Press Release: Evanston Mayor's Award for the Arts Winners Announced

Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl has announced the recipients of the 2012 Mayor’s Award for the Arts. The Mayor’s Award for the Arts is presented annually to an Evanston arts organization and an individual for contributions to the community through excellence in the arts. Recipients are selected from nominations submitted by the public.

The arts organization award will be presented to RHINO Poetry and the individual award will be presented to Penny Rotheiser. The awards will be presented at the Evanston Chamber of Commerce/State of the City luncheon on Friday, March 8, 2013.

RHINO Poetry is an Evanston-based internationally known, award-winning poetry journal and literary website which keeps poetry alive and well in Evanston. Founded more than 37 years ago, RHINO acts as a poetry hub, serving and nurturing emerging and established writers and their readers. NewPages recently called RHINO, “one of the best annual collections of poetry you can find.” An all-volunteer organization, RHINO hosts free monthly workshops at the Evanston Public Library, a poetry reading series at the Brothers K Coffee House in south Evanston and a host of other events.

Penny Rotheiser will be recognized for her tireless commitment to and work for the Evanston arts community. Rotheiser has been an Evanston resident and arts advocate since 1998. She spent her professional life in broadcasting and journalism, working for ABC-TV in Chicago and handling publicity for Mr. Kelly's and London House nightclubs. Later, she would serve as Director of Publicity for Phil Donahue's internationally syndicated show. Rotheiser was president of the Associates Board of Apple Tree Theatre in Highland Park and served two terms on the Evanston Arts Council. Her most significant contribution at the Arts Council was restructuring the Arts and Business Committee, where she helped create Backstage Evanston, Art Under Glass, the evanstonartsbuzz.com website, the Arts Leadership Award and the Cultural Arts in Evanston brochure.

The Mayor’s State of the City Address and Awards for the Arts Luncheon is sponsored by the Evanston Chamber of Commerce and NorthShore University HealthSystem. This year’s event takes place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Friday, March 8 at the Hilton Orrington, 1710 Orrington Avenue, Evanston. For ticket information, please call 847/328-1500, x22.