Tennessee Arts Academy Award Recipients

The Tennessee Arts Academy honors individuals and organizations each year in a variety of categories during the Bravo Awards Banquet and Performance and during the TAA Finale luncheon. Current and previous award winners are listed below, as well as descriptions of each award category.

Arts Leadership Award of Excellence

is presented to an individual or group who has achieved a unique milestone in the arts that deserves recognition and honor.

Distinguished Service Award

is presented to an American whose work stands as a monument to the importance of the arts in the lives of all people.

Joe W. Giles Lifetime Achievement Award

is conferred upon a Tennessee teacher, whose life's work is widely acknowledged to have positively influenced the role of the arts in education, thereby benefiting the students of Tennessee's schools.

Lamar Alexander Founder's Award of Distinction

is presented to an individual whose meritorious accomplishments in the fields of education and the arts have profoundly impacted American culture and life.

Lorin Hollander Award

is given to a Tennessean whose influence has benefited arts education in general and/or the Tennessee Arts Academy in particular. This award is named in honor of internationally renowned concert pianist Lorin Hollander, a special friend of the Academy.

Partner in the Arts Award

honors an individual or business whose generosity and support have contributed in sustained and significant ways to the success of the Tennessee Arts Academy's mission.

Spirit of Tennessee Award

recognizes an individual or group whose work exemplifies the highest standards of artistic endeavor and brings positive recognition to the place of the arts in the lives of Tennesseans.

Previous Recipients:

Joe W. Giles Lifetime Achievement Award		Lorin Hollander Award		Distinguished Service Award
1995   Joseph Edward Hodges, Crossville 1996   Freda Kenner, Bells 1996   Sue Blass, Jackson 1997   Elizabeth Rike, Knoxville 1997   Celia Bachelder, Kingsport 1998   James Charles Mills, Johnson City 1998   Gene Crain, Memphis 1999   Patricia Brown, Knoxville 2000   Robert Pletcher, Nashville 2000   Kathy Hawk, Kingsport 2001   Tommie Pardue, Memphis 2001   Tully Daniel, Memphis (awarded posthumously) 2004   Marilyn duBrisk, Greeneville 2004   Bobby Jean Frost, Nashville 2005   Nancy Boone-Allsbrook, Murfreesboro 2005   Sally Crain Jager, Cookeville 2006   Michael Combs, Knoxville 2006   Jean R. Thomas, Chattanooga 2006   Mitchell Van Metre, Knoxville 2007   David Logan, Johnson City 2010 2011 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017   James R. Holcomb, Memphis Flowerree W. (Galetovic) McDonough, Knoxville Joe W. Giles, Nashville Richard Mitchell, Knoxville Carol Crittenden, Nashville Fred Patterson, Knoxville Gregg Coats, Memphis Ted Rose, Lebanon Margaret Campbelle-Holman, Nashville		1994   Cavit Cheshier, education executive 1995   Steven Cohen, state senator 1996   Nellie McNeil, teacher and advocate 1997   Tom L. Naylor, music educator and administrator 1998   T. Earl Hinton, music educator 1999   Jane Walters, educator and arts advocate 2000   Martha McCrory, music educator 2001   Solie Fott, music educator 2008   Jeanette Crosswhite, arts education administrator  2013 2014    Pat and Thane Smith, arts patrons and philanthropists Cindy Freeman and Michael Meise, music educators and arts advocates		1994   Charles Strouse, Broadway composer 1995   Charles Fowler, arts educator, writer and advocate 1996   Jerome Lawrence, playwright 1997   Lorin Hollander, concert pianist and philosopher 2000   Scott Ellis, Broadway theatre director 2000   Mary Costa, opera singer 2001   Sheldon Harnick, Broadway lyricist 2001   Tina Packer, Shakespeare actor and director 2003   Bob McGrath, singer and host of Sesame Street 2005   John Simon, author and arts critic 2005   Dean Pitchford, songwriter, lyricist, screenwriter, and director 2006   Andre Thomas, choral conductor 2007   Joe DiPietro, Broadway playwright and lyricist 2008 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2016 2016 2017   Henry Krieger, Broadway composer Marvin Hamlisch, composer and pianist Richard Sherman, composer and lyricist Marc Cherry, Hollywood writer and producer Rupert Holmes, playwright, composer, and lyricist Richard Maltby, Jr., Director, Lyricist, Producer, Writer Audrey Flack, painter and sculptor Andrew Lippa, composer, lyricist, performer, and writer Doc Severinsen, musician and bandleader Christopher Durang, Broadway playwright
Spirit of Tennessee Award		Partner in the Arts Award		Arts Leadership Award of Excellence
2000   Wilma Dykeman, writer 2001   Jim Crabtree, theatre director and writer 2002   Alice Swanson, arts education administrator and advocate 2003   George Mabry, choral conductor 2006   Dolph Smith, visual artist 2009   George S. Clinton, Hollywood film composer 2009   Jackie Nichols, theatre administrator 2009   Michael Stern, symphony conductor 2010 2015   Cherry Jones, Broadway actress Charles Brindley, visual artist		2008   Steve Spiegel, president of Theatrical Rights Worldwide		2013 2015 2016   E. Frank Bluestein, Germantown Music Makes Us, Nashville Belmont University, Nashville Lamar Alexander Founder's Award of Distinction 2013 2014 2017   Senator Lamar Alexander, United States Senator Douglas Henry, Tennessee State Senator Bill Haslam, Tennessee Governor