Artists will have excelled in or made other notable contributions to one or more of the arts. Candidates will be considered in four areas: literary, performing, visual and specialized, a category that can include culinary arts, education, and patronage and other support of the arts. Any member of the community may nominate a candidate for an arts award by completing a nomination form.

Nomination information is available on the Arts Council website:
www.meridenartscouncil.org or by calling (203) 639-2856.
The deadline for nominations is May 1.

MERIDEN - Last year, after the Meriden Arts Council decided to honor three of the city's major arts contributors, the planned gala dinner never came off. But the awards themselves were eventually given, and this year the MAC is back at it, taking nominations for Artist of the Year in four categories.

"We'd like to give at least three awards," says Arts Council President Staci Roy, "but we could give four. Or we could be giving only one." The categories for nomination are literary, performing, and visual arts, plus a new, catch-all category that could include arts patronage, culinary arts, education or anything else that doesn't fit in the first three.

Nominees and nominators don't have to be members of the Meriden Arts Council. Nomination forms are available at the group's Web site, www.meridenartscouncil.org. The site also has application forms for the two $250 scholarships the Arts Council gives to graduating high school seniors.

Last year, the MAC prizes went to Nicholas Scalise for visual arts, Laura Van Wormer for literary arts and Warren Stephan for performing arts. The Arts Council planned to present the awards
at a big dinner, but it was postponed once and later canceled when the rescheduled date conflicted with a grand reopening party at Gallery 53.

That lack of communication led to a membership drive by the Meriden Arts Council, and increased emphasis on calendar coordination. Roy, who became president last year after the awards dinner fell through, says membership is up to 53 now, from nine in September 2005.

Members are eligible to have arts events listed in a quarterly arts calendar (the April-June issue is out now) that's distributed free around town. The next step, Roy says, is to place copies in Meriden hotels.

There's no MAC awards dinner planned this year, although Roy says in future years a MAC ball could act as a fundraiser.

For this year's awards, she says, "What we're trying to do is work with the Bicentennial Committee to award (the winners) something during Founders' Week," which is June 10-18. If that doesn't work, she says there will be an awards presentation at the Augusta Curtis Cultural Center, where Roy is executive director.

John Kenney, who with Mario Cavallo chairs the MAC Committee that reviews the awards and scholarship applications, says there's been talk of creating a permanent display of the awards plaques, along with some artwork from the winners.

"I think a lot of it will depend on what happens downtown," Kenney said, referring to possible scenarios for new arts development.
"I think you need to have a central area."

For some, it's asequel; for others anew chapter Arts council officer holds creative writing workshop MERIDEN - Writing is a strange compulsion. Some people hate to write, but love to have written. For others, the process itself is a kind of communion. It can be a touchy subject. Support feels good; criticism, not so much. One night last week at the Augusta Curtis Cultural Center, Jean Anne Wertz said her goal was to help the students in her creative writing workshop get better at their craft - "whatever that means to you." Wertz, and former editor at the Record-Journal and current vice president of the Meriden Arts Council, is pursuing a master of fine arts degree at Goddard College in Vermont

She's written drama and poetry, and her "Pot of Soup or the Tragedy of the Commons," is a semifinalist in a 10-minute play competition at the Secret Rose Theatre in North Hollywood, Calif., where it will be performed in October. "I want everybody to feel safe here," Wertz told her class at the Curtis Center. "I want you to be able to take risks and try things that you haven't tried before." If they wanted to read something they'd written and get feedback from others in the class, they could do that, she said. If they want no feedback - just an ear to bounce ideas off, they could have that, too. And they could consider themselves writers, even if they didn't have outside validation. "From my perspective," Wertz said, "a writer is someone who writes." The class is a mix of ages and occupations. Some of the writers have been published. Some are trying to find their voice. Ben James, 19, said he's taking a semester off after attending Emerson College in Boston, trying to plan his next step. "I went for writing and I got a major writer's block, because it's so competitive," he said. The class at the Curtis Center is a step back toward writing, although James said he doesn't think he would major in it again. He also didn't know, coming into Wednesday night's class, whether he wanted to commit to the workshop. Ken Cowing is 83, and writes occasional articles for The People's Press. He's taking the course for a second time. "Last year I learned a great deal, and I'm still learning," Cowing said. "The first apprehension you have is when other people look at your work, (but) it's not sharp criticism. They ask questions - they're learning at the same time." Forty-two-year-old Jo Anne Grabinski runs a business in South Meriden as a professional organizer. She's got an idea about developing a couple of characters and a story line around her profession. "I figured if I wanted to write a book, I need some help," she said. The class is at its capacity of eight students, who paid $80 (for Curtis Center members) or $95 each for six two-hour, Wednesday night sessions. On opening night, everyone grabbed a button out of a big can, and used it as a starting point for a story. What kind of garment had it come from? Who wore it? What was their life like? Then everyone read his or her piece. "I was amazed at everyone's different style, everyone's different perception of what writing means to them," said 58-year-old Jane Earnest, who works for the Meriden Department of Parks and Public Works and is a workshop member. Earnest has written speeches and eulogies. She often writes for her job or city events that she's part of, and has had commentary printed in the Record-Journal. There's enough seriousness in her life, she said. She Please see Writing /8 å Writing workshop likes to write funny things. "I've been writing since I was in first grade," when her classroom story about wearing loafers as a way to avoid learning how to tie her shoes got a good reception, she said. In the class, she took her turn like everyone else, before all the buttons were rounded up and put back in the can ("I think there's a book in this can," Wertz said). In Earnest's story, the button comes from a perfect pair of khaki shorts worn by a young woman whose idea of perfection is a life of shorts, sand and water. "It's got a lot of potential," she said of the workshop. "I think I can learn from it." James, in whose story the button belonged to a clown, said he's decided to stay on for the full six weeks. Grabinski, too, said there was something practical here she could use. She might have been anxious about reading her story out loud, but said afterward, "I think I held my own."