2024 Governor's Arts Awardees
- Andre Rochester
- Don Gummer
- Greenwich International Film Festival
- Paul Winter
Andre Rochester
Andre Rochester is a Fine Artist from Hartford, Connecticut. He studied illustration at the University of Connecticut School of Fine Arts and completed his BA in Studio Art at Charter Oak State College. He also earned an MS in Organizational Leadership from Quinnipiac University. Andre makes statements for which words are not enough, highlighting underlying emotions connected to his subjects. It is a combination of portraiture and conceptual works linked by narratives of his own experiences. His art is a tool for healing and a catalyst for connection letting people know they are not alone. Learn more about Andre’s art at andrerochester.com.
Andre was an inaugural Artist of Color Accelerate Fellow, partnered with The Amistad Center for Art and Culture at Wadsworth Atheneum, Leadership Greater Hartford- 2021 Quest Program Alum, Greater Hartford Arts Council 2022 New Voices Fellow, and 2022-23 National Leaders of Color Fellow- representing CT for the New England Foundation for The Arts. Additionally, Andre is the recipient of the 2024 Spirit of Juneteenth award from The Amistad Center.
Andre is a board member at Hartford Art School Endowment, Inc., Connecticut Arts Alliance, and an ex officio trustee at the Wadsworth Atheneum, representing the City of Hartford Mayor’s Office. He is the Program Manager at The 224 EcoSpace in Hartford, where he curates exhibits and oversees execution of arts events and programs, including the Artists of Color Accelerate Fellowship. Andre is also the Art Curator at UConn Health, in charge of a collection of over 2500 works of art across multiple facilities. Additionally, Andre coaches emerging artists, encouraging them to develop their craft with a focus on professionalism and business acumen. He believes that with every step forward, we must make room for others to join us. His coaching and consulting venture includes group workshops, public speaking, as well art program development and project management for public art initiatives. Learn more at rochestercoaching.com.
Don Gummer
The trajectory of Don Gummer's career as a sculptor began in New York City in the early 1970s with his wall reliefs of painted wood. carefully layered geometric works exhibiting a strong architectural influence. Moving beyond wood to stone, bronze, stainless steel, aluminum, and stained glass as his primary materials, his artworks evolved into subtly inventive freestanding sculptures, often of monumental scale, that exhibit his unfailing attention to composition and balance.
Gummer was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1946 and grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he attended the Herron School of Art at Butler College. Later he graduated from the Boston Museum school of Fine Arts and Tufts University in 1970. He subsequently received both a BFA and an MFA from Yale University in 1973.
In a 2001 interview with Peter Plagens, American artist and art critic, Gummer described his interest in sculpture as "the recontextualization of natural phenomena, of unaltered things brought into aesthetic balance by choosing and placing." Using balance, proportion, and his unique sense of harmony, the artist is able to make durable materials seem almost buoyant.
Negative space becomes an intrinsic element in his work, imparting a sense that his exquisite, seemingly permanent forms are ultimately as fleeting as any of nature's creations would be.
The artist's works can be found in many public collections including the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio; the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, Massachusetts; and Chase Manhattan Bank and Chemical Bank, both in New York City. Don Gummer has several permanent site specific works including sculptures at the Kitakyushu concert hall in Kyushu Japan, the Lying-In Hospital in Hiroshima Japan, 2 fountains in Rome Italy, and numerous sculptures in the US and Europe. In 2017 he completed a commissioned site specific sculpture for the American Embassy in Moscow Russia. Currently, Gummer is working on a large sculpture for the National Weather Center in Norman Oklahoma.
He has received a number of awards from prestigious organizations such as the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and he was Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome. Learn more about Don Gummer at dongummer.com.
Greenwich International Film Festival
Greenwich International Film Festival was launched a decade ago by Chairwoman Wendy Stapleton and Executive Director Ginger Stickel as an all-female-founded and run non-profit organization that bridges the worlds of film and philanthropy. GIFF's mission is to harness the power of film to serve the greater good by raising awareness of issues related to basic human rights, education, the environment and health care. GIFF supports charity partners each year with festival proceeds. It also provides an effective platform for filmmakers to showcase their films of merit, attracting top film talent and emerging artists to Connecticut each year to participate in thought-provoking Q&A's, panels and special events. Learn more about the Greenwich International Film Festival at greenwichfilm.org.
To date, GIFF has raised over $1.2 million for charity partners like Abilis, Filling in the Blanks, Food Rescue, Americares, Family Centers, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, Building One Community, the Rowan Center and much more. It has showcased thousands of films, awarding $200,000 in cash prizes to deserving filmmakers. GIFF has honored a number of important artists who've used their voices for positive social change including Harry Belafonte, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Eva Longoria Baston, John Legend, Renee Zellweger, Ashley Judd, Trudie Styler, Frieda Pinto, and Jerry & Jessica Seinfeld who will receive the 2024 Changemaker Award for using their platform to combat antisemitism.
Wendy Stapleton is a Greenwich native who graduated Cum Laude from the University of Michigan before earning her MFA from the Professional Writing program at the University of Southern California. At USC, Wendy learned fiction and screenwriting from some of Hollywood’s most famous and beloved writers including Shelly Berman and Syd Field. For the past 10 years, Wendy has worked to raise money for multiple nonprofit organizations, many of which she is on the board of. She’s been a member of UNICEF’s Next Generation Board and was formerly the chair of the Greenwich chapter. Along with Ms. Stapleton’s background in the arts, her passion for philanthropy strengthens the GIFF team’s commitment to using film to serve the greater good.
Ginger Stickel grew up in the Midwest, receiving a Bachelor of Arts from Miami University (OH) before going on to pursue a Masters in Business Administration from Columbia Business School. She began her career in brand management working for Fortune 500 companies such as Colgate-Palmolive, before transitioning to strategic consulting and the nonprofit sector. Prior to developing the business plan for Greenwich International Film Festival, she started the Greenwich Youth Film Festival in partnership with the Junior League of Greenwich, for high school students in Fairfield and Westchester Counties. She has served as the Executive Director and COO of GIFF for the past 10 years. In 2018, Wendy Stapleton and Ginger Stickel received the Avon Award for the Arts in Connecticut.
Paul Winter
Paul Winter's musical odyssey has long embraced the cultures and creatures of the world. From the early days of his college jazz sextet, which toured 23 countries of Latin America for the State Department and performed the first-ever jazz concert at the White House for the Kennedys in 1962, to his later ensemble, the Paul Winter Consort, Paul Winter’s concert tours and recording expeditions have taken him to 52 countries and to wilderness areas on six continents, where he has traveled on rafts, dog sleds, mules, kayaks, tugboats, and Land Rovers. He has recorded over 50 albums, of which seven have been honored with Grammy Awards.
Since 1980, Paul and the Consort have been artists-in-residence at New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where they have presented over 200 events, including their annual Winter Solstice and Summer Solstice Celebrations.
The Consort's latest album is Concert in the Barn, featuring pianist Henrique Eisenmann, cellist Eugene Friesen, vocalist Theresa Thomason, and bassoonist/vocalist Jeff Boratko. Learn more about Paul Winter at paulwinter.com.