Ten Star Award Winners To Be Honored at 7th Annual Evening of Stars Gala at SCERA Center for the Arts

Those who have made significant contributions to the arts in a variety of categories will be recognized for their achievements in enriching the communities and citizens of Utah at the 7^th Annual Star Awards held Saturday, February 25, 2012 at the SCERA Center for the Arts in Orem. 

BYU’s Vocal Point will receive the night’s biggest award -- The 2012 Star Award.  Janie Thompson will receive the Lifetime Achievement honor. Awards will also be given to David Tinney for theater, Greg Olsen for visual arts, Peter Breinholt for music, Jacqueline Colledge for dance, Diamond Rental as Friend of the Arts, Dr. K. Newell Dayley as Advocate of the Arts, Sandy McDade for volunteerism and Barbara Elison, special recognition.   

“We recognize that the scope of talent and commitment to the arts in Utah is tremendous, and the Star Awards are a way of calling attention to their achievements and applaud their talent and dedication,” says Adam J. Robertson, SCERA President & CEO. “The challenge of the nominating committee is in choosing from an amazing array of people, which is the kind of challenge every arts organization should have.”

Hosted by popular entertainer, composer and musician Michael McLean, the awards are interspersed with live entertainment, and will follow an elegant dinner by the UVU School of Culinary Arts and a silent and live auction. 100% of the proceeds from the evening will support SCERA’s non-profit charitable Endowment for the Arts.

Each honoree will be given a plaque and make a short acceptance speech. A video tribute for each will be shown at the award ceremony, featuring friends, family and associates speaking on the attributes of each honoree and their contributions to the arts. 

Bios on each award recipient follow:

The 2012 Star Award

BYU’S VOCAL POINT

Maximum a cappella. The only instruments on stage belong to the nine voices of the nationally renowned a cappella group Vocal Point. Their stunning, high-energy performances have won them the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) and a faithful following throughout the world – even more now thanks to their much-deserved rise to fame on NBC’s “The Sing-Off,” which aired this past fall. With a wide range of vocal possibilities—and seeming impossibilities—these creative crowd-pleasers have it all - rock, pop, country, jazz, and R&B all mixed into the time of your life. Their family-friendly show is a toe-tapper, and their performance is an always skillful and spirited showstopper. Says Deke Sharon, founder of the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America (CASA) and vocal producer of “The Sing Off:” “Well, that’s about the most professional group at the collegiate level anywhere…Seriously, that’s as close as anyone could ever get to being a rock star.”  Their highlights are numerous, their crowds immense. In July 2010, Vocal Point performed The Star-Spangled Banner for an audience of 80,000 at the nationally-televised Boy Scouts of America Centennial Celebration. Vocal Point has performed for the San Francisco Giants at 3Com Stadium and for ambassadors from around the world in Washington, D.C.  The beloved group was also selected to perform at nearly every major venue for the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympic Games. Vocal Point is currently under the direction of James Stevens and assistant director McKay Crockett. BYU alumni Bob Ahlander and Dave Boyce organized Vocal Point in 1991 and less than three years later, the group joined BYU’s School of Music to establish Vocal Point as a permanent tradition of contemporary a cappella at the university.  They have surely succeeded in doing just that!