A Skateboard Artist, Soul Singer, Musicologist, Set Designer and Cartoonist are Honored Wednesday

The 17th Annual Gail Rich awards show features some well-known Santa Cruz characters and some whose work will get important recognition from the award.

It started 17 years ago, says Santa Cruz Sentinel columnist Wallace Baine, as a way to highlight photographer Shmuel Thaler's pictures of artists in the Sentinel. The first year was just in print. Then the Cultural Council picked up on that and made it a live event

"People are so starved for recognition for what they do," said Baine. "I honestly thought when I started that I would call people and I expected them to say, 'That's nice,' but they got really emotional and were really thankful."

Conductor John Larry Granger last year said it was "like the Kennedy Center Awards for Santa Cruz."

This year's honorees are:

UCSC music professor Linda Burnam-Hall is being honored for her exploration of world music  and for fronting the Baroque Festival.

Read more here.

Singer Tammi Brown has a huge local following and has performed for peace groups.

Read more here.

Cabrillo College professor and set designer Skip Epperson, Jr. has been at the school and behind the scenes, literally, since 1990.

Check him here.

Cartoonist Futzie Nutzle has been around Santa Cruz as long as anyone can remember. He always has a bizarre take on things.

Like this.

Jimbo Phillips's work is all over town, usually moving at high speed. The eye-popping graphic artist does skateboard decks, among other things.

Vroom here.

Singer Pipa Pinon has written more than 150 songs since moving from New Mexico to Santa Cruz. She's sung with Windham Hill artist Michael Hedges, among others.

Hear her here.

The free ceremony is Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the
The Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave.

According to their website, the Gail Rich Awards, produced by the  Cultural Council Associates are "a celebration of Gail Rich's spirit. The Awards recognize select individuals who inspire our diverse and culturally-rich community."

"Gail Rich (1951-1996) was an inspiration to our community. In addition to being active in a number of local arts organizations--and a proud supporter of many others--she spent several years as a member and chairperson of the Cultural Council Associates and served on the Cultural Council Board of Directors. The broader Santa Cruz County community knew her as a Sentinel Arts Correspondent and a classical music programmer on KUSP."

The Cultural Council Associates annually produce the Gail Rich Awards, a celebration of Gail Rich's spirit. The Awards recognize select individuals who inspire our diverse and culturally-rich community.