The Buffalo Exchange Arts Award was established by Buffalo Exchange owners Kerstin and Spencer Block to encourage creativity, innovation and excellence in the arts.
The focus of the award changes each year, rotating between an emphasis on emerging artists in the performing arts, emerging artists in the visual arts, and individuals who have made outstanding contributions to arts in the community through education, organization and advocacy.
Artists are nominated and selected by two separate panels of experts familiar with the local arts scene. Since 1994, nearly $150,000 has been awarded to individuals in the arts community through the Buffalo Exchange Arts Award.
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Ashley Shea Bowman wins 2011 Buffalo Exchange Arts Award
Ashley Bowman, MFA received the $10,000 Buffalo Exchange Arts Award in the emerging performance artist category for 2011. Ashley is both Co-Artisitic Director and founding member of the Artifact Dance Poject, a small company focused on integrating dance, live music and film. Ashley earned her BFA and MFA from the University of Arizona and is currently an Instructor at the Tucson Dance Academy.
Ashley says of her work: "My choreography and strength as a dancer is dynamic in form by combining ballet, modern and jazz dance. The style of movement is contemporary and every-changing through each work I create."
She and the other nominees: Jose Luis Baca from Ballet Folklorico Tapatio; Kaia Chesney, musician, singer and songwriter; Christopher Johnson, theatre artist, director and actor; and Joe Pagac, a performance painting, mural and installation artist, will be honored at a reception on February 15.