2008 Governor’s Awards in Support of the Arts Recipients Named

Governor Jim and First Lady Jessica Doyle will host a ceremony at the Executive Residence in Madison on October 23, honoring some of the state’s most generous arts supporters.

Chosen to receive the 2008 Governor’s Awards in Support of the Arts are, in the Individual Leadership category, John and Patty Noel of Stevens Point, and John W. Thompson of Madison. Selected in the Arts Organization category is Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, Fran Richman, Executive Director, Milwaukee. M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank, Mark F. Furlong, President and Chief Executive Officer, Milwaukee, is recognized in the Corporate/Business category.

Honorary Chair of this year’s Governor’s Awards event is Pleasant Rowland Frautschi of Middleton. At the 1999 ceremony, Pleasant Rowland was recognized as the visionary behind Madison’s popular Concerts on the Square and for her generosity in subsidizing and broadening artistic and cultural opportunities for children.

John and Patty Noel are honored for nearly two decades of supporting the arts in Central Wisconsin, providing access for the most underserved and disadvantaged people. Their million dollar donation to UW-Stevens Point enabled a $26 million renovation and expansion of the University's fine arts center.

John W. Thompson is recognized for a generous lead gift to rescue CTM-Children’s Theater of Madison and another major gift to Overture Center for the Arts Great Performance Fund. His many years of leadership and philanthropy sustained Madison Opera and Madison Area Concert Handbells. Other gifts by Thompson benefited Madison Symphony Orchestra, VSA arts Wisconsin and Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.

Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra recently celebrated its 50th anniversary season and is honored for its lead role in the national youth orchestra world. The largest youth orchestra program in the nation, it serves nearly 850 young people in its full season core programs, plus many thousands more through its work at Boys & Girls Clubs, Neighborhood Concert Series and school-based Community Engagement Concerts. Increased commitment to diversifying its membership, music and audiences resulted in a half-dozen new programs in the last five years and minority enrollment has quintupled. MYSO’s vision in developing the Youth Arts Center greatly benefits the community.

M&I Bank of Milwaukee is recognized for generous statewide support, giving to nearly 90 arts programs including: United Performing Arts Fund, Renaissance Theaterworks, Latino Arts, Inc, Ko-Thi Dance Company, Waukesha Civic Theater, River Arts, Inc. (Sauk City), Concerts in the Park (Reedsburg), Dodgeville Blues Fest, Madison Bach Musicians, Janesville Presents, Beaver Dam Area Community Theater, Geneva Lake Art Association, Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, Fox Cities Children’s Museum, UW Fox Valley Foundation Arts Campaign, Wausau Area Conservatory of Music, Wisconsin Rapids Community Theater and UW Stevens Point Department of Music.

Each recipient of the 2008 Governor’s Award will receive a citation from the Governor, along with a gift of original art created by a Wisconsin artist. This year, the Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts commissioned Wisconsin artist Georgene Pomplun, whose oil paintings reflect the stunning beauty of her rural Mount Horeb landscape and its wonderful old barns and farmhouses, as well as her reverence for a way of life that is increasingly threatened.

The Governor’s Awards in Support of the Arts began in 1980 to encourage support of the arts throughout Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts has honored more than 135 businesses, individuals and organizations whose extraordinary contributions to the vitality of the arts in Wisconsin deserve recognition. Four previous governors have hosted the ceremony and personally presented the awards.

The Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts presents this annual event in cooperation with the Governor’s office. Sponsorship this year is provided by The Boldt Company of Appleton, with support from Johnson Financial Group. The Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts is a nonprofit public organization supported solely by membership dues and contributions.