Fun at The 32nd annual Arts + Business Council Awards Celebration
Fun at The 32nd annual Arts + Business Council Awards Celebration
Hundreds of business leaders, art innovators and supporters turned out for The 32nd annual Arts + Business Council Awards Celebration which were held Tuesday May 23, 2017 at the Philadelphia Art Museum. The annual event honors local arts initiatives and people in the arts in the City. Although many notable and worthy individuals were honored (listed below), the highlight of the ceremony had to be The Anne D’Harnoncourt Award for Artistic Excellence winner – Kevin Hart, American actor, comedian, writer and producer for his contributions in his field to Philadelphia.
Marc Brownstein, Board Chair of the Arts + Business Council, Kevin Hart, Karin Copeland, executive director of Arts + Business Council, and Rob Wonderling, President and CEO of The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia
Recently Hart finished filming a movie here with Bryan Cranston and Nicole Kidman called “Untouchable.” In August 2015, Kevin Hart played to 53,000+ audience at Lincoln Financial Field for his stand-up comedy movie ‘Kevin Hart: What Now?’ During his acceptance speech at the Arts + Business Council Awards Hart said “Expect to see me doing more, expect me to be giving more. As things get bigger for me in my career, expect me to put my City on a higher level.”
Mission: We work with connectors and community builders to lead, serve and inspire a more creative region. Culture and creativity are built into everything we do, from the way we envision new opportunities and evaluate outcomes to the way we collaborate across programs and cultivate deep partnerships.
For the first hour of the celebration there was a cocktail party held through out the Philadelphia Art Museum.
Cathy Darlington and Tom Darlington, IBM
Julie Natale, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P., John Orr, Art Reach and Beth Fulton, 
Josh Goldblum, Founder + CEO, Bluecadet (Creative Economy Award for Distinction in a For-Profit Creative Field) and Jane Golden, founder and executive director of Mural Arts Philadelphia (The PNC Arts Alive Award for Innovation in Honor of Peggy Amsterdam
Mural Arts Philadelphia’s 47 Stories) 
Rhonda Lauer, Foundsations, Inc and Rue McLaughlin, IBM Corporation 
Mike Robbins, Dana Niles, The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia and Trevor Copeland 
Catherine Pelietier, Knoll Inc, Eileen Tognini, Eileen Tognini Designs, and Bob Wegbreit 
Donna Farrell, Vice President Corporate Communications at Independence Blue Cross – Independence Blue Cross, Jim Moss, Gail Harrity, President at Philadelphia Museum of Art and Jamal Parker 
Kristen Alderson, actress One Life To Live, Kathy Alderson and Sheila Hess, City Representative
For the ceremony, guests took a seat on the grand staircase of the art museum with Diana presiding
Amira Smith, Greater Philadelphia Film Office and Erica Hawthorne-Manon, Small But Mighty Arts
Join Greater Phila Film Office for a rally for Philly’s film industry! Meet us at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, bottom of the Rocky steps, 10-11am. Bring your colleagues, family, friends, and anyone who cares about our industry! Let’s show how many people care about and depend on #PhillyFilm!
There was a larger screen above the stage and before the ceremony photos from their morning networking events flashed. I always recommend entrepreneurs and business folks attend this informative sessions; people are genuinely excited and engaged to chat with others at these events. They’re about 2 hrs long, include a continental breakfast, a panel discussion and a great speaker like Clayton Christensen who spoke in January. I shoot all these events for Arts + Business.
Brian Bernhardt, CFP, Morgan Stanley 
Katherine Sachs and Keith L Sachs, the former chief executive of Saxco International accept the G. Fred DiBona, Jr. Individual Leadership Award 
Edmond Ghisu, Associate General Counsel and Chief Investment Counsel at Robert Wood Johnson Foundation accepts the Business on Board Volunteer Leader of the Year Award from Lori Armstrong Halber, Partner at Fisher & Phillips LLP 
Jacob Field, Accenture (Technology Connector Volunteer of the Year 2017 Award Winner) and Florentina Dragulescu, Dechert LLP
2017 Awards Celebration Winners:
Anne D’Harnoncourt Award for Artistic Excellence
Kevin Hart, American actor, comedian, writer and producer
G. Fred Dibona Jr Individual Leadership Award
Keith L. + Katherine Sachs
The PNC Arts Alive Award for Innovation in Honor of Peggy Amsterdam
Mural Arts Philadelphia’s 47 Stories
Creative Economy Award for Distinction in a For-Profit Creative Field
Bluecadet’s Josh Goldblum
Designing Leadership Alumni Award
John Orr, Executive Director, Art-Reach
Business + Arts Partnership Award: Large Business with an Arts Organization
Taller Puertorriqueno + PECO
Business on Board Volunteer Leader of the Year Award
Edmond Ghisu, Associate General Counsel and Chief Investment Counsel, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
For board service to Rock to the Future
Technology Connectors Volunteer of the Year Award
Brendan McGeehan, Senior Manager, Enterprise Business Intelligence, Comcast + Jacob Field, Procurement Operations Associate, Accenture
For volunteer consulting work for Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center
Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts Volunteer of the Year Award
Sekou Campbell, Managing Member, Law Offices of Sekou Campbell, PLLC
For work with Individual Artist Rashida Holmes
Business Volunteers for the Arts Volunteer of the Year Award
Christine Ostrowski, Deputy Chief Financial Officer, School District of Philadelphia
For volunteer consulting work with Rock to the Future
