Click to enlarge the slideshow from our 2019 Annual Meeting and Presentation of the TD Bank Business and the Arts Partnership Awards or view the video presentation below.
2019 MAC Award Recipients
MAC BOARD OF DIRECTORS AWARDS – Roger Ables, Edith Hardaway & Chris Kavolus
MAC is very grateful for the generous financial support provided by board members Roger Ables, Edith Hardaway and Chris Kavolus. These three individuals have been outstanding assets to the organization and have served as a strong advocates of MAC’s programs and services throughout the Greenville community.
The 2019 Carrie and Skip Gordon Teaching Artist Award – Moody Black
This annual award recognizes the outstanding artistry and educational practice of one exceptional Greenville artist who impacts and inspires the lives of students through their work in local schools. This award includes a scholarship to attend a national professional conference with a focus on both the arts and education. The 2019 recipient is Moody Black.
Moody Black is a TEDx performer, a national award-winning poet and host, and Motivational Speaker from Spartanburg, SC. Now residing in Greenville, SC, Moody spends much of his time connecting with students and inspiring a love of writing in classrooms as part of MAC’s SmartARTS program. Fusing a blend of hip-hop, soul, and poetry, this talented artist delivers a unique rhythmic message in which each new listener finds common ground. Moody has been a performing artist since the age of 12, and he has become a prominent force across the nation through his enthusiastic live shows and strong work ethic. Learn more at www.iammoodyblack.com
The 2019 Carrie and Skip Gordon Emerging Teaching Artist Award – Kristin LaRoy
This award recognizes a Greenville artist who shows great promise in his/her artistic and educational practice to impact and inspire the lives of students. This award includes a scholarship to attend a national professional conference with a focus on both the arts and education. The 2019 recipient is Kristin LaRoy.
Kristin LaRoy is a multi-disciplinary artist and the owner of TR Makers Company, as well as curator/publisher of TR Traveler Magazine. She joined the SmartARTS program as a teaching artist in the 2019-2020 school year and has been using dance to inspire a love of history and culture in schools across Greenville County. She has been a dance professional for over 13 years, performing across the south and mid-west along with teaching in Lexington and Columbia at the Center for Dance Education, then directing and developing a dance program for the YMCA of Greenville’s three locations in the Upstate of South Carolina. Kristin specializes in ballet, contemporary, jazz, modern and tap techniques. Kristin believes, “We are all creatives; it is a unique gift that makes us human.”
The Dr. Martha R. Westrope Teaching Artist Fellowship – Jeff Holland
MAC is proud to announce the establishment of the Dr. Martha R. Westrope Teaching Artist Fellow at the TD Center for Arts Integration by the Caughman family with a $25,000 donation to the SmartARTS Arts Integration Program. We are very appreciative of this level of support from Dr. Westrope’s brothers, George, Gordon, and John Caughman. As part of the Dr. Martha R. Westrope Fellowship a full-time position will be created for a teaching artist to work with Greenville County teachers at high-poverty schools to integrate the arts into their South Carolina Standards based curriculum at no cost to the schools. For the 2020-2021 academic year, the TD Center for Arts Integration is thrilled to name long-time teaching artist, Jeff Holland, as the inaugural Dr. Martha R. Westrope Teaching Artist Fellow.
Jeff Holland, sonic artist, has been an integral part of the local music scene in Greenville for the past four decades as a drummer and music teacher. Today he loves to share his passion for world drumming and he believes, “Despite differences in language, religion and customs, there is something that unites cultures throughout the world — rhythm.” As a SmartARTS teaching artist, Jeff uses drumming to teach culture, fractions, patterns, empathy, and math concepts through drumming in schools across Greenville County. He is a founder of the Our World Culture Festival, a lead member of the Sonic Energy Tour, and offers programs in vibrational wellness. Learn more at drum4work.com
Carl R. Blair Commitment to Arts Education Award – Lu Wixon
A native of Lafayette, Louisiana, Lu earned her BFA from the University of Louisiana. After graduation, she spent two years in Trinidad, West Indies, where she quickly made a reputation as an artist, donating her talents to local causes, including teaching art in a local school. Thus began an amazing career as an arts educator. Upon returning to Lafayette, she worked as an artist-in-residence in the public school system through the Acadian Arts Council and earned her certification as an art educator from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. After moving to South Carolina with her family for work opportunities in 1993, she began teaching art in the Greenville County Schools. While teaching art to 600 students weekly in the public school system, she has continued to paint and exhibit. Her art has been shown in both one-person and group shows in Louisiana, the Carolinas, and Germany. Each year, she shares her passion for the arts with the students by annually hosting an Art Day at Heritage Elementary School. During this festival, the students are exposed to a full day of the arts involving 30 area artists representing a variety of disciplines. She will be retiring from Heritage Elementary at the end of this semester. Her main goal is to teach the students “to enjoy the arts and to learn creative problem-solving skills which transfer into all aspects of their lives.” Lu will be greatly missed, as she has passionately instilled a love of art into thousands of students in Greenville County.
