General Mills of Rogers and Walmart executive Tony Waller of Bentonville will be among the honorees at the Governor’s Arts Awards at noon March 8 in Little Rock.
Arkansas PBS will livestream the awards ceremony as part of its Arkansas Live initiative at myarpbs.org/arkansaslive.
Waller, Walmart’s vice president for constituent relations and racial equity, will receive the governor’s Patron Award at this year’s luncheon; General Mills will receive the Corporate Sponsorship of the Arts Award.
Established in 1991, the annual program recognizes Arkansas artists, arts patrons, arts educators, arts organizations and businesses for their work in the arts community. Honorees, all nominated by the public, are selected by an independent panel of arts professionals from around the state.
This year’s Arts Community Development Award will go to Garbo Hearne of Little Rock, director of Pyramid Art, Books & Custom Framing as well as Hearne Fine Art. She has been an advocate for the advancement of African-American culture through art and literature for more than 30 years.
Virmarie DePoyster of North Little Rock will accept the Arts in Education award. A native of Puerto Rico, Depoyster is a multidisciplinary artist and educator. She has developed and implemented art programs for adults and teens, all the while exhibiting her own work, and has been instructing students in the Arkansas Arts Council’s Arts in Education program since 2011.
The Folklife Award will honor Pam Setser of Mountain View. Born in Mountain View, Setser has sung folk songs since she was 5 years old, and is among the last specialists in Ozark Mountain dulcimers in Arkansas.
Stephen Driver of Ozark will take the Individual Artist Award for his pottery and mentorship. He retired as a professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock 10 years ago and began producing work fired in two large-chambered wood kilns.
Gay Bechtelheimer of El Dorado will garner the Judges Recognition Award for more than 20 years of enriching quality art experiences in south Arkansas. She works in pastel, watercolors and mixed media, and retired after a distinguished career teaching art in El Dorado’s public schools.
The Lifetime Achievement Award will go to Charley Sandage of Mountain View for his storytelling, songwriting and devotion to promoting the stories and music of the Ozarks.
He began his “Arkansas Stories” project, featuring songs about Arkansas history and events, in 1995 songs about people and events in Arkansas history, in 1995.
Each 2024 recipient will receive an original artwork by Arkansas artist Larry Pennington of Hot Springs.
General Mills will be honored for its corporate partnership with the Walton Arts Center for 21 years and more than $4.8 million in corporate contributions. The cereal and food manufacturer is also a leading sponsor of the Walton Arts Center’s annual fundraising event, the Masquerade Ball.
Walmart’s Waller works to expand outreach and social investment in diverse and multicultural communities. He serves on the Walton Arts Center board of directors and its corporate leadership council. He has helped to lead more than 20 fundraising events to benefit arts education and made personal contributions to the arts center.
The Arkansas Governor’s Arts Awards are presented by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of Arkansas Heritage, a division of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism.
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