The City of Raleigh Arts Commission (CORAC) has selected five individuals and one organization to receive the 2021 Raleigh Medal of Arts, the City’s highest arts honor.
Individual honorees include Debra Austin, Founding Member and Ballet Master, Carolina Ballet, Betsy Buford, Cultural Ambassador for Raleigh, Wake County and the State of North Carolina, Grant Llewellyn, Music Director, North Carolina Symphony, Eleanor Oakley, Executive Director, United Arts of Raleigh and Wake County (retired), and Jeremy Tucker, Artistic Director, Raleigh Boy Choir.
RDU on Stage was recognized with the Medal of Arts “Arts Hero” Award for “its focused support for arts organizations, individual artists and community members during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and their informational and educational support of the Black Lives Matter movement.”
“We, as an organization of volunteers, are so grateful and completely overwhelmed to be recognized,” said Lauren Van Hemert, RDU on Stage’s founder. “Honestly, ‘hero’ doesn’t feel quite right because there is so much more work to be done.”
