3/8/99

duBrisk Receives Governors Award in the Arts at Mar. 3 Ceremonies

Marilyn duBrisk received the award from Gov. Don Sundquist at ceremonies on Mar. 3, 1999. Photo by Steve Harbison.

An ordinary person could not accomplish what Marilyn duBrisk accomplishes. Outreach Artist-in Residence at Tusculum College for the past six years, Marilyn directs or coordinates more that a dozen programs that serve not only Greeneville city schools, but also the under-served rural areas of Greene county. Her international performing and teaching credentials exhibit this same high level of accomplishment. She received diplomas from the Imperial society of Teachers of Dance and from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and has studied and worked on four continents.

Prior to coming to Tusculum College in 1992, she was Artist-in Residence for the Greeneville City School system where her performing arts organizational pattern and gift for acronyms emerged in East Tennessee in 1986 with GLAWPIGT (pronounced “Glaw-pig-it,” Great Literature Alive, Well, Playing in Greeneville, Tennessee. This group of forty students in grades 3-12 meets weekly to share literature and learn presentation techniques. GLAWPIGT has performed for the Tennessee Arts Academy and the National Council for the Arts in Washington, D.C.

Marilyn’s infectious energy has also spawned WOW (Wonder of Words), a literacy program for K-3 students with reading difficulties; RAP (Reading and Performing), another K-3 literacy program that uses performing arts to support classroom reading instruction; Books for Babies that provides each new mother materials encouraging her to read to her child -- more that 5,000 people have been served. Among other myriad efforts, Marilyn founded ACT (Actors Coming Together) in 1991. This theater company is open to all county and city high school students and uses the talents of Tusculum faculty and students, area teachers, parents, local artists, and community members for the productions staffing. The recent production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream had a cast of more than 90 students and a production staff of more that 100 volunteers. A professional quality performance for thousands of school children and citizens has become standard Greeneville fare, thanks to Marilyn duBrisk.

--from the program of the 1998 Governor's Awards in the Arts. The award, above left, was created by Calvin Nicely and is described as "a twisted passion figure in hot-formed studio glass, neo-purple in color."

The 1998 award winners were duBrisk, Arts Education; the Memphis Arts Council, Arts Organization; Natalie and Jim Haslam, Arts Patrons; Cannon Carriage Company, Business; Bell Buckle, Community; ServiceMaster Consumer Services, Corporation; Nikki Giovanni, Individual Artist; Patricia Neal, Lifetime Acheivment; and Mary and Tony Portera, Special Citation.