1993 Recipients

Artist
Allan Rohan Crite

It is hard to imagine how impoverished the Boston arts community might have been without the quietly towering presence of Allan Rohan Crite. Throughout a remarkably long and creative career as an artist and illustrator, he has told the tale of African-American experience during most of the 20th century, articulating the human condition through the changing decades.

Crite has been a supportive mentor and role model to generations of Boston artists - nurturing many younger painters, printmakers, fiber artists and sculptors who continue to expand the creative life of the city.

A long-time resident of Boston's South End, he has captured many scenes of neighborhood life on canvas. Crite's work is represented in major museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.; Height Gallery, Atlanta; and the Chicago Art Institute.

Humanist
Henry Hampton

Founder of Blackside, Inc., Henry Hampton was responsible for more than 50 major films and media projects that promoted his inclusive vision of what America is, has been and can become. He was best known for the 14-hour landmark Eyes on the Prize documentary series that revealed the history of the Civil Rights Movement as the common experience of a nation in transition. Broadcast during prime time on public television stations nationwide, Eyes on the Prize has reached more than 20 million viewers with each airing and is one of the most acclaimed shows on television.

Until his death in 1998, his community work bespoke the same commitment. During many years as chair of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Afro-American History, he led the project to restore the African Meeting House in Boston - the oldest standing African-American church building in the U.S. He was a founding trustee of the Boston Center for the Arts.

Interpretive Scientist
Dr. Stephen Jay Gould

Stephen Jay Gould has been the curator of invertebrate paleontology at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology since 1973. To the scientific world, he is one of the leading contemporary interpreters of the theory of evolution. To the general public, he is the articulate, passionate and reasoned author of hundreds of essays and such challenging books as The Panda's Thumb, The Mismeasure of Man, The Flamingo's Smile, Wonderful Life, and the recent collections, Bully for Brontosaurus and Eight Little Piggies.

Gould's professional activities have brought him numerous honors and accolades, including one of the first MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowships. But his lucid popular essays have won nearly as many literary honors, including a National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award. Through his popular work, Gould has made the workings of science accessible to the non-scientist and has advanced the case for scientific thought as an essential component of everyday life.

Although Gould's academic specialty in invertebrate animals might seem far removed from the arena of social issues, Gould finds in the principles of science an approach to the problems and concerns of his age.

Interpretive Scientist
Barbara S. Waters

In an age where responsible public policy and private action require a comprehension of science, Barbara S. Waters has been committed to quality science education. For more than 30 years, she has served as a science teacher and educational consultant, 4-H agent, director of the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, and as a developer of environmental curricula. Her classroom is the unique and fragile ecosystem of Cape Cod and her approach is to reach both students and teachers.

A water quality education specialist for the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension Service in Barnstable, her aim is to help children cherish and guard the remarkably delicate environment where they live.

Waters serves on the boards of the Massachusetts Marine Educators and the Massachusetts Science Teachers Association and is a member of the Secretary's Advisory Group on Environmental Education for the state's Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.

Organizational Leadership (Small Organization)
DeWitt Henry

In September 1971, DeWitt Henry was part of a group of writers who launched a new literary magazine. They "believed Ploughshares into existence" on the strength of their commitment to showcase their generation of writers and cultivate new voices in fiction, poetry and non-fiction.

In the years since that first tentative issue, Henry has provided consistent leadership for more than two decades. Over the years, the magazine has helped launch the careers of many important young writers. Ploughshares has demonstrated a remarkable longevity and has gained national recognition both for its literary merit and its innovative policy of rotating guest editorships to guarantee diversity in style, interests and ethnic representation.

Organizational Leadership (Large Organization)
Zeren Earls

Under the leadership of president and artistic director Zeren Earls, First Night solidified its place as one of the premier New Year's Eve events.

Earls was involved in First Night since it began in 1976, and took charge in 1980 following a career as a visual arts and drama teacher at the Belmont Day School in Belmont, Mass. Under her leadership, First Night grew and blossomed as a major event - an annual celebration of community and creativity that brings together people of all ages and backgrounds from city neighborhoods and surrounding communities. It highlights the talents of Boston-area artists and the rich heritages of the city's many cultures against a backdrop of dynamic urban architecture and streetscapes.

Education
Arts in Progress

Arts in Progress employs the power of the arts to engage and teach the most difficult-to-reach populations of Boston. Under Esther Kaplan's stewardship as founding co-director in 1981 and executive director since 1985, the agency has built an impressive track record of service to low- and moderate-income urban children, teens and elders.

As its name implies, AIP has remained flexible to respond to changing community needs. The agency's readiness to help youth grapple with important social issues is powerfully evident in such programs as "Haitian Teens Confront AIDS" and "Act It Out: A Middle School Violence Prevention Theater Program."

Her role in Boston's cultural community was recognized in 1999 by her appointment as cultural advisor to Boston Mayor Tom Menino. The work of Arts in Progress is recognized as a national model, and AIP has generously shared its experience, methods and approaches at numerous conferences and in-service training sessions.

Community
Somerville Arts Council

The Somerville Arts Council is a municipal treasure - a source of innovative programs and collaborations that deploy the strengths of the city's diverse heritages and interests for the benefit of all its residents.

Founded in 1980 to administer the Arts Lottery Grant Program in Somerville, the Arts Council has consistently encouraged the recognition and active participation of the many artists who make Somerville their home. Projects such as the school artist-in-residence program, an annual multi-disciplinary festival of Somerville artists and an exhibition of Arts Lottery grant winners in visual arts at Brickbottom Gallery highlight the talent that belongs to the community at large.

The Somerville Annual Garden Awards symbolize the Arts Council's innovative approach to engaging the broadest possible cross-section of the community by recognizing the unique contributions that individuals make to the society around them.

Catalyst
Jane P. Fitzpatrick

Jane Pratt Fitzpatrick is a supporter, protector and champion of the arts. She has a personal passion for the arts and a comprehension of the importance of culture in the fabric of a community. She has provided tireless leadership and generous support for many cultural organizations.

Fitzpatrick's chief focus has been the Berkshires, where she and her husband operate Country Curtains and are the proprietors of The Red Lion Inn and Blantyre - two historic structures that they restored as elegant hostelries. Since 1977, she has served as president of the Board of Trustees of the Berkshire Theatre Festival, overseeing that organization's restoration of a grand summer playhouse and its return to artistic prominence.

But Fitzpatrick has also been tapped to help the arts well beyond her beloved Berkshire Mountains. She served two terms on the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities and a term on the Massachusetts Arts Lottery Council in the 1980s.

Volunteer
John C. Sevey

John Sevey's time and talent have gone into making a vision come true - a vision of culture as an agent of community spirit and understanding. Sevey pursued a successful business career of 40 years with Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., where he retired as senior vice president of the securities division before founding a corporate mergers and acquisitions company, Pynchon Capital, Inc. At the same time he has carried out a parallel career in community cultural development.

Sevey's projects bear a characteristic stamp of recognizing, nurturing and celebrating the special character of a place and its people. His ability to excite, organize and rally others to a cause has made him an extremely effective leader.

Sevey played a central role in establishing the Wilbraham Peach Festival to mark the town's distinction as the first Massachusetts community to grow peaches commercially. His grassroots environmentalism has taken several forms, including the reclamation for recreational use of land most people saw as a swamp and the transformation of a vacant lot into a town mini-park.

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