Longtime Piedmont Arts employee and lifelong arts supporter Barbara Parker along with Carter Bank & Trust, “two influential centerpieces of our community” were honored this week, joining a short list of individuals and businesses who have received Piedmont Arts prestigious Clyde Hooker Award for their shared “belief that the arts are crucial to building and sustaining a thriving community,” said Piedmont Arts Executive Director Heidi Pinkston during the Tuesday night ceremony.
Pinkston welcomed those in attendance at the ceremony, saying that, for 20 years, Piedmont Arts has been “recognizing exceptional individuals and businesses that support Piedmont Arts and the arts in our great community.”
During that time, Pinkston continued, 19 individuals and businesses have received the Hooker award.
“These past recipients are a group of leaders that are seen daily and ones that work under the radar, but all making an important contribution to the arts in our community,” she said. “They all understand the value of the arts and its potential to raise individuals and communities. It is a noble and honorary club.”
Barbara Parker
Pinkston said Parker had been “passionate about the arts since the age of nine when she was constantly getting in trouble for drawing in class.” Even in college, where Parker was a theater major concentrating in costume design, she skipped more than a few classes to spend time in the theater doing what she loved, Pinkston said.
Parker spent summers at the Utah Shakespeare Festival and Red Barn Theatre, Pinkston said, meeting her future husband Andy, an aspiring singer and actor at a playhouse in Austin, TX, “and followed him around the country and finally to New York City and Broadway.”
Twenty years, five states, two children, and several different career paths later, Parker and her family came to Martinsville 25-years ago, Pinkston said. There, she became Piedmont Arts’ part-time program coordinator and, just a few years later, the Director of Programs, creating a number of programs still offered at the museum today.
Pinkston credited Parker with creating the performing arts series, bringing world-class performances to the area including Chinese acrobats, symphonies, and ballets.
Additionally, Parker created Standards of Learning (SOL) Treasure Chests for educators to enhance hands-on learning about cultures and ancient civilizations.
In 2005, Pinkston said, Parker helped start the community theater TheatreWorks, which has presented more than 60 musicals and plays to date.
“The Big Read always comes to mind when thinking of Barbara’s accomplishments,” said Pinkston. The community-wide reading project one year spotlighted the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and, in another year, the author Edgar Allen Poe. “I feel sure everyone in M-HC read or re-read ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and all of Poe’s literature,” Pinkston said. “Barbara made sure of it.”
“In 2016 after the death of her daughter, journalist Alison Parker, Barbara retired from Piedmont Arts and founded the For Alison Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing arts opportunities for children in southern Virginia,” Pinkston said. “In the last 6-years, the foundation has given grants for more than 1,000 students to experience the arts from music and dance scholarships for the Roanoke Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Star City School of Ballet to Piedmont Arts to help support dance residencies, and Dance Español with the Southwest Virginia Ballet.”
In 2019, Parker was appointed by Gov. Ralph Northam to the Virginia Commission for the Arts, Pinkston said.
“Her passion for the arts and her belief that it can change lives continue to be the driving force in her life,” Pinkston said, before presenting Parker with her award, which was handmade by George Alderman.
In her acceptance, Parker said she recalled the very first Hooker Awards ceremony 20-years ago “when Piedmont Arts created this award to honor a true champion of the arts, Clyde Hooker. His legacy has lived on, and I am truly honored to be here.”
Noting that when she came to Piedmont Arts just two weeks after her family relocated to the area, Parker said, “I could never have imagined the opportunities I would have and the new friends I would meet.
“This place was much more than a job,” Parker said. “It was continuing education. I was given opportunities that just don’t happen at larger museums,” including curating exhibits on Jamestown, ancient Mali, ancient Greece, and Shakespearean costumes. “I learned about ancient Egypt, Chinese art, and Australian aboriginal art. I led tours for hundreds of students and planned family days. I watched kids in Minds in Motion become confident team players and experience the joy of dance, and I cried at every single end-of-year performance.”
While it was difficult to retire from the organization after 19-years, Parker said “the For Alison Foundation is helping to provide opportunities for talented students to pursue their creative passions outside of the classroom, and be inspired to become the artists and performers of the future.”
Parker thanked Pinkston and the rest of the current Piedmont Arts staff who, she said, “are doing an incredible job taking Piedmont Arts into its seventh decade of bringing artistic excellence to southern Virginia. I am so proud to have been a part of it all.”
Parker received a standing ovation from the audience.
Carter Bank & Trust
Guy Stanley, first vice president of the museum’s board of directors, presented Carter Bank & Trust with its Hooker award.
