Politics & Government

Skokie Honors Artist and Musicians

The village's Fine Arts Commission handed out two awards, one to an artist and one to a symphony orchestra.


Skokie Village Hall was packed with artists and musicians Monday as the Skokie Fine Arts Commission presented two annual awards--one to an individual and one to a group.

The individual award went to Kevin Luthardt, a painter, muralist and author and illustrator of children's books. Luthardt, whose wife Alicia and their four young sons attended, said he remembered a mural in his school that influenced him as a child, and hoped his work would also inspire children who saw it in books, murals or paintings.

The group award went to the Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra, which performs frequently at Skokie's North Shore Center for the Performing Arts.

Alan Heatherinton, the Orchestra's conductor, accepted, saying he was especially touched because he lived in Skokie for 25 years and he and his wife Gayle raised their four daughters attending Skokie schools. Gayle, the orchestra's executive director, had wanted to attend the award ceremony, but he had just driven her home after cancer surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, he said.

He thanked Michael Popkin, the director of the North Shore Center for the Arts, saying, "It's an extraordinary gift to the community of Skokie to have such a place where the arts can flourish."
 
He said he was proud to report Ars Viva is having a record subscription year, and may be sold out for its season.

Continuing on a personal note, he said his third daughter died of cancer, and "Skokie wrapped its arms around her for nine and a half of the 11 years she was with us."

He said he believed Skokie is a community of faith, though it, and the respective faiths, have grown more diverse than when he moved to the village in 1971.
 
"The warmest places in my heart go to the community of Skokie, and it’s in that context that this award means more to me than many other awards I’ve received from prestigious organizations I’ve received in my career," he commented. 

Like Skokie Patch on Facebook


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here