Three To Be Honored With GAELA Awards

The Selection Committee for the Georgia Arts & Entertainment Legacy Award (GAELA Award) is pleased to announce the three recipients who will be honored at the 2008 GAELA Awards: Sarah duBignon, Outreach/Education Coordinator for The Fox Theatre; Stephanie S. Hughley, Executive Producer of the National Black Arts Festival; and Tom Key, Executive Artistic Director of Atlanta's Theatrical Outfit.

The annual GAELA Awards were established to recognize people in the field of arts and entertainment who have made a significant contribution to Georgia's cultural heritage. This year's GAELA Awards event promises to be an exciting evening of live tribute performances and some very special surprise guests. In addition, the three Georgia arts & entertainment visionaries will be honored with the prestigious GAELA Award - an elegant, crystal letter creation of Frabel Glass Art Studio & Galleries, founded by the world renown artist Hans-Godo Frabel GAELA - before continuing the celebration at a delicious dessert and champagne post reception.

The 2008 GAELA Awards will take place at 6:30pm on Sunday, October 19 at The Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State University, located in the beautiful Fairlie-Poplar district of downtown Atlanta. Tickets for the awards event and reception are $75 for upper level seating and $100 for orchestra seats.†Tickets will be available beginning this Friday, August 8. Please call the Rialto Center box office at (404) 413-9849 or visit www.GeorgiaPerforms.com  to purchase. .

More About The Recipients: 

Sara duBignon is a vital force in bringing youth arts programs and arts in education programs to children and teens. She is a dedicated arts advocate, devoted to broadening access to the arts for youths living in diverse communities across greater Atlanta. Over the years, Ms. duBignon’s personal commitment to arts outreach and education has touched the lives of countless individuals and dozens of organizations. She has served as the educational/outreach coordinator for the Atlanta Ballet, where she started the Kids in Step Program, outreach after school dance classes, and the apprentice program that performs in the schools. She was the Schools Arts Coordinator for the Fulton County Arts Council, and presently is the part-time Interim Coordinator for the program.

As the Outreach/Education Director for The Fox Theatre, Ms. duBignon runs Camp Broadway, an educational experience like no other that has expanded to a two-week program under her direction. Her oversight of the annual Ailey Camp program has been equally impactful. Ms. duBignon also manages the distribution of tickets to organizations and schools, providing theatre, dance and music experiences for people of all ages who might not otherwise be able to attend. Additionally, she writes educational material and makes educational talks, as well as spearheading other outreach projects of The Fox Theatre.

Ms. duBignon was recently honored for her instrumental work in providing a wide variety of arts services to Boys & Girls Club members through partnerships with Youth Art Connection, the Boys & Girls Club's arts and cultural enrichment center. She is a member of The League of American Theatres and Producers' Educational Committee.

Stephanie S. Hughley was appointed the Executive Producer of the National Black Arts Festival (NBAF) in July 1999. Ms. Hughley is responsible for creating and developing the unique artistic vision of the Festival. She reports directly to the NBAF Board of Directors as Chief Executive Officer and is responsible for the development and the sustainability of the organization. Ms. Hughley returned to Atlanta from Newark, New Jersey where she held the position of Vice President of Programming at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC). She joined the Senior Management Team of the NJPAC in September of 1995 as the organization's first programming executive.

From the years 1987 through 1992, Ms. Hughley was the founding Artistic Director of the National Black Arts Festival (NBAF) in Atlanta. During that period, she conceptualized and implemented the artistic content for each festival, which included over 100 events spread across eight artistic disciplines. Ms. Hughley helped to conceive, develop and implement the groundbreaking Africa Exchange Program, an innovative cross-cultural six-year initiative funded by the Ford Foundation's Internationalizing New Work in the Performing Arts program.

Ms. Hughley has received numerous awards. Just to name a few, she was recognized as Woman of the Year in the 2007 July/August Issue of Atlanta Woman Magazine; recognized by the Atlanta Business League as one of Atlanta's Top 100 Black Women of Influence; received the Africa World - Africa Heritage Achievement Award; was named Arts Professional of the Year Award presented by the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce; and received the Home Depot Foundation "Building Community Award."

In 2008, she received the William Dawson Award from Association of Arts Presenters for Programmatic Excellence for sustained achievement in programming. She also received a Resolution from the Georgia State Senate for her numerous accomplishments and contributions to her community and the State of Georgia. The Houston International Festival (iFEST) presented her with an award for Artistic Excellence for 2008.

She currently serves on the Board of the Metro Atlanta Arts and Culture Coalition (MAACC) and the Atlanta Convention Visitors Bureau (ACVB). She is a member of the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers, and acts as a consultant to a number of performing arts and cultural institutions including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She is also on the Essence Cares Steering Committee.

Ms. Hughley is a graduate of Kent State University (B.S.) and Antioch College (M.Ed.) at Harvard University.

Tom Key has been the Executive Artistic Director of Atlanta's Theatrical Outfit since 1995 where he has lead the organization to the creation of its new home, The Balzer Theater At Herren's, hailed by Atlanta Journal and Constitution theater critic Wendell Brock as, "the best small theater space in Atlanta" and the first theater in the United States to achieve silver certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design from The US Green Building Council.

At Theatrical Outfit he has produced five world premieres, eight regional premieres and over thirty scripts by Southern authors, including Tennessee Williams, Walker Percy, Flannery O'Connor and Truman Capote on themes of race, community and spirituality; earned sixteen "Best of Year" notices from Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Creative Loafing and Atlanta Magazine; won two Arts and Business Council Abby Awards; been recognized for career achievement by the Georgia Theater Conference; and received two Mayoral Proclamations for Outstanding Service.

Key has been a solo performer in demand across North America for more than two decades including appearances of his "C.S. Lewis On Stage" and "The Revelation of John" at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; Lambs Theater, New York; The Westwood Playhouse, Los Angeles; The Alliance Theater; Dallas Theater Center; Oxford University, England; Harvard and Yale Universities; and as Narrator for Beethoven's "Egmont" with The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and "Peter and the Wolf" for The Atlanta Ballet.

Key has been especially noted for his appearances in Theatrical Outfit's "Bloodknot," "Hard Times," "Summer and Smoke" and for his direction of "Hank Williams: Lost Highway" and Thomas Ward's new play "Keeping Watch" (Best Production 2006 Creative Loafing) as well as starring roles in The Alliance Theater's "Art," "Woody Guthrie's American Song," "Candide," "Grapes of Wrath," "Our Town" and as Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol."

He is well known for the off-Broadway hit, Cotton Patch Gospel, published by Dramatic Publishing Company, which he conceived and co-authored with the late singer-songwriter, Harry Chapin, earning two Dramalogue Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Theater, a nomination as Best Actor by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, and publication by Dramatic Publishing Company for which it is still, twenty five years later, one of the most produced plays in the musical catalogue.