Photo courtesy of Lois Ingrum
The Saint Louis Visionary Awards, as explained on the website, “were launched by an independent committee of women to celebrate the numerous contributions and achievements of women who work in or support the arts in St. Louis. From established working arts professionals and arts educators to emerging artists and community impact artists, each year’s honorees are truly “visionary.”
As has been the tradition, this year’s event will be held at the Sun Theater in Grand Center on Monday, April 21, from 6 to 8 p.m.
2025’s Awardees include from top left: CWEnder Adrienne Davis who is being honored as Major Contributor to the Arts, Sarah Paulsen as Outstanding Working Artist, Adelia Parker-Castro as Outstanding Teaching Artist, and Marie-Hélène Bernard as Outstanding Arts Professional. Front row from left: Sukanya Mani is recognized as the Community Impact Artist, and Katie Banister as Arts Innovator.
When CWE-based Board Chair Roseann Weiss sent the press release, I decided to focus this post on my fabulous neighbor Adrienne Davis. Here is a link to bios for the other wonderful awardees.
In December 2007, Adrienne Davis, originally from the DC/Maryland/Virginia area, moved to the CWE from Chapel Hill, NC, where she had been a law professor at U.N.C. for 7 years. She joined the law faculty at WashU in January 2008. Davis is currently the William M. Van Cleve Professor of Law and Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Olin Business School.
Davis’s bio on the Visionary Award website explains why she is being awarded Major Contributor to the Arts. “Davis is passionate about the arts and the St. Louis region and that she embraces opportunities to combine her two loves. She believes that St. Louis’s cultural institutions are some of its strongest assets and can play a pivotal role in uniting communities and helping us to envision and build an equitable urban future for our region. She is a member of the Executive Committee of Opera Theatre St. Louis’s Board of Directors, where she also chairs OTSL’s Diversity Committee and actively supports the Belonging in Opera initiative that was begun in 2020. She is an Honorary Trustee at St. Louis Art Museum, having served as President of the Board of Trustees and on the Board of Commissioners, including as the Secretary of the Board of Commissioners. She has served on the boards of Laumeier Sculpture Park, the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, the St. Louis Visionary Awards, and december magazine, where she is now an advisory editor. She supported the launch of the Women & the Kemper group at the Mildred Lane Kemper Museum at Washington University. In 2020, Davis played a central role in developing OTSL’s and SLAM’s diversity commitments.”
An invitation to the Saint Louis Visionary Award Ceremony follows:
For more information, visit the website.