TD Bank Business & the Arts Partnership Awards

Nominees: Community Journals, nominated by Greenville Theatre; Crawford, nominated by Peace Center; FUEL, nominated by The Warehouse Theatre; Goldfish Swim School, LLC, nominated by South Carolina Children’s Theatre; Greenville Drive, nominated by Artisphere; Nason Accounting, LLC, nominated by Centre Stage; Publix Supermarket Charities, nominated by Greenville Chorale

Nominees: Leila Aziz, nominated by The Warehouse Theatre; Sissy and Louis Beck, nominated by South Carolina Children’s Theatre; Mark Blonstein., nominated by Greenville Theatre; Betsy Bloodworth, nominated by Greenville Chorale; Jennifer and Kevin Dombrowski, nominated by Peace Center; Cathy Jones, nominated by Greenville Symphony Orchestra; Jennifer McClure, nominated by Artisphere

This annual award recognizes the outstanding artistry and educational practice of one exceptional Greenville artist who impacts and inspires the lives of students through his/her 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 2025 recipient is Kristin LaRoy. 

Kristin is a dancer, teaching artist and arts education leader based in Upstate South Carolina whose work centers on using movement and dance as tools for learning, connection, and student growth. As a SmartARTS teaching artist and arts administrator, she designs and facilitates movement-based experiences that support academic understanding, creative expression, and embodied learning for students of all ages. Her approach is informed by the neuroscience of learning and draws inspiration from literature, nature, history, and human experience. Deeply committed to arts integration and equitable access to arts education, Kristin champions movement as a vital counterbalance to a fast-paced, screen-driven world and as a powerful means of fostering curiosity, confidence, and meaningful engagement in classrooms and communities.

The Judi Cassell Teaching Artist Fellowship in Visual Arts honors the legacy of Judi Cassell, an accomplished animation artist and mentor whose career spanned decades in film and television. A contributor to projects with Walt Disney and an award recipient of the International Animated Film Association, Judi was deeply committed to her craft and to nurturing the next generation of artists. This multi-year fellowship reflects her dedication to artistic excellence, education, and mentorship in the visual arts. The inaugural recipient of this multi-year fellowship is Sarah Murdaugh. She will attend one professional development conference for each of the five years. 

A cartoonist and illustrator, Sarah holds a BA in studio art from Furman University. Her all-ages graphic novel Monster Trail celebrates her love for folklore and the Blue Ridge mountains, and explores the importance of friendship and courage in the face of the unknown. Primarily influenced by animation, her expressive style gives focus to characters’ emotions, and places them in rich settings that invite the viewer to be immersed in the story. In 2024, Sarah was named the Carrie and Skip Gordon Emerging Teaching Artist and began teaching minicomics and character design through the program. 

This annual fellowship recognizes the outstanding artistry and educational practice of one exceptional Greenville teaching artist who impacts and inspires the lives of students through their work in the SmartARTS program. The selected artist will have shown exemplary commitment to best practices in arts integration in local schools and garnered respect from both teachers and students in the classroom. This fellowship includes an honorarium for professional development as an artist and educator. The 2025 recipient is Shay Black.

Shay was the recipient of the 2021 Carrie and Skip Gordon Emerging Teaching Artist Award and a 2022 Dwain Skinner Open Studios Fellow. She is a veteran of the US Armed Forces, where sheserved four tours in the Middle East as a sergeant. As a SmartARTS teaching artist, Shay is both a poet and a visual artist. Originally from Greenville, she received her BFA in ceramics and sculpture from Converse in 2012, and her MFA in creative writing from Converse in 2025. Through her work with Wits End Poetry, Speaking Down Barriers, SmartARTS, ARMES and the Greer Center for the Arts, she has encouraged others to inspire the world around them and to be the best versions of themselves. She’s a five-time member of Say What! Greenville Slam Team and a Queen of the South Slam Champion.

Truman Henderson had served on the MAC Board of Directors and was Co-Chair of the grants committee for over 20 years. In his leadership of the grants panel, Truman practiced extreme fairness, inclusion and professionalism. He was absolutely committed to ensuring the quality of grants that MAC funded, and he was a stickler for proper grammar, syntax and creativity. It is our privilege to award $1,000 to Chicora Voices (Philip Reed, Artistic Director) as the 2025 recipient of the Truman Henderson Award for Excellence in Grant Writing. 

In 2025, Chicora Voices were awarded two MAC project support grants: (1) Sing Freedom: American Choral Traditions - 18 singers performing African-American spirituals, Appalachian folk songs and works by American composers, and (2) the Chicora Voices annual Christmas concert in Greenville and Asheville - 12 singers performing Spanish and Mexican Christmas music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Both grants were rated very high by the grants panelists. Chicora Voices is to be commended for its commitment to excellence not only in grant writing but also in choral performance.

A native of Jackson, Ohio, Megan Riegel has served as the President and CEO of the Peace Center since 1997. During her tenure, the Peace Center has become the cultural hub of Upstate South Carolina, with an estimated statewide economic impact of $90 million annually. The Peace Center presents firstrun Broadway tours, along with world-class classical music concerts, dance companies, popular and contemporary musicians, comedians and speakers. 

Megan joined the Peace Center in 1994 as Director of Development and within six months assumed the role of General Manager, holding both positions until her promotion to President and CEO in 1997. In 2009,  she spearheaded a $23 million capital campaign to renovate and expand significant parts of the Peace Center’s campus, the first major update since the organization opened in 1990. The project doubled the size of the Peace Concert Hall lobby and added a patron lounge, a public plaza, and an outdoor stage. The project also included renovation of the Huguenot Mill to include additional administrative offices, as well as education and event spaces. 

During Megan’s 31-year tenure, the Peace Center’s operations have grown from a $4 million operation to a $35 million one, with an endowment of over $59 million. The Peace Center has a subscriber base of just over 8,800, and more than 3,900 donor households contribute to the Peace Center each year. 

In 2019 The Peace Center’s Board of Trustees approved a Master Plan with the overarching goal: by or before 2030, the Peace Center will realize a fully-functioning ten venue arts and entertainment campus. Construction is nearing completion of the two new music venues, The Mockingbird and Coach Factory, with openings scheduled for 2026. The Mockingbird opened in January to great success and sell-out performances. 

In 2013, Riegel became the proud recipient of the Order of the Palmetto, the highest honor to be bestowed upon civilians by the State of South Carolina.

C. Dan Adams | Anonymous | Karen & William Brown | Alex & Larry Burgamy | Canal Charitable Foundation | Rosa Eisenstadt | Elbert W. Rogers Foundation | Fielding & Gally Gallivan | Pam & Cary Hall | Edith & Bill Hardaway | Becky & Bobby Hartness | Jean & Peter Helwing | Bunny & Bob Hughes | Velda & Jackson Hughes | Mary & Stuart Jackson | Neil Johnson | Donna & Mark Johnston | Gwen Kennedy | Elizabeth Marr Lee | Nancy & Erwin Maddrey | Helen Maish | Ann Malphrus & John Glymph | Metromont Corporation | Nancy & Rick Pennell | Megan Riegel | Lea Rohrbaugh | Mary Jane Spurgeon | Nancy B. Stanton | Jackie & John Warner

Duke Energy Foundation | Carrie & Skip Gordon | Greenville County First Steps | John I. Smith Charities, Inc. | Jolley Foundation | Mice on Main – Linda Kelly & Zan Wells | Ellis Pearce | TD Charitable Foundation

City of Greenville | Graham Foundation

Debi & Randy Fisher | Michele & Walter Fisher | Warehouse Services, Inc. – Jill Cox & Barry Cox