished in second place, and Wegmans was third. The silent auction featured 89 local artists, who contributed 120 works of art, and 69 works of art were sold!
Each year, proceeds from the Celebration support grants to local arts organizations and schools (grades K-12), scholarships for emerging artists, and programs in the arts. The Arts Council salutes all of the board and committee members, sponsors, guests, artists and volunteers who made the event such an overwhelming success.
