Kinner Awards

Congratulations to the 2022 Kinner Award Winners!

171 Cedar Arts has a call for nominations for the award each January. The Kinner Awards are presented at the Annual Membership Meeting & Celebration.

Dino Losito | Award for Teaching Excellence

Amanda Warren | Award for Teaching Excellence

Steve Wilson | Lifetime Achievement Award

171’s Volunteers of the Year

Thank you and congratulations to Ann Capper, Carol Allan, and Judy Landry, 171’s Volunteers of the Year! These three Fairy Godmothers of Story Ballet have shown a great commitment to 171’s dance program for many years. They are the team that has worked behind the scenes to help the shows run smoothly and help make Story Ballet the wonderful success it has been. We thank them for their hard work, their dedication to Story Ballet, and their love of dance!

Bob Kinner Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence

171 Cedar Arts Center will be accepting nominations in January 2024 for the year 2023 faculty awards for teaching excellence! Deadline to come.

The Bob Kinner Faculty Awards will be presented at 171 Cedar Arts Center’s Annual Membership Meeting and Celebration in 2024.

Robert Lee “Bob” Kinner, a founding member of 171 Cedar Arts Center, was passionate about supporting artists and arts appreciators by building institutions and opportunities that brought art and community together. By providing musicians with a stage, artists with a gallery, and thinkers with forums for discussion, Kinner opened doors for an entire community, and those who enjoyed his company and his venues felt truly at home with the arts. This award was created to honor Kinner’s talent and foresight in enriching our wonderful community with the ability to experience the arts in so many ways.

Criteria for nomination

Nominations can include faculty members in good standing all areas of arts instruction at 171 Cedar Arts Center.

Qualified candidates must demonstrate compelling evidence of outstanding instruction:

Knows subject thoroughly
Designs class sessions to maximize learning
Communicates in organized, enthusiastic, and innovative ways
Stimulates the interest of students and encourages them
Shows commitment to life-long learning, especially to improving knowledge of the discipline

Keep in mind the criteria for receiving this award must relate to teaching as opposed to other artistic or professional pursuits. Please note that a faculty member can be nominated and received the Kinner award more than once.

Nomination Process

Submissions for the 2022 Bob Kinner Award for Teaching Excellence are due at 5:00 pm on Friday, February 17, 2023.
Nominations for this award will be accepted from any member of the 171 Cedar Arts Center community, including faculty, staff, students, or members, without any limitations on the number of nominations.
Nominations should consist of the name of the candidate and a narrative supporting the nomination. Nominations can be completed on 171’s website by following the following link to the Kinner Nomination Form or hand-written/printed and mailed to Noelle Curren’s attention at 171 Cedar Arts Center, 171 Cedar Street, Corning, NY 14830.
Please include any additional information that you feel supports your nomination. For example:
- Resume or bio for the individual teacher are nominating
- Examples of work (large images and/or videos should be submitted via a link or memory device).
- Letters of support (optional)

Presentation of Award & Publicity

The award will be announced just prior to 171 Cedar Arts Center’s Annual Membership Meeting. Announcement of the award recipients will also be included in a press release, and in variety of publications and social media posts produced by 171.
The 2022 Bob Kinner Award for Teaching Excellence will be presented at the Annual Meeting on March 3, 2023, at 7:00 pm. The Annual Membership Meeting typically takes place in the Drake House Studio Theater.
Recipient(s) will receive a glass art plaque to commemorate the recognition.
The award recipients will also receive a special designation in their directory listing on 171 Cedar Arts Center’s website.