NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Sept. 25, 2008
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Ann Dee Lee
Public Information Director
Oklahoma Arts Council
(405) 521-2931
anndee@arts.ok.gov
PENNY ASKEW TO RECEIVE
GOVERNOR’S ARTS AWARD
Oklahoma City, OK -- Penny Askew, Clinton, will be honored by Governor Brad Henry at the 33rd Annual Governor’s Arts Awards. Askew will receive a Community Service Award which recognizes individuals for significant contributions to the arts in specific Oklahoma communities in the areas of leadership and volunteerism.
Sponsored by the Oklahoma Arts Council, 15 individuals and three organizations will be honored for their contributions to the arts in their communities or throughout the state. The ceremony is scheduled for 4:00 p.m., Thursday, October 23rd in the 4th Floor Rotunda of the State Capitol and is open to the public. Presiding at the ceremony will be Council Chair Jim Tolbert and Oklahoma Arts Council Executive Director Suzanne Tate. A reception on the first floor of the Capitol will follow the 4 p.m. ceremony
In June 1988, Askew became the owner/director of the Western Oklahoma Ballet Academy, and the Artistic Director of Western Oklahoma Ballet Theatre. Through Askew’s efforts, communities in Western Oklahoma have gained a greater appreciation for the art of dance and the dancer. Having built its reputation on proper ballet training, this is the only ballet school in Western Oklahoma that offers its students the opportunity to perform with a high-caliber regional ballet company. Her students have been selected to attend many prominent national training programs, have received scholarships to university dance programs, and have danced professionally with ballet, modern dance, and musical theatre companies.
Under her direction, the company presents three major productions in the Western Oklahoma area each season and belongs to Regional Dance America/Southwest, an association of pre-professional ballet companies. As such, the company travels each year to festivals in order to participate in classes and performances. The company has also performed at Regional Dance America National Festivals in Houston (1997) and Pittsburgh (2007), and traveled to Austria in 1998 to participate in the Young Tanzsommer performance series in Kitzbuhel and Innsbruck.
Her students have been selected to attend many prominent national training programs, have received scholarships to university dance programs, and have danced professionally with ballet, modern dance, and musical theatre companies.
Askew began her serious ballet training with Candace Jones Smalley who established the Academy in 1974. Askew studied intensively at Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, Ballet West, Pennsylvania Ballet, and the National Academy of Arts, and trained with such notable teachers as Robert Joffrey, Richard Englund, David Howard, Lupe Serrano, Hilary Cartwright, Bruce Marks, and Toni Lander.
Askew received the Regional Dance America/Southwest Stream Award in 1996 for artistic growth, excellence, and service to that organization. She served as the group’s Secretary from 1991-2005, and was recently elected its President for 2008-2009. She was named the Outstanding Choreographer of the Regional Dance America National Craft of Choreography Conference in both 1996 and 1998, and her works have been commissioned by Allegro Ballet of Houston, Victoria Ballet Theatre, Twin City Ballet, Chamber Youth Ballet, the University of Iowa’s Dancers in Company, Bucknell Dance Company, and Ballet Quad Cities.
Askew also serves as the Executive Director of the Clinton Public School Foundation, and is active in the Clinton Kiwanis Club. She is an American Ballet Theatre Certified Teacher and holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Psychology from Southwestern Oklahoma State University, and received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance/Choreography from the University of Iowa in May of 2001.
A complete list of Governor’s Arts Awards recipients and their photos are available at www.arts.ok.gov.
For more information, contact Ann Dee Lee, Public Relations Director, Oklahoma Arts Council, (405) 521-2931 or anndee@arts.ok.gov.
ABOUT THE OKLAHOMA ARTS COUNCIL
The Oklahoma Arts Council is a state agency whose mission is to improve lives through the arts by promoting and sustaining the development of a thriving arts environment, which is essential to quality of life, education and economic vitality for all Oklahomans.
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