Macon Cultural Awards celebrate creative responses to COVID-19, social injustice

The Macon Cultural Awards were given last week with one award winner connected to art being unveiled on downtown streets today.

The Macon Arts Alliance accepts nominations and gives the annual awards recognizing individuals, organizations and businesses that have made significant contributions to the cultural life of Middle Georgia through their work or philanthropic efforts.

This year, Scott Mitchell was one of four cultural award recipients. The owner of Travis Jean Emporium and the Bohemian boutique, Mitchell was recognized for “boundless and authentic energy in promoting equality for all people” and as a “fearless promoter of local artists,” highlighting their work and stories in his stores.

He was also recognized as the force behind the Macon Sculpture Walk which has put sculptures on display downtown since 2018 — with a slight COVID-19 hiccup.

Today, the Macon Sculpture Walk unveils three new pieces while hosting a virtual unveiling and online interview with sculptor Alex Mendez at 3 p.m. at www.facebook.com/MaconSculptureWalk.

Mendez created all three 2021 pieces and a significant number of past works. There are seven sculptures on display downtown.

Essentially, the sculptures are rented from artists for a year and are for sale with hopes each will be bought and left in place.

All three works from 2018 have been purchased and given to the public to enjoy in place. An artist has not reclaimed one from a previous year so it remains on site.

“I think public art says so much about a community so when I heard about sculpture walks I fell in love with the idea and wanted to bring it here,” Mitchell said.

As then-president of the Downtown Macon Community Association, Mitchell sought and won a Downtown Challenge Grant from the Community Foundation of Central Georgia to create the sculpture walk.

While touring and enjoying the outdoor sculptures is relatively health-safe, guided group tours and an opening-day public reception is not in the cards this year.

“But people really love what’s out there and I’m excited about the new pieces,” Mitchell said. “There’s one that’s my favorite and, though I won’t say more now, I’ll be shocked if we don’t see selfies flood the internet from it.”

This year, oversight of the Macon Sculpture Walk has shifted to The 567 Center, an art group, center and gallery with an ongoing commitment to public art.

The 567 will host the 3 p.m. online event and the center’s head, Melissa Macker, said though the idea didn’t originate with them they’ve been involved since it began.

“We work with artists regularly to bring art and life to downtown – that’s our mission,” she said. “It made sense for the sculpture walk to fall under our umbrella as Scott takes on other commitments and challenges. We love how he’s led it and how people have embraced it. And yes, one of the new ones is definitely a great selfie spot.”

As far as the 2020 Cultural Awards, Mitchell’s thoughts were similar to those of many recipients.

“Gosh, it means the world to me,” he said. “I was shocked when I found out I was even nominated. I don’t do the work for accolades, I do it because I love Macon. Still, I can’t deny it’s nice receiving the honor among such an amazing group of people. I’m grateful to live in a community that embraces art and culture. People here are awesome.”

The 2020 Cultural Awards given last week were in two categories and usually are given in October.

“October came and went and we couldn’t give them in the usual way due to a rise in COVID-19 cases,” said Julie Wilkerson, executive director of the Macon Arts Alliance. “But the more we thought the more we knew we couldn’t let the year go by without them even if they were late and given in an untraditional way online.”

Officials added the second category for 2020 to focus on the year’s unique situations and events. They called them the 2020 Creative Impact Awards recognizing those who responded to the challenges of the pandemic and social injustice with creativity and innovation.

Here are other 2020 Cultural Award winners. Their full profile and award statements can be seen at www.maconartsalliance.org under Special Events.

• Bike Walk Macon
• Stortytellers Macon
• Stratford Academy

The 2020 Creative Impact Awards profiles and award statements are also at www.maconartsalliance.org under Special Events and went to:

• #BlockTheHate
• The Grand Opera House: Broadway Does Cabaret
• Frontline Faces/Micah Goguen
• Macon Freedom for All Solidarity Walk
• Play it Forward/The Jazz Association of Macon
• Pop-up on Poplar Music and Bright City/NewTown Macon
• Second Friday Drive-Thru Art Gallery/Triangle Arts Macon

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.