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The Arts & Science Council Honors Six Creative Individuals with a Lifetime Achievement Award

The Arts & Science Council (ASC) is pleased to announce the recipients of its inaugural ASC Honors program. The program recognizes creative individuals in the areas of science, literature, history, design, visual or the performing arts with a lifetime achievement award.  2008 ASC Honorees are Dancers Patricia McBride and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux; Historian Steve Crump; Visual Artist Herb Jackson; Musician Arthur Smith and Scientist Dr. Francis Robicsek.  The awards will be presented Monday, October 6, 2008 in the McColl Family Theatre at ImaginOn.  WTVI will air the program on Oct. 8 at 8pm.

“ASC is extremely proud to honor these creative individuals who live in our community, have distinguished themselves among their peers and whose daily work in arts and science and history has enriched the lives of Charlotte-Mecklenburg citizens as well as others around the world,” said ASC President & CEO Lee Keesler.

ASC Honors supports the organization’s new five-year roadmap to grow appreciation for the role of arts and culture in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community. The awards will be given every three years, through a competitive process, to individuals who have at least 20 or more years of experience and accomplishments in the fields of visual, design or performing arts, history, literature or science; a career marked by creativity, innovation and continuous intellectual exploration; a primary source of income and or achievement in the relevant discipline and a current resident of Mecklenburg County who has lived here for a minimum of five years.

The Honorees will receive a bronze medal designed by North Carolina artist Joanna Gollberg.

ASC Honorees

Patricia McBride & Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux (Dance)

Patricia McBride, associate artistic director of North Carolina Dance Theatre, is celebrated as an outstanding American ballerina of our day and a star of international stature.  For three decades, the Teaneck, New Jersey native danced a repertory of 42 original roles all over the world.   Arlene Croce, one of the most respected dance critics of the 20th Century, called her “merely the most exciting ballerina in America.”  At 18, McBride became the youngest principal dancer in the New York City Ballet.  Within a year, George Balanchine choreographed a solo for her.  In 1976 she began dancing with Mikhail Baryshnikov, considered the finest male dancer of the time, where they performed 17 ballets including works by Balanchine and Jerome Robbins.  She has also danced with Rudolf Nureyev, Edward Villella and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, her husband of more than 30 years.  She began sharing her experience as a dancer through teaching as a tenured professor at Indiana University and has led North Carolina Dance Theatre dancers to be skilled at performing Balanchine’s repertoire across the United States.

Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, artistic director and president of North Carolina Dance Theatre, began his training at age 10 at the School of Paris Opera Ballet.  By 21, he earned the title Danseur Etoile, reserved for the most distinguished dancers in France.  In 1970, Bonnefoux was invited by George Balanchine to join the New York City Ballet as a principal dancer where he performed more than 40 ballets.  In 1976, he co-founded a company with Patricia McBride and other dancers from New York City Ballet where they toured until 1980.  He stopped performing in 1980 to devote his energy and work as a choreographer and teacher working at New York City Ballet, School of American Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet by invitation of Rudolph Nureyev.  Bonnefoux’s leadership and commitment to dance, along with his wife Patricia McBride, has built North Carolina Dance Theatre as a world-class company.

Steve Crump (History)

Steve Crump has produced more than 20 documentaries since 1994 telling meaningful stories relating to Africa and the African-American experience.  The Louisville, Kentucky native has covered topics ranging from the integration of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and his hometown native Muhammad Ali to Romare Bearden and black jockeys who made American Sports history in the first four decades of the Kentucky Derby.  Crump’s work has been used as a teaching tool by WTVI, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Johnson C. Smith University, Opera Carolina and Central Piedmont Community College among others.

Herb Jackson (Visual Art)

Visual Artist Herb Jackson is an accomplished painter of abstract works that have been the subject of over 100 solo exhibitions in the United States and abroad.  Jackson, the Douglas C. Houchens Professor of Art at his alma mater Davidson College, is also a philanthropist and champion of emerging and under-recognized artists.   He conceived and premiered the Davidson National Print and Drawing Competition that is credited as the starting point of careers for many artists and built the college’s permanent art collection with over 3,000 works.

Dr. Francis Robicsek (Science)

Losing his father from tuberculosis at eleven stimulated an interest in chest diseases for Hungarian native Dr. Francis Robicsek.  Through his innovation and use of resources, he laid the foundation for extraordinary contributions to advance the art of cardio-thoracic surgery.  Robicsek is recognized for performing the first heart catheterization, open-heart surgery and heart transplant in Charlotte and Western North Carolina. He developed procedures and methods for treating heart patients, but also devices and equipment needed to perform those surgeries.  Robicsek established a cardiac surgical program in Guatemala City sharing his medial skills and knowledge with the less privilege.

While in Central America, he grew an interest in Mayan art and used his scientific research skills to a study of Mayan decorated ceramics.  Through his work, Robicsek is recognized as the discoverer of the “lost books” of the Maya.  Many of the artifacts are part of the Mint Museum of Art’s permanent collection.

Arthur Smith (Music)

Introduced to music by his father, a music teacher and leader of the town band in Kershaw, S.C., Arthur Smith is one of America’s celebrated and respected musicians and songwriters.  The Clinton, S.C. native is a composer, guitarist, fiddler and banjo player whose song “Guitar Boogie” earned him the moniker Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith.  Smith had his own radio show, a variety television show "Carolina Calling” and “The Arthur Smith Show” that ran in national syndication for 32 years in 90 markets.  He has nearly 500 copyrights which have been recorded by artists including Chet Atkins, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson and the Statler Brothers.  He built and managed the first commercial recording studio in the Southeast in Charlotte where James Brown created “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” along with creating and producing radio programs hosted by Brown, Richard Petty, Reverend Billy Graham and others.  Smith’s musical talents have been the inspiration for recording artists Hank Garland, Roy Clark, Glen Campbell and surf music pioneers The Ventures.

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