He said the organization has been generous to Piedmont Arts, providing an energy audit, becoming a corporate sponsor and sponsoring other events. Bank employees volunteer at the museum as well as serve on the board and its committees.
“I couldn’t talk about Carter Bank & Trust without mentioning Mr. Worth Carter, who passed away in 2017. Mr. Carter founded his bank in 1974 and over 42 years founded 10 community banks and in 2006 combined them into Carter Bank & Trust. Piedmont Arts wants to thank Mr. Carter for his generosity to the community and the arts,” Stanley said.
Stanley recounted a personal story of a vacation to Mexico. Sitting around a fire one evening, another guest heard Stanley was from Martinsville and asked if he knew Worth, which Stanley replied that he did.
“They’re saving our company,” the man told Stanley. “That shows you the influence that they have,” he said.
“They are more than a bank,” Stanley continued. “They are ambassadors and advocates to the communities they serve. Carter Bank & Trust cares about you, your family, your business, and our community. They believe their active community engagement and support are essential in earning trust, enriching lives, and building lifetime relationships and they live by those words.”
Chief Executive Officer Litz Van Dyke accepted the award on behalf of the bank and its associates.
He noted that, though he did not know J. Clyde Hooker, Jr., for whom the award was named, “he obviously had a tremendous impact on the community which we strive to do as well. We really do care about our communities.”
Van Dyke noted that several bank employees currently serve on the boards of Piedmont Arts.
“A vital community needs a vital arts program, and Piedmont Arts provides that. We’re awfully lucky to have the asset we have in this community, and we’re honored to accept this award.”
Arts in Education Awards
Director of Programs Sarah Short presented Ed Dollinger and Clifton Jones with Arts in Education awards, an honor she said was created in 2005 “to honor those who believe exposure to the arts is not only an important part of the education of a child, but vital in the overall development of children both in and out of the classroom. These community members, educators, and administrators work to ensure that students in Martinsville and Henry County are provided with arts experiences that will inspire and enrich their lives.”
Jones, a counselor at Campbell Court Elementary School, was the first recipient recognized for his efforts in bringing Dance Español to the school for “a special day of outdoor programming.”
As the community continues to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, Short said schools are challenged to keep students engaged even with virtual learning, limited staff and resources, quarantines, and other obstacles.
“Clif works with both Piedmont Arts and the For Alison Foundation to ensure that students are provided with high-quality performing arts education throughout the school year, no matter the difficulties faced,” Short said, and presented Dollinger with his award for the impact he has made on local youth.
“His unique ability to guide youth of many ages through intricate community projects while keeping the students at the center is praiseworthy,” Short said. “One striking thing about Ed is the excitement you can feel radiating from him when he is in a room with young artists. He is so encouraging to all students and finds ways to celebrate their unique interests and abilities so that their confidence and passion is immediately improved. He pushes youth to dig deeper and think bigger about what art is and what it can be.
“Ed, we are in awe of your stamina and dedication in all that you do to keep the arts relevant and impactful in the community,” Short said.
Scholarship recipients
Brian Stanley, of the Piedmont Arts Scholarship Committee, presented two students, Onyinye Ugbomah-Otunuya and Emily Maxey, with scholarships to support their interest in pursuing arts education.
Ugbomaha-Otunuya received the Nicodemus D. Hufford Memorial Scholarship which, Stanley said, is given annually to a graduating senior from Martinsville or Henry County who wishes to pursue a degree in the arts.
“The generosity of the Hufford family, along with their passion for helping the youth of Martinsville and Henry County pursue the arts, has allowed Piedmont Arts to award this scholarship since 1987, with 83 arts students having received funding,” he said. “Many of these students now have successful careers in education, performing and visual arts, and other related fields.”
Ugbomaha-Otunuya plans to pursue a degree in graphic and animation design at Longwood University.
Stanley then presented the Harold Knowlton Work Memorial Scholarship to Maxey, who has already been attending the University of Lynchburg and is working toward becoming a music therapist.
This scholarship, said Stanley, was created in 2008 for college students pursuing a degree in the arts and is funded through the Work Memorial Scholarship Fund established by Work’s wife, Julia.
“Julie and Harold shared a lifelong passion and respect for education and the arts,” said Stanley. “This memorial scholarship ensures that their legacy of learning and imagination lives on by supporting the artists of future generations.”
He said, “we know her (Maxey’s) artistic talent, combined with her warm presence and empathetic spirit, will make her a wonderful support for youth managing life’s challenges through artistic expression.”
