Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients
The Lifetime Achievement Award honors people who have made sustained contributions of outstanding significance to the arts.
Dollie McLean, 2022 recipient
Dollie McLean has been deeply involved in the arts since the 1960s. She co-founded Artists Collective in 1970 with her husband, renowned alto saxophonist, composer, educator, and community activist Jackie McLean, and three other local artists. The organization is a community-based, multi-arts cultural institution emphasizing the arts and culture of the African Diaspora. She has produced jazz, blues, and gospel concerts, theater productions, dance concerts, and visual art exhibits with associated master workshops for students and area schools. Dollie’s persistence and vision grew Artists Collective into a world force in art and culture and a prototype for urban arts organizations nationwide. Artists Collective was one of 15 organizations nationwide selected to receive the 2010 President’s Youth Arts and Humanities Award. Presented by First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House, the award signifies the nation’s highest honor in youth arts education. The Collective was the only organization invited to perform at the ceremony.
Stephan Allison, 2020 recipient
Stephan has had a passion for the Arts since he was a child. More a dilettante than a master, he found his calling as an arts administrator, promoter, and advocate. He has served for over 30 years as a presenter, grant-giver, promoter, programs creator, and Arts champion. His skills were developed as the Executive Director and Music Director of The Buttonwood Tree, as a radio programmer for over 30 years in non-commercial radio (WPKN, WESU), and as the Arts Coordinator for the City of Middletown from 1999 until his retirement in 2018. He credits his wife of 30 years, Middletown’s Inaugural Poet Laureate and founder of The Buttonwood Tree, Susan Eastman Allison, as his reason for a successful life in the Arts.
Lynn Williamson, 2019 recipient
Lynne served as the director of the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program for 25+ years and was awarded the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her work with immigrant and ethnic communities. She worked to ensure that their art, craft, music, and performance traditions remain vital for future generations.
Judy Dworin, 2018 recipient
Judy was the first to be given the Connecticut Office of the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award. She received it because of her unwavering belief that the arts make a difference in our lives and to honor her tireless commitment to raising awareness about social issues and creating positive change through creative expression. Judy is the founder, executive director, and artistic director of The Justice Dance Performance Project, Inc. (JDPP). This nonprofit organization brings together professional artists who innovate, inspire, educate, and collaborate on stage, in schools, in prisons, and in communities. Judy founded JDPP in 1989 based on a commitment to the important role the arts can and do play in challenging and creating change — personal, educational, and global. Learn more about JDPP.
Learn more about this award by reaching out to a COA staff member noted below: