Jazz musicians have to anticipate what’s coming next, but when Richard Lichtenstein found out he was being awarded the Skokie Fine Arts Commission Award for Artistic Excellence, he said he was shocked.
“I was taken aback in a pleasant way,” Lichtenstein said.
Skokie Fine Arts Commission Chairperson Pamela Garbarini presented the FAC 2021 Individual Award for Artistic Excellence to Lichtenstein during a Dec. 20 Skokie Village Board meeting, and the Group Award for Artistic Excellence to Anatomically Correct, which is helmed by Skokie resident Debra Hatchett.
Garbarini said that each year the FAC presents the Awards for Artistic Excellence to a Skokie resident and an organization that has contributed to the visual, performing, musical or literary arts. Recipients received a plaque and take part in a reception hosted by the FAC in their honor. Additionally, their names are added to a plaque permanently on display at the North Shore Center for Performing Arts in Skokie, said Garbarini.
Lichtenstein, 86, was chosen for the individual award in recognition of his significant contribution to the arts as an educator and jazz musician, Garbarini said. She said that when the pandemic struck in 2020, Lichtenstein continued offering a series of free weekly jazz concerts called “Jazz on Arcadia with Rich.”
“He’s the kind of person who otherwise might go unnoticed,” Garbarini said. “He’s a resident of Skokie who’s contributing so much to the arts.”
She said that as a jazz pianist and retired English teacher, Lichtenstein has entertained and informed audiences for over 30 years, has lectured on the history of jazz, blues and show tunes at The Newberry Library, Kalamazoo College, Beloit College, The Chicago Academy for the Arts and The Humanist Society. A Skokie resident for nearly 50 years, Lichtenstein has made lifelong contributions to Skokie and the greater Chicagoland community as a jazz musician, historian and educator, Garbarini noted.
“Because of the pandemic, it took on a greater satisfaction,” said Lichtenstein, who started playing jazz piano as a teenager. “It was a big downer, this whole thing with the pandemic. It became almost like a necessity you might say, other than just doing something I enjoy. It was meeting a need.”
The FAC’s 2021 Group Award for Artistic Excellence was presented to Skokie-based Anatomically Correct, a non-profit founded in 1991 and dedicated to showcasing artists in a combined effort to promote diversity, education and community awareness of the visual and performing arts, Garbarini said.
Anatomically Correct was founded by Hatchett in 1991 and she also serves as an FAC member. She said it was an big honor to win the award.
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“After 30 years of arts programming, I felt like we were finally recognized,” she said
She also said that like many arts organizations, Anatomically Correct has struggled through the pandemic and had to delay or cancel some programming. But she said she also sees a silver lining of sorts in the past two years.
“Hopefully artists are taking the time to create more work even though that work may not be visible yet. There are still online platforms…at least it’s something,” she said. “Keep busy is what it is. Try not to think about the negative. Artists always help other artists, so there’s that too.”
She said a January Anatomically Correct exhibit at the Devonshire Cultural Center Gallery at 4400 Greenwood Street in Skokie titled “Home” features Skokie artists, a February exhibit titled “Out Loud” will feature work by Black artists and a March exhibit titled “Courage” will feature work focusing on first responders or work by first responders.
Garbarini said Anatomically Correct won the group award because Hatchett has organized many art exhibits in local venues, providing local artists with the opportunity to showcase their work. She also launched the “Skokie Rocks” initiative, encouraging residents to paint rocks with bright, colorful, uplifting designs and to leave them in public areas of the community for other residents to find while walking in their neighborhood, Garbarini explained.
In addition, Hatchett partnered with the Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park on the “Brush with Nature” plein air painting and sketching festival where local artists create paintings and drawings on the Sculpture Park grounds.
“It was a good way for the public to interact with artists who were actually creating art,” Garbarini said. “Debra Hatchett has done a lot of things to provide different forums for artists to display their art. She’s always looking for new ways to promote artists.”
Garbarini also said while the pandemic has taken a toll on artists, it has also provided them with opportunities.
“During the pandemic particularly if we can reach out and bring a little joy to people, whether it’s to let them know about musical performances or photographic exhibits online, or these awards…I think art is so important and it reaches so many people, especially these days when people can use a little cheering up,” she said.