DCDC

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND PARTICIPATION |
Sierra Leone.  Dayton (Montgomery) 

Writer Sierra Leone is the president and artistic director of OFP Theatre Company, co-founded with her husband Robert Owens, Sr. For more than a decade, Ohio has benefitted from Sierra’s vision of creative urban arts as a powerful artistic medium to bring communities together across racial, cultural, ideological, and economic divides. Her project “The Signature: A Poetic Medley Show” presents a hybrid of urban poetry, music, dance, and visual arts from local, regional, and international talent. The show later expanded to include an energetic poetry competition called The Last Poet Standing.

Her work with youth arts organizations, schools, and community organizations has been ongoing through her company’s educational arm, Signature Educational Solutions. Sierra is continuing girls’ empowerment work through the Dayton Public Schools’ Girls Achievement program, and she has written and performed commissioned work for many local and national organizations.

The world-renowned Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC) is the oldest modern dance company in Ohio. Founded in 1968 by Jeraldyne Blunden, DCDC is one of few American dance companies of international reputation located outside a major U.S. metropolitan area. Having the world’s largest repertoire of classic works by African-American choreographers, the company continues to celebrate dance art around the world. Executive Director Ro Nita Hawes-Saunders created collaborative partnerships between the dance company and area universities, and the company delivers extensive education and outreach programs and services to elementary, middle, and high schools, both locally and while on tour.

DCDC is one of three dance companies across the United States tapped to tour internationally through the seventh season of DanceMotion USA, a dynamic cultural diplomacy program run through the U.S. Department of State and Brooklyn Academy of Music. DCDC will travel to Russia and Kazakhstan in May 2018. Historically, this marks DCDC’s third trip to Russia.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND PARTICIPATION | DAVID POE MITZEL, PH.D.
ZANESVILLE (MUSKINGUM)

An Ohio native, David was raised in Rocky River and attended University School in Shaker Heights before moving to Cincinnati. He received a B.A. cum laude in Honors History from Williams College and an M.S. from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. He served as an administrator at George Washington University and at Ohio University, where he earned his Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration.

He was elected a founding vice president of the Ohio Continuing Higher Education Association, vice president of the National Council for Resource Development, founding executive director of the Muskingum County Community Foundation, and president of the Artist Colony of Zanesville. After retirement from the Community Foundation, he founded Appalachian Hills of Ohio Territory (AHOOT), the Zanesville Prize for Contemporary Ceramics, the All Ohio Contemporary Ceramics Competition and Show, and the Arts Council of Muskingum County.

INDIVIDUAL ARTIST | RICARDO AVERBACH, DMA
OXFORD (BUTLER)

Celebrating his 16th year as director of orchestral studies at Miami University, Brazilian conductor Ricardo Averbach has also served as president of the College Orchestra Directors Association (CODA) and guest conductor of orchestras all over the world. His concerts have been broadcast on radio and television in more than 50 countries. As a dedicated advocate of contemporary music, Ricardo has performed and recorded several world premieres for major labels, which have sold more than half a million copies around the globe. The American Prize has recognized his work in the College/University Division in many different categories, including the American Prize in Conducting, which he won in 2010.

A resident of Oxford since 2002, Ricardo has been promoting the arts in the state of Ohio by collaborating with world-renowned artists, participating in multidisciplinary projects, taking his students on tours nationally and abroad, commissioning Ohio composers, and serving on the Committee for the Arts and Innovative Thinking of the Ohio Department of Education.

BUSINESS SUPPORT OF THE ARTS (SMALL) | HEARTLAND BANK   GAHANNA (FRANKLIN)

Heartland Bank has been Central Ohio’s community bank since 1911. Experts in commercial real estate, property development, and small to medium business finance, they strive to help execute their clients’ strategic priorities. Heartland also provides vast offerings with expertise in agricultural, small business, and consumer banking services, as well as planning and wealth management.

While there are many opportunities to support the communities served, Heartland Bank steps up, time and time again, to assist local arts organizations by displaying their work in branch offices, funding public art in downtown developments, donating advertising time on Heartland’s digital billboard to support groups like the local symphony, and helping entrepreneurs purchase abandoned warehouses to transform into artist studios.  Heartland is proud to support the entrepreneurial spirit for those that live, work, and play in the communities they serve.