2026 Creativeohio champion Advocacy awards
*SOLD OUT* October 14, 2026 at the Palace Theatre in Columbus
This annual statewide event celebrates individuals, organizations, businesses, and community leaders who champion Ohio’s arts, culture, and creative sector through advocacy, leadership, and public support. This year’s event will spotlight advocates and champions from the greater Columbus region and Franklin County.
Doors to the luncheon reception will open at 11:30am.
This year’s reception is currently SOLD OUT. We anticipate that more seats may become available as our event sponsors finalize their attendees. Please submit a request to join the waitlist to be notified when seats become available for purchase.
Parking
Parking garage one block south of the Palace Theatre.
Parking garage right next to (and attached by 2nd floor skywalk) the LeVeque Hotel.
Ohio Statehouse Underground Parking Garage
The subterranean lot under Columbus Statehouse.
2026 Honorees
Individual Advocate Champion
Larry H. James | Managing Partner, Columbus Operations, Amundsen Davis
Larry James has spent more than four decades at the center of Columbus’ business, legal, civic, and philanthropic communities. A respected attorney and trusted advisor, Larry is also a passionate champion for the arts and a dedicated advocate for a vibrant and inclusive cultural community. His extensive arts leadership includes serving as Chair of Gateway Film Center, President of the Lincoln Theatre Association Board and President of the King Arts Complex, as well as leadership with the Greater Columbus Arts Council and Columbus Museum of Art. Larry has also co-founded the African American Leadership Academy and helped establish the Columbus Bar Association’s minority clerkship program. His leadership and philanthropy have earned numerous honors, including the James Preston Poindexter Award, Steve McClure Service Award, Columbus Bar Association Professionalism Award, and Harrison M. Sayre Award. Through his decades of service, Larry exemplifies the enduring power of arts advocacy to strengthen communities.
Arts Educator Champion Finalists
Meg Brown | Children’s Education Director, Thurber House
Meg Brown is celebrating 20 years of advancing arts education and expanding access for young people across Central Ohio. Through workshops, camps, and community programs, Meg ensures that every child—regardless of socioeconomic status, location, or learning difference—has the opportunity to experience the arts. She has built an expansive collaborative network of schools, libraries, community organizations, and youth-serving agencies, creating innovative pathways for underserved students to discover their creative voices. Meg’s commitment to accessibility is reflected in the free or low-cost programming she personally facilitates, as well as outreach to rural communities, families experiencing housing instability, and youth involved in the juvenile justice system. Her regional collaborations also include serving as the Central Ohio coordinator for Poetry Out Loud and overseeing Flip the Page, a free teen literary journal that publishes the work of more than 95 young writers each year. As an educator and community leader, Meg is creating opportunities that inspire creativity, belonging, and lifelong engagement with the arts.
Dr. Elle Pierman | Director of Education & Community Engagement, BalletMet
Dr. Elle Pierman is a dancer, educator, and scholar whose work is expanding access to dance and the performing arts for young people of all abilities. Since beginning as a BalletMet Teaching Artist in 2012, Elle has combined her passion for dance with research on how movement supports social-emotional development and executive function in preschool children, including children with autism. Today, she leads BalletMet’s education and community programs, reaching more than 20,000 students annually from PreK through high school. She also trains teaching artists, provides professional development for educators, and advocates for evidence-based arts education practices. Elle was instrumental in developing BalletMet’s sensory-friendly My First Nutcracker, opening live performance experiences to thousands of community members. Through her work and advocacy, Dr. Pierman is helping to make dance education more inclusive, accessible, and impactful.
Dr. Mark Sholl | Performing Arts Coordinator, Hilliard City Schools
Dr. Mark Sholl has dedicated more than three decades to inspiring young musicians as an educator, conductor, and advocate. After teaching high school orchestra for 30 years, Mark now serves as Performing Arts Coordinator for Hilliard City Schools. Dr. Sholl has spent more than 20 years inspiring young musicians as conductor of the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestra’s Repertory Orchestra, guiding students in grades 7–10 through a pivotal stage of their musical development. Under his leadership, students encounter their first full orchestra experience in an environment that builds confidence, musicianship, and a lifelong love of music. As a leader within the Ohio Music Education Association and a board member of ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, he has championed youth orchestra participation, strengthened partnerships between schools and arts organizations, and mobilized educators and community leaders around the importance of music education. Through his leadership, Mark has helped thousands of young musicians thrive while fostering a culture of collaboration and advocacy that strengthens Central Ohio’s arts ecosystem.
Artist Champion Finalists
Suzan Bradford Kounta | Executive Director, Lincoln Theatre
Suzan Bradford Kounta has spent decades advancing Central Ohio’s cultural landscape as a dancer, educator, choreographer, and arts leader. As co-founder and Artistic Director of the Thiossane West African Dance Institute, Suzan has introduced audiences across Ohio and beyond to the richness of West African dance, music, and culture through performance, education, and outreach. At the Lincoln Theatre, she has expanded opportunities for local artists through initiatives like Backstage at the Lincoln and the Expand Your Horizon artist incubation program, while strengthening the theatre’s role as a gathering place for diverse artists and audiences. Through her artistry and leadership, Suzan has helped preserve and share cultural traditions while creating new opportunities for artists to grow, ensuring that African dance and the contributions of Black artists remain visible, celebrated, and accessible throughout Central Ohio.
