BETHLEHEM, Pa. — If you know of a local performing artist, musician, painter, dancer, or storyteller, the Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission may recognize their achievements.
The Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission, or BFAC, seeks nominations for local creatives to honor at the 2025 Tribute to the Arts.
Tribute to the Arts is a biannual celebration that recognizes individuals, businesses, and organizations who support or have created impactful arts experiences in the Bethlehem area.
The program started in 1991 by BFAC, a city commission made up of a group of volunteers.
Up to three recipients will be chosen in the following categories:
performing arts (theatre, music, dance, and storytelling), visual arts (painting, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, photography), and mixed media ( design, architecture, literature/poetry, film, video, audio).
Local creatives who 'set the stage'
While honorees don't receive money, the arts award may recognize those often overlooked.
There also will be an honorary celebration for the winners held in September.
"It's strictly an honorary thing, but I will tell you that sometimes when we let people know they've gotten it, they get emotional, and sometimes they are in disbelief, and overjoyed," Mary Mulder, chair of the Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission, said.
"A lot of the honorees are people who are not the ones whose names you necessarily know. They are people who have often founded something or have started a new version of something in the arts.
"They're not necessarily the person in front of the house or the one that the audience sees. They're the people who make it happen behind the scenes and create the opportunity for the people who are on stage or for the people who are presenting their artwork, or for the actors who are doing the play. They set the stage."
Winners of all ages, backgrounds
Honorees come from diverse backgrounds and ages.
For instance, among 2023's winners are Clint Walker (Mayor's Award) and Eileen Waverk Wescoe, who are both 90 years old.
Wescoe is still playing professionally and began her music career as a teen.
"She came from a family of active musicians in Bethlehem. If there's a musical group that she hasn't played for over the last 70 years, I don't know who that would be," Mulder said. "She's not the person whose name is in the headline or limelight, but she has played for students and professional organizations, and she's irreplaceable."
Walker served on the Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission and helped renovate the sculpture garden at Bethlehem City Hall.
"He spearheaded that project and made it a place where people can come and just kind of enjoy a little shade and nature on Church Street," Mulder said.
Younger artists have also been honored in 2023, including Devyn Leonor Briggs.
Briggs, 33, is a multidisciplinary artist and educator who works in painting, ceramics, and fibers and is inspired by her Colombian, Jamaican, and African-American heritage.
PA Youth Theatre honoree
Jill Dunn Jones, artistic director of the Pennsylvania Youth Theatre, or PYT, was among the four Tribute to the Arts winners in 2023.
She was nominated by a mom of two PYT's former students, Barbara Vogelgesang.
Dunn Jones, who has been the artistic director since 2013, was surprised to hear she was among the four winners.
"I was very honored, and it was not something that I was expecting. When you work with kids, you don't necessarily do it for validation or praise," Dunn Jones said.
"The validation is the fact that I get to watch them grow and change and become participants in the world, but to have someone recognize my work, it's very moving."
At the awards celebration held in September 2023, Dunn Jones was equally as excited to be up on stage alongside Wescoe.
"I love Wescoe's work. She has committed her entire life to this community, and I was so honored to be in the same presence with her," Dunn Jones said. "That meant something different to me, and I felt humbled to be in the same category."
Dunn Jones is currently working with youth performers for PYT's spring performance of "Mary Poppins," which will take place at the Charles A. Smith IceHouse on weekends started May 9 - 18.
It's the organization's first production since moving to its new venue inside the former Blessed Trinity Lutheran Church.
As a Tribute to the Arts winner, Dunn Jones joined PYT's founding director, Madeleine Ramsey, who retired in 2009.
"To know that I was in the same, um, realm as her, too, that was meaningful for me as well, especially knowing that there is an award for the arts and arts educators in the community," she said.
How to nominate
Nominations for the Tribute to the Arts awards will be accepted through Thursday, May 15.
Award recipients will be selected by a BFAC committee and notified by June 1.
To honor an individual, business, or organization, Mulder suggests a brief bio/written statement about their work and achievements (300 to 600 words) along with the credentials and qualifications of the nominees.
Past winners are not eligible.
For a list of past winners and to submit a nomination, visit the Tributes to the Arts website.
