New SJ Hall of Fame

Forty-one artists and entertainers have been nominated for possible inclusion in the inaugural “class” of the South Jersey Arts & Entertainment Hall of Fame. The selection of the 2003 inductees into the Hall of Fame will be announced at the Regional Business/Arts Summit on April 25th at the South Jersey Performing Arts center at the Tweeter Center.

Among the artists and entertainers nominated by the Hall’s Selection Committee are:
* Giants from the past, such as Walt Whitman, James Fenimore Cooper, and John James Audubon,
* “Household names,” such as Stephen Speilberg, “Flip” Wilson, and Sally Starr
* Contemporary entertainers, such as Roscoe Lee Browne, Calista Flockhart, and Kelly Ripa
* Classical performers, such as Julianne Baird and Barbara Deaver,
* Authors, such as Gay Talese
* Popular stars from the recent (and not-s0-recent) past, such as Bill Haley (and the Comets), Michael Landon, and Frankie Avalon
* Behind-the-scenes giants such as Eldridge Johnson, Fred Noyes, Frank Wheaton, and Albert Appel, and
* Local legends, such as glass blower Paul Stankard and poet Stephen Dunn.

First proposed at the 2001 Regional Business/Arts Summit, the South Jersey Arts & Entertainment Hall of Fame is a joint project of the Arts & Business Partnership of Southern New Jersey (ABP) and the South Jersey Performing Arts Center (SJPAC).

Possible nominees for the Hall have been solicited from the public at large as well as from representatives of the regional arts and entertainment community and the members of the Hall’s Selection Committee.

More than 100 possible nominees were suggested to the Committee and 41 have been selected by the Committee for consideration for the Hall’s inaugural class this year:
*Albert Appel * John James Audubon * Frankie Avalon * Julianne Baird * Laurie Beecham * Roscoe Lee Browne * Hurley Conklin * James Fenimore Cooper * Osceola Davis * Barbara Deaver * Stephen Dunn * Dave Dushoff * Lola Falana * Linda Fiorintino * Calista Flockhart * John Forsythe * Bill Haley (and the Comets) * Leon A. Huff * Rodney Jerkins * Eldridge R. Johnson * Michael Landon * Jacob Lawrence * Walter Scott Lenox * Lorraine McAdams * Fred Winslow Noyes Jr. * Clifford Odets * Greg Osby * Kelly Ripa * Harry Shourds * Steven Spielberg * Paul Stankard * Sally Starr * Gay Talese * Nick Vergilio * Frank Wheaton * Walt Whitman * "Flip" Wilson * Pat Witt * Patience Lovell Wright * Alexi Yudenich * Veda Zuponcic

The Selection Committee is chaired by ABP Chairman Michael Willmann and includes
* Mark Fields, Director of SJPAC and former Director of the Glassboro Center for the Arts
* Mark Packer, Executive Director of Appel Farm
* Barry Taylor, Regional Director of Governmental Affairs for Comcast and former Executive Director of Wheaton Village
* Larry Schmidt, Executive Director the Noyes Museum of Art
* Virginia Oberlin Steel, Executive Director of the Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts (which includes the Gordon Theater and the Steadman Gallery).

The mission of the Hall of Fame is to recognize South Jerseyans who have made significant contributions to the world of the arts and entertainment.

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Author: Press Release