LGBT leader Lance McDaniel honored by Paseo Association

(Oklahoma City, OK)Lance McDaniel, Liz Eickman and Miki Kawamura will be honored at the eighth annual Paseo Arts Awards Dinner, Wednesday, November 12 in the Grand Ballroom of the historic Skirvin Hilton Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City. The Paseo Arts Association believes that the act of recognizing excellence serves to educate the public about Oklahoma’s rich artistic community and to celebrate its increasingly vibrant arts culture.

Lance McDaniel, Director of the deadCENTER Film Festival, will receive the Michi Susan Award. Since coming to deadCENTER Lance has increased sponsorships by more than 250%, grown the audience from 10,000 to 25,000 people, and implemented several new programs, including a formal statewide education program, the deadCENTER Distribution Form, the deadCENTER University high school program, and the Oklahoma Film ICON Award.

Lance is also an independent filmmaker who has worked on 14 feature films, including Oscar winner Million Dollar Baby. Lance’s documentary about the race for Oklahoma’s first female governor, First & Female, was nominated for two 2012 Regional Emmy Awards. His family comedy Crazy Enough won several festival awards and can currently be seen on Netflix and cable.

And his latest feature, Light from the Darkroom, is a Catholic thriller that will debut in 2014. Lance was voted Best Non-Profit Leader in the 2013 Slice Magazine Reader’s Awards, received the Golden Bull Award from his Leadership Oklahoma Class in 2014 and serves on the Board of Directors for the world’s largest Rotary Club in downtown Oklahoma City.

Liz Eickman, Executive Director of Kirkpatrick Family Fund Foundation, is slated for the John L. Belt Lifetime Achievement Award. She is the director of the Kirkpatrick Family Fund, an Affiliated Fund of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation. Before joining the Kirkpatrick Family Fund she was the executive director of the Arts Council of Oklahoma City where she worked with a variety of community, civic and corporate leaders in the areas of cultural planning and facilities plus event and program development for the metropolitan area.

This year’s Artist of the Year Award will go to Miki Kawamura, principal dancer for the Oklahoma City Ballet. Miki started her ballet training at the age of 10 in Sapporo, Japan. She also trained at Pacific Dance Arts in Vancouver, Canada before joining Eugene Ballet/Ballet Idaho. Later she danced with City Ballet of San Diego and Charleston Ballet Theatre where she danced principal and soloist roles.

With Oklahoma City Ballet she has danced Christine in The Phantom of the Opera, Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Principal in George Balanchine’s Valse Fantasie, and other outstanding ballets.

She has also created roles in new works by Jessica Lang, Alan Hineline, Matthew Neenan and Artistic Director Robert Mills. Ms. Kawamura joined the company in 2010 and in 2013 was promoted to Principal Dancer.

The award dinner also serves as a fundraiser for the Paseo Arts Association, a nonprofit organization which coordinates arts programming year-round. “It is our honor to recognize these dedicated professionals, and the impact that they have on our community,” said Amanda Bleakley, Executive Director of the Paseo Arts Association. “The funds raised through this event will be used throughout the year to assist us with First Friday events, the Paseo Arts Festival in May, the family-focused Fairy Ball and Magic Lantern events, and so much more. It is a unique way to support the arts in Oklahoma, and it promises to be an elegant, lively event for all attendees.”

Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling the PAA Office at (405) 528-2688 or online at https://thepaseo.wufoo.com/forms/paseo-arts-awards-dinner/.

The Gayly – November 7, 2014 @ 11:20am