Photo of Lifetime Achievement Award winner Robin Welch courtesy of the Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards.
by Sally Deskins | Les Femmes Folles
(*This is a story from my POV; do not read this if you want a complete listing or objective overview of the event; see winners listed here.)
I had never been to an Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards event, and I think my expectations were a little fantastical and Hollywood. Maybe it was all the Grammy hype, maybe it's from years of watching the red carpet on TV and in magazines, maybe it's from when I was a little girl, imagining myself Victoria Jackson (from Saturday Night Live who never won any awards and is now a kids’ ukelele player, but that is who I wanted to be when I was little, OK?), graciously yet wittily accepting an award for being hilarious and awesome.
(Photo: Victoria Jackson, SNL, 1986-92, bottom right)
Well, there was no red carpet at the OEAAs. There were no paparazzi besides a camera guy who didn’t seem to know about the nominees or local arts. There were technical mistakes a plethora, and it was an expensive cash bar, not a free one like the big-wigs in Hollywood get.
Chatting amongst a few people, there was talk of expansion of the visual arts categories—maybe painting, photography, performance art…maybe a whole show just for visual arts!
Conversing along with my expensive but yummy Midori Sour, I realized this is what we’ve got – community camaraderie. Not everybody showed – maybe one-third of awardees were present. But everyone cheered and genuinely got excited for each category – some louder than others throughout the room, but everyone was there for one another.
There were many wonderful women who won the awards, but in true feminist spirit (which, contrary to many people’s understanding, works to energize the spirit and equalize rights for both sexes), I’m going to run down my favorite moments including men and women:
Ying Zhu is a former Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts resident, now Omaha resident, lucky for us. Zhu went home with Best New Media Artist and Best Emerging Artist. It was my pleasure to be sitting next to the kind, down-to-earth artist and her photographer husband, who smiled, cheered and gracefully accepted her awards from her seat. Seeing her excitement and polite congratulations to everyone involved is a memory snapshot. Well deserved for both, though the artist, now very renown in and outside of the Omaha area, is well on her way past “emerging.”
Tim Guthrie with one of his images from Extraordinary Rendition, which he co-curated with Doug Hayko and won Best Group Show for
Tim Guthrie’s acceptance speech for his and Doug Hayko’s award for Best Group Show, for curating Extraordinary Rendition: “Shit! Look at the list of nominees! Fuckin' Science Fair? Body as Text? Femmes Folles?” His shock took over to make it the sweetest acceptance speech – his thanks to all involved well understood. To note – Guthrie’s parents were present, and smiled and chuckled at his “no-no” language along with the crowd who loved it.
Matt Mason who won Best Slam Poet
Many speeches were appreciative, down to earth and thankful for just everyone making art; Matt Mason, who won Best Slam Poet, re-mentionined all of the Slam Poet nominees and why they are great. To note, this is the only poetry category.
Kirstin Kluver (front center) in Guys and Dolls
Great moments for the women included Kirstin Kluver’s win for Best Actress in a Musical for Guys and Dolls at the Omaha Community Playhouse. Kluver, who also performed last night, had a gleeful Sally Field excitement and a simple yet thrilled “Thanks! Thanks!” acceptance speech.
The Omaha Community Playhouse took down the house with multiple wins; Jennifer Tritz who’s currently starring in The Fantasticks won Best Supporting Actress for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which also took Best Musical. Other theaters that took home awards: Blue Barn, Shelterbelt, Brigit St. Brigit, UNO, Circle Theatre. The theater category is notably the largest.
Erika Overturff
It was a great night for Ballet Nebraska, as well, as they pulled both Dance awards for Dance Production Momentum and Best Dancer, Erika Overturff of Momentum, who elegantly accepted her award mentioning the greatness of all nominees and Ballet Nebraska folks.
Robin Welch
Robin Welch, a prominent person in dance history nationally, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, with a very well-done video clip tracking her career from being a national star at 13 and being featured on a US stamp, to becoming a champion for Omaha dance education and community promotion through Robin Welch Dance Arts and Training. Support for her impact was displayed via a standing ovation, and she accepted the award elegantly saying what a great time it has been.
Conduits, who took home Best Indie
Of course, it was fun to hear Rock Paper Dynamite play (who won for Best Rock) and Tara Vaughan and her band, which was incredible (my table compared her to Adele). In music, men and male-led bands seemed to rule (had to mention), but All Young Girls Are Machine Guns and Conduits both took home well-deserved awards (Best Adult/Alternative/Songwriter and Best Indie respectively).
Vera Mercer wasn’t present neither was Jun Kaneko, two big-wig winners (Mercer of Best Visual Artist and Best Solo Show; Kaneko of Best 3D Visual Artist) though their impression was held with a generous applause.
Co-host Katie F-S
Co-hosts Katie F-S and Andrew Ek joked, erred and flirted with the crowd and rolled pleasantly with the technical mishaps – by the end of the night, Katie was wearing one of the winner’s scarves, another’s sunglasses. Totally gnarly.
Such moments as these made the night magical despite what may have been missing in my fantasy award-show. But, to note, it was only the sixth annual show, and most cities don’t even have such an ordeal. The organizers, committees and those volunteers involved with it should be applauded and thanked as well. It can only get better.
Awesome artist Sarah Rowe in her “Ghost Dance” series; not an OEAA 2012 nominee, but could have been
And personal moments made it a riot, like running into Emerging Artist Nominee Kim Reid Kuhn, her daughter Zoe and artist Sarah Rowe having their own fun at the bar. Drinking cocktails and laughing at the table with artists Larry Ferguson and Karen Bowerman brought entertainment along with “shop-talk” with fellow critic and my Reader editor) Mike Krainak and his wife, curator Janet Farber, and winks with RNG Gallery Owner/Director Rob Gilmer and Omaha Creative Institute Director Susan Thomas made it feel all the more down-home and merry.
Now I might as well break it down by the sexes, just for fun: (not counting entire production nominees/awardees)*
Visual Arts Nominees: 16 female/42 total; awardees: five female winners/seven total
Performing Arts Nominees: 43 female/90 total; awardees: nine female/18 total
Dance nominees: two female/five total; awardee: one female/one total
Slam poet nominees: one female/five total; awardees: 0 female/1 total
Music nominees: The only bands I might be able to see females in are Platte River Rain, Voices of Victory, Jaymie Jones, Conduits, Icky Blossoms, Kainseville Boys, In Dreama, Blue Bird, Tara Vaughan, and All Young Girls Are Machine Guns – that is 10 female/86 total…
Music awardees: three female/16 total
*Please correct me if I’m wrong! Information from the winners’ list as posted:
http://www.kvnonews.com/2012/02/omaha-entertainment-and-arts-award-winners/
Though a red carpet was missed, the red-hearted balloons, painted by The Kent Bellows Studio & Arts Center students, were a touching and community-mindful décor. The locale of the Hilton Inn made it so, as well, with art by local artists abound – Jun Kaneko, Karen Kunc and others have art lining the walls of the high-end establishment.
It wasn’t exactly my fantasy Oscar awards show, but overall a constructive occasion for the community. And heck, I’m not Victoria Jackson, a star actress-comedian living in NYC either. I might be an awardless arts blogger in Omaha for the rest of my life (thanks to this post which I don’t think people are appreciating), but that’s OK! I like what I do, I like what Omaha has – OEAAs are a huge part of that.
I want to thank the Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards for welcoming me to my first official gig as a Les Femmes Folles media representative!