Lance Johnson | Painter & Mixed Media Artist
Lance Johnson has helped shape Columbus’ creative landscape through bold, graffiti-inspired art that explores community identity and the urban environment. With community collaboration as the central theme of his practice, Lance’s layered compositions often combine textures, imagery and words that incorporate messages of peace, hope, and possibility. Born and raised in the Bronx, Lance brings a distinctive perspective and artistic vocabulary to Columbus while embracing the city’s collaborative creative community. His work illustrates a belief that art is universal—a way to communicate across cultures, languages, and borders. Through murals, workshops, and live painting experiences, he helps make art an integral part of Central Ohio’s everyday environment and demonstrates art’s power to bring people together.
Celeste Malvar-Stewart | Fashion Designer, MALVAR=STEWART
Celeste Malvar-Stewart has brought national attention to Central Ohio as an innovative fashion designer, fiber artist, educator, and advocate for sustainable design. Through her MALVAR = STEWART label, Celeste creates distinctive couture and textile works using Ohio-grown fibers, natural dyes, and low- to zero-waste practices, connecting designers, farmers, and the environment. Her approach challenges the fast-fashion model by emphasizing thoughtful design, craftsmanship, circularity, and the value of garments. In addition to teaching at Columbus College of Art & Design, Celeste has led efforts to cultivate and retain talented emerging designers in Ohio by creating major platforms for them to showcase their work. Through her artistry and advocacy, she has helped position Columbus as a center for fashion and creative innovation.
Business Champion Finalists
Orange Barrel Media
Orange Barrel Media has made a meaningful impact on Central Ohio’s arts and cultural landscape by using its highly visible media assets to amplify artists, cultural organizations, and community initiatives. This commitment is deeply rooted in the leadership of founder and CEO Pete Scantland, a longtime arts patron, collector, and leading arts advocate in Central Ohio. Through in-kind support and creative partnerships, OBM has transformed billboards and digital kiosks across the state into platforms for public art and civic engagement. In 2024, the company supported ArtsVote Ohio by donating visibility across more than 180 digital screens in Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland to showcase work by Ohio artists and encourage Ohioans to vote.
Pizzuti Companies
Founded by Ron Pizzuti in 1976, the Pizzuti Companies have helped to shape Central Ohio’s arts and cultural landscape through decades of philanthropy and civic leadership. Ron and Ann Pizzuti’s passion for supporting artists led to the creation of the Pizzuti Collection, and in 2019, they gifted the collection and its Short North home to the Columbus Museum of Art. Today, the Columbus Museum of Art at The Pizzuti serves as a vibrant hub for contemporary art, featuring exhibitions, performances, public programs, and artist-driven projects that connect Columbus to global contemporary practice. The company has also integrated art and public spaces into its development work, including support for public art installations and donations of artwork to community facilities.
PNC
PNC Bank has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to strengthening Central Ohio’s arts and cultural community through meaningful investment, collaboration and volunteer engagement. PNC believes the arts play a critical role in creating vibrant communities, enriching education, driving economic development and enhancing quality of life. Through the PNC Foundation, the bank has invested millions of dollars in arts and cultural organizations across the region, helping to expand access, grow audiences and support innovative programming that reaches people of all ages and backgrounds. Beyond philanthropic support, PNC colleagues actively engage with cultural institutions through board leadership, volunteer service and sponsorship of programs and events that bring communities together. PNC champions the arts not simply as a cultural asset, but as an essential contributor to a thriving economy and stronger communities.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Larry & Marion Fisher
Together, Larry and Marion Fisher have made an extraordinary and lasting contribution to Central Ohio’s arts and cultural community through visionary leadership, philanthropy, and decades of service. Retired Partner from Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP and former President & CEO of Columbus Downtown Development Corporation, Larry Fisher was among the four civic leaders who helped to found the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA) in 1969, rallying support to save the historic Ohio Theatre from demolition and establish what would become one of the region’s leading arts organizations. In 1971, he initiated Capitol South CURC, which developed City Center and the three blocks south of the Statehouse. Later, Larry orchestrated and partnered in the redevelopment of the Great Southern Hotel, the Southern Theatre, and the Columbus Athenæum.
Marion has likewise been a steadfast champion of the arts, providing board leadership and support to numerous cultural institutions in Central Ohio, including the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus Symphony League, and BalletMet. For more than 16 years, Marion curated and presented numerous art exhibitions at The Ohio State University Faculty Club, creating opportunities for artists and introducing new audiences to the visual arts. Together, the Fishers have invested their time, resources, and influence in strengthening the organizations and artists that define Central Ohio’s cultural identity. Their commitment extends across disciplines and generations, helping ensure that the arts remain accessible, vibrant, and essential to the community.
2026 SPONSORS
PRESENTING SPONSORS
JACK JACKSON
GOLD SPONSORS
Larry & donna james
Silver SPONSORS
