91.9 WFPK Independent Louisville is proud to announce the 2019 Louisville Music Awards Teacher of the Year and Emerging Artist. The Louisville music community chose both winners by sending teacher nominations to wuol.org and voting on the Emerging Award at Do502.com.
The LMAs will be held on Sunday, February 10, 2019 at the Bomhard Theatre as a celebration of Louisville’s diverse music community. This year’s event will be co-produced by musician and 90.5 WUOL Music Education Manager Jecorey “1200” Arthur and 91.9 WFPK Program Director Stacy Owen.
Tickets are on sale now at KentuckyCenter.org and are $10 in advance, $15 the day of the show. VIP tickets are $25. VIP tickets include a reception beginning at 6 p.m. to mix and mingle with the honorees prior to the show and early admission seating at 6:45 p.m. General admission will be at 7 p.m. and the event begins at 7:30 p.m.
The 90.5 WUOL Music Teacher of the Year honors an educator working in the band, choir, orchestra, jazz, orchestra, orff, general music, collegiate or private teaching world. This year's 90.5 WUOL Music Teacher of the Year will be Noel Weaver, Ballard High Chorus Director & KMEA Choral Chair. In addition to having his groups participate in concerts, contests, and honor opportunities, his Madrigal Singers put on a Madrigal Feaste each year for the community, and this year the Madrigal Singers have been invited to sing at the KMEA Conference. They've performed on WUOLive.
The Emerging Award honors a Louisville music act relatively new to public prominence. Do502 voters have chosen young Louisville native BBlasian as this year's Emerging Award. BBlasian shares his story of struggles and redemption through Rap and Hip Hop.
Backed by the LPM All-Star Band, the LMAs presents an evening of live, never before seen music collaborations and special performances highlighting this year's other honorees:
The Advocate Award, honoring the University of Louisville Underground Music Archive (LUMA) (Heather Fox, Carrie Daniels, Elizabeth Reilly). The Advocate Award recognizes someone who champions Louisville music by supporting live events, recordings and more as a super fan. Photo available for download here.
Carrie Daniels and Heather Fox dreamed of documenting the Louisville music scene more comprehensively since 2011. Joined by fellow archivist Sarah-Jane Poindexter and Curator of Photographic Archives, Elizabeth Reilly, they gathered an advisory board of local musicians, scholars and others involved in the local scene to help guide, shape and promote the project. Since 2013, LUMA has received more than 65 collections from the community, conducted 24 oral histories and curated three exhibits, the most recent including nearly 300 photographs from the scene, along with posters, flyers, letters and memorabilia.
The Collaboration Award, honoring KRM Live (Jared Zarantonello). The Collaboration Award honors a Louisville collaboration that occurred in 2018. Photo available for download here.
Kentucky Refugee Ministries (KRM) has been making Kentucky home for refugees since 1990 through providing resettlement services to refugees through faith- and agency-based co-sponsorship in order to promote self-sufficiency and successful integration into our community. In 2017, they launched KRM Live, a collaborative performance series that includes programming related to the global and local arts in Louisville. Collaboration has been at the heart of this initiative and included musicians from Cuba, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Congo, Burma, Iraq, Syria, Kurdistan, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti and the United States. KRM Live has made strides to develop and promote global expression in Louisville through providing recording support for newcomer musicians, developing education and training opportunities for youth in music production and recording technology, releasing music and musical tools, and developing performance opportunities and platforms to showcase the KRM Live blend of global and local performers in venues around the city. All of these efforts are done with the goal of inviting and inspiring dialogue, understanding and collaboration between the diverse communities that call Louisville their home.
The Youth Award, honoring Girls Rock Louisville. The Youth Award honors a nonprofit Louisville youth organization showing quality impact through music education.
Girls Rock Louisville empowers girls, trans youth (regardless of identity) and gender non-conforming youth from all backgrounds by exploring music creation in a supportive, inclusive environment. They create a community of peers and positive mentors that encourage and teach participants to be their own rock heroes, allowing them to think differently about limits that may be placed upon them by our society. GRL uses music as a vehicle to eradicate limiting myths about gender and age, increase access and exposure to music education and hands-on learning, and their programming encourages collaboration, leadership skills and self-confidence.
The Legacy Award, honoring Jerry Green, Ed White, and Melody Welsh-Buchholz. The Legacy Award honors a Louisville musician, teacher or composer considered to have a legendary body of work.
Jerry Green was born and raised in Louisville and played all over the world with acts such as Earth, Wind and Fire and Three Dog Night. He returned to Louisville and has entertained his town and fostered local music since 1994 with his band Jerry Green and Friends at his legendary Breckenridge Inn nightclub. Photo available for download here.
Ed “Nardie” White, Founder and Executive Director of Louisville’s River City Drum Corps, is a pillar in the city of Louisville, especially as it pertains to educating our youth and participating in community activism. In 1991, he and his wife, the late Zambia Nkrumah, started the River City Drum Corps, a west Louisville nonprofit arts and education based program for at risk youth and families.
Melody Welsh-Buchholz has been with the Louisville Youth Orchestra since 1985, drastically growing the orchestra’s patronage and membership. She is dedicated to assisting students who have no financial means of joining the LYO and has been instrumental in the development of the LYO scholarship fund. Photo available for download here.
The Advocate, Collaboration, Youth and Legacy Awards were chosen by a volunteer committee that includes the following:
Cheyenne Mize, Wishing-Well Music
Syd Bishop, LEO Weekly
Ramona Lindsey, Community Foundation of Louisville
Christa Iwu, Fund for the Arts
Teddy Abrams, Louisville Orchestra
Jeffrey Lee Puckett, longtime Courier-Journal journalist
The Louisville Music Awards are presented by Louisville Public Media and sponsored by Bulleit Frontier Whiskey.