In addition to the three annual Howie Awards to be presented to local arts supporters at the upcoming Celebration of the Arts gala, this year there will be a special new accolade. The Legacy in the Arts Award will be given to Doris Ligon and posthumously to her late husband, Claude Ligon, for their efforts as founders of the Columbia-based African Art Museum of Maryland.

The Ligons founded the museum in 1980, and over the years it became one of the state's most respected cultural institutions with its unique lineup of art programs, installations and live jazz series.

While the Howie Awards have been honoring county artists and contributions by arts educators and business supporters since 1989, this fourth category of award was added to recognize long-term commitments.

"Obviously, people who are nominated are outstanding in their fields," noted Coleen West, executive director of the Howard County Arts Council. "But every once in a while there is a special nomination that comes through the committee in which they feel there should be a special Lifetime Achievement Award. I think the last time we did that was when Superintendent Michael Hickey was retiring (in 1999). He was a great friend of the arts then and continues to be."

West said she felt the Ligons deserved a special award for their years of service to the community. Besides West, the nominating committee is made up of Barbara Lawson (who serves as chair), Jeffrey Agnor, Sandra French and Pamela Klahr.

It was only Doris Ligon's long-time presence on the nominating committee, ironically, that kept her and her husband from being considered for Howie Awards in the past.

"She rotated off the committee two or three years ago," West said. "So when this nomination came though, we thought, obviously, the Ligons deserved the award for years and would have received it" if not for the conflict of interest.

West called the Ligons' recognition "a deserving nomination" and said she and the arts council "wanted to highlight it a little more than we normally do."

Other Howie Award honorees this year are visual artist David Zuccarini, arts educator Wayne Larrivey, and local business community supporter Richard Talkin.

Zuccarini is an artist-in-residence at the Howard County Center for the Arts whose work has been shown at the National Portrait Gallery, the Butler Institute of American Art, the Chrysler Museum and the Societe Des Bastellistes De France. He has received a Distinguished Teacher Award from the White House Commission of Presidential Scholars, and a Maryland Artist Fellowship Grant from the Maryland State Arts Council.

Larrivey, who works as a special education teacher for Baltimore City Public Schools, is being honored for his decade of helping to build Howard County's "No Boundaries" program, a musical theater outreach designed for people with disabilities. His work helped forge a partnership between the county's Recreation and Parks Therapeutic Department and the arts council.

Richard Talkin is an avid art collector whose work behind the scenes helped spearhead public and private fundraising and policy initiatives for arts organizations.

"Part of the arts council's goal is to raise awareness in the community about the arts, and often these people work behind the scenes," West said. "Bringing that to the attention of the wider community is obviously really important. That's what these awards are for."

The 2008 Howie Awards will be awarded Saturday, April 25 at 8 p.m. at the annual Celebration of the Arts in Howard County Gala at The Jim Rouse Theatre for Performing Arts at Wilde Lake High School. Tickets are available now. Call 410-313-2787 for information, or go to www.hocoarts.org.

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