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Spokane Arts announces nominees for 2024 arts awards

James Pakootas and CarliAnn Bruner perform at 2023's Spokane Arts Awards at the Gonzaga University Hemmingson Center Ballroom. This year's nominees were announced Monday, and this year's banquet, to be held at Hamilton Studio, will take place Sept. 21.  (Samantha Fuller/The Spokesman-Review)
From staff reports

Nonprofit Spokane Arts announced its 2024 arts awards on Monday, featuring more than two dozen local creatives and organizations. The honorees were nominated by members of the community for their efforts to enrich Spokane through the arts. 

“There were so many amazing people and organizations nominated for their efforts to enhance our artistic community this year,” Spokane Arts Executive Director Skyler Oberst said in a news release. “The Spokane Arts Commission had a tough time choosing just three nominees to honor in each category.”

The awards are broken down into six categories: Leadership, Collaboration, Imagination, Inclusion, Youth Arts Leadership and Arts Advocacy.

“Emerging or established, young or old, on the edge or in the center – Spokane Arts strives to celebrate and recognize the wealth of participation in Spokane’s creative ecosystem,” Oberst said.

The 2024 Spokane Arts Award nominees are:

LEADERSHIP: Kemuel DeMoville, Spartan Theatre drama instructor at Spokane Falls Community College; Grant Greer, freelance lighting designer; and Rusty Jackson, director of the Northwest Country Music Association.

COLLABORATION: Krystianna Livernash and Nadia Hitchcock, co-founders of Heartistry, the Drop-in Watercolor Mindfulness Program at Spark Central; Michael Stearns, Mallory Battista and Dorian Karahallios of Spokane Sequential, a free quarterly comics zine; and CarliAnn Forthun Bruner and Monica Mota of Kindling Productions, a hub for adult dance and creative opportunities.

IMAGINATION: The Scattered Roots Collective, a theater ensemble that shares stories of healing through music, dance, spoken poetry and their native culture; Live From Somewhere, a music video series highlighting local artists in unique surroundings; and Kyle Bender, founder of Skeemn Entertainment, a music and art collective. 

INCLUSION: New Age Warriors, a community engagement organization focused on youth; Sid Al-Thumali of the Wayward World Podcast, highlighting queer nightlife artists; and Fanny DeVito of Neato Dragito, an all-ages monthly drag show.

YOUTH ARTS LEADERSHIP: The youth leaders of Spokane Children’s Theatre;  Alex Blackmon, technical chair and board director of the Spokane Shakespeare Society; and Olga Loktev, dancer and choreographer.

ARTS ADVOCACY: Marshall Peterson, Marmot Art Space curator; Dahveed Bullis, local teacher, playwright, musician, director, actor and volunteer; and Stephen Pitters, host of Spokane Open Poetry program on KYRS Thin Air Community Radio.

One winner in each category will be announced at this year’s Arts Awards Gala, themed “The Arts Ecosystem,” at 6-9:30 p.m. Sept. 21 at Hamilton Studio, 1427 W. Dean Ave. The evening will include a catered cocktail hour and live performances. Costumes around this year’s theme are strongly encouraged. Tickets go on sale Aug. 19 at www.spokanearts.org.

For more information on the awards or this year’s gala, contact Spokane Arts Program Director Jeremy Whittington at jeremy@spokanearts.org or by calling (509) 599-5827.