Posted: Thursday, June 16, 2016

Members of the University of Evansville community were among the recipients of this year’s Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana Awards. The awards were presented today at a ceremony at the Bower-Suhrheinrich Foundation Gallery at the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana in Evansville.

Steve and Susan Worthington received the 2016 Mayor’s Arts Award given to recognize talent, hard work, and dedication to the arts over a lifetime of service in and around Evansville. Steve, a graduate of UE, and Susan belong to every organization at the University that supports the arts. They are members of the board of directors of these groups and give their time and energy to support events and initiatives developed by the organizations. Both have been recognized with awards from the University.

The Worthingtons are long time volunteers and patrons of Willard Library and the Evansville Museum. Steve is a member of the museum’s board of directors, and Susan is an active member of the Bethlehem United Church of Christ’s bell choir.

The winner of the Arts Council’s ensemble award was the Eykamp Quartet, a group supported by the Eykamp family, the Evansville Philharmonic, and UE. This resident quartet - comprising Robert Anemone. Alicia Choi, Rose Wollman and Kirsten Jermé - enriches the musical, cultural, and educational activities of the Evansville community.

The group is the resident quartet at UE, where they perform in the Tuesday Night Concert series and in special concerts. They work with the UE Symphony Orchestra, volunteer masterclasses for string majors, and adjudicate end-of-semester juries for students. The quartet serves as principal players in the Evansville Philharmonic’s string section, participates in Philharmonic education and outreach programs, and works with the Philharmonic Youth Orchestras.

Anne Hastings Fiedler, UE’s Oramay Cluthe Eades Distinguished Professor of Music and head of the keyboard area, received the Artist Award. Since her arrival at the University, Fiedler has been a major contributor to the Evansville musical community. She accompanies UE music faculty members when they give recitals in the community. She performs more each academic year than any other UE music professors, as so many ask her to be their accompanist at their solo recitals.

Fiedler, principal pianist for the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, was a finalist and prizewinner in the National Beethoven Piano Sonata Competition and has collaborated nationally with soloists and ensembles. She has been a featured soloist with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, the Evansville Chamber Orchestra, and the UE Orchestra.

The recipient of the Arts Advocate Award was Robert Shetler, who has contributed much to the area’s artistic and cultural landscape. As owner of Shetler Moving and Storage, he has offered free transportation of UE Theatre’s sets, lights, and costumes, including the many times it has performed at the Kennedy Center’s regional and national festivals.

His moving company played an integral part in the opening of the Red Skelton Museum in Vincennes, Indiana, making many trips from Los Angeles to Vincennes with items for the museum. Shetler also serves as a member of the museum’s board of directors.

Shetler personally made arrangements for artifacts to be moved to the Evansville African American Museum, and as chairman of WNIN’s annual auction, his fleet of trucks and drivers picked up and delivered auction items. He supervised the move of the Children’s Museum of Evansville T-Rex from Indianapolis to Evansville, and moved the Evansville Philharmonic into their new offices. Recently Shetler coordinated the move of two large paintings and more than 300 pieces of eighteenth-century porcelain to the Reitz Home Museum.

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