Ann C. Sherard Young Supporter of the Arts Award – Anna McNinch
In 2016, we said goodbye to one of our most dedicated and loyal supporters – Ann C. Sherard. She had been a mainstay of support for MAC and its many programs and services. Ann was always concerned about ensuring that the younger generations were involved and engaged in the arts. Many times she would ask us, “That’s a great idea, but how are you going to involve the young people?” Ann was very excited about the MAConnect program for young professionals that was established in 2014. We are pleased to name our Young Supporter of the Arts Award in her honor. The recipient of the 2019 Ann C. Sherard Young Support of the Arts Award is Anna McNinch.
For more than 23 years, Anna McNinch has overseen brand management, marketing efforts, event management and sponsorship and community engagement for Hughes Agency client TD Bank, formally Carolina First Bank. Since its founding locally in 1986, TD Bank has provided millions of dollars in charitable support for Greenville-area initiatives and established a tradition of supporting worthwhile arts-related initiatives throughout the area. Throughout the last two decades, Anna has been quietly and diligently working behind the scenes on all those efforts, and there are many. She has steadfastly ensured that the arts have had a place at the funding tables since beginning her career at the Hughes Agency. Anna has been a tireless advocate for the arts in Greenville, and she has been instrumental in guiding both bank decision makers and the non-profits on best practices in terms of stewardship and collaborations. Anna has been very involved in TD Bank’s funding of Artisphere since 2005, the TD Pavilion at the Peace Center, the Greenville County Museum of Art’s annual antiques show, the Greenville Symphony Orchestra, the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities Artists in Bloom program, and many others. In 2016, Anna was instrumental in the establishment of the TD Center for Arts Integration at MAC in support of SmartARTS. TD Bank’s visible and impactful support of the arts has been made possible, in large part, by Anna’s partnership and advocacy. Working with Anna is a delight, as she is professional, warm, responsive and amazingly diligent; she is committed to excellence. A native of Edgefield, South Carolina, Anna earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication and journalism from Clemson University. Immediately after graduating, Anna joined Velda Hughes’ team, first at Linning Hughes Public Relations and then at Hughes Agency, and began working with the bank. Her commitment to the arts has been a tremendous asset to Greenville’s cultural community.
MAC Lifelong Supporter of the Arts Award – Mary and Jeffrey Lawson
A native of Houston, TX, Jeff earned his undergraduate degree from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia where he graduated Cum Laude with a B.S. degree in Chemistry & Pre-Medicine. He was a Lt. Commander for the U.S. Public Health Service, and served as a Clinical Instructor for the following: the Center for Family Medicine in Anderson, SC; the Center for Family Practice at Greenville Hospital System; and the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC. He has chaired the Rheumatology rotation of the Internal Medicine Program at Greenville Hospital System. Jeff has always been a tremendous supporter of and advocate for visual artists. His office and home are chocked full of art that he has purchased for several decades at local events and festivals. He has also served on boards of arts organizations including Riverplace Festival and MAC and has certainly been involved in the performing arts as well. In the 1990s, he started a Dogs for Pops concert series for the Greenville Symphony Orchestra at Sirrine Stadium. Jeff also served as Board Chairman of the Greenville Savoyards, a Gilbert and Sullivan musical group that was active from 1978-1992.
A native of Goochland, Virginia, Mary Lawson is an alumna of Sweetbriar College and has been involved in the college’s arts programs and offerings. As the Director of Development for the Greenville County Museum of Art, Mary spearheaded many of the museum’s most successful fund-raising vehicles such as the Antiques, Fine Art & Design Weekend and trips for the Collectors Group. Both programs are in existence today. She began her tenure at the museum as a Board member prior to becoming the Director of Development. Mary is truly one of the country’s main experts in English fine porcelain and china of the 18th and 19th centuries; her knowledge is encyclopaedic. She has taught courses in identification of furniture and porcelain at the OLLI program at Furman.