The ArtCenter/South Florida announced first winners of The Ellies, Miami's Visual Arts Awards

ArtCenter/South Florida created The Ellies, Miami's Visual Arts Awards, named after ArtCenter founder Ellie Schneiderman, to celebrate and elevate the careers of Miami's visual artists. Selected from more than 500 submissions, 44 artists and art educators were honored at a ceremony that took place at The Bass Museum. "Among them is Edouard Duval-Carrie, the first recipient of the Michael Richards Award, created to honor an eminent Miami-Dade artist for achieving the highest level of professional distinction. He will receive a no-strings-attached award of $75,000, and a commission by ArtCenter for a work to be exhibited at The Bass," says ArtCenter/South Florida. The 38 artists honored were: Gonzalo Fuenmayor, Pepe Mar, Leo Catañeda, Lydia Rubio, Dara Friedman, Jillian Mayer, Johanne Rahaman, Asif Farooq, Kevin Arrow, Jenna Balfer, Marcus Blake, Jose Cardona, Thom Wheeler, Lou Anne Colodny, Franky Cruz, Woosler Delisfort, Cara Despain, April Dobbins, Bo Droga, Ray Elman, Guadalupe Figueras, Julie Fliegenspan, Rosa Naday Garmendia, GeoVanna Gonzalez, Adler Guerrier, Nicolas Lobo, Jillian Mayer, Johanne Rahamman, Michelle Plissaint, Alina Rodriguez, Silvia Ros, Onajide Shabaka, Stuart Sheldon, Troy Simmons, Ayesha Singh, Symone Titania, Fereshtet Toosi, Juana Valdes and Tom Virgin. Five teacher travel grants of $5000 usd, will be using to travel around the world in order to create curriculums based on these experiences. The awarded teachers were Juana Meneses, New World School of the Arts; Susan Feliciano, Robert Morgan Education Center High School; Lourdes Fuller, Shenandoah Middle School; Justin Long, New World School of the Arts and Mirena Suarez, Ada Merritt K-8. "Each of these winners demonstrates how far our visual arts community has come — and seeds the possibilities for the exciting growth we can see in the future." says Dennis Scholl, president and CEO of ArtCenter.