ArtsQuest Foundation Announces Full List of 2023 Linny Awardees

Winners will be honored on November 9 at 5 p.m. in the Musikfest Café

Bethlehem, PA, July 25, 2023 – The ArtsQuest Foundation announces its complete list of 2023 Linny awardees. The Linny Awards are presented to distinguished individuals from the region for their longtime commitment and dedication to the arts. The 2023 Linny Awards will be held in the Musikfest Café in the ArtsQuest Center starting with cocktail hour from 5 to 6 p.m. with awards, dinner and festivities from 6 to 9 p.m.

The Full List of 2023 Linny Awardees is listed below:

Barb and the late Jack Yaissle, Pottsville
Lifetime Achievement Award

This award celebrates and honors those who have given 25 or more years of service to the arts. It is because of their commitment, dedication, and/or support of the arts that the Greater Lehigh Valley’s art community thrives. This award is open to artists and philanthropists whose work symbolizes the highest level of excellence, commitment, and achievement. Jack and Barb were born in Pottsville, PA and graduated from Pottsville High School. Jack graduated from Lehigh University and Barb graduated from Pottsville Hospital School of Nursing. Living in the Lehigh Valley, Jack founded Cornerstone Financial Consultants. They have both volunteered and financially supported various charities throughout their lives including ArtsQuest, ArtsQuest Foundation, Lehigh University, St. Thomas More Church, and Holy Infancy School.

Chuck and Cindy Yeoman, Williams Township
Lifetime Achievement Award – Volunteer

This award recognizes the individual or individuals who have served in a volunteer leadership role in one or more arts organizations and whose hard work, dedication and passion for the arts have led to a significant difference for the organization(s) and our community. Cindy & Chuck Yeoman have dedicated countless hours serving the community. Some of the organizations Cindy volunteered for are the Cub and Boy Scouts, Pocono Wildlife Rehab, and the Celtic festival. Some of the organizations Chuck volunteered in are organizations: the Boy Scouts, the Eagle Scouts, as well as a multitude of local organizations. The Yeomans are both active volunteers within the community and for the many events and festivals that take place at ArtsQuest.

Brenda and John McGlade, Bethlehem
Philanthropy in the Arts Award

This award recognizes an individual, family or foundation that has made a major commitment to supporting multiple arts and cultural organizations or programs in the region, and through their work has truly enhanced access to the arts and the quality of life in our region. The McGlade’s are avid supporters of the arts, including ArtsQuest (John was an ArtsQuest Foundation Trustee), Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Zoellner Arts Center, Community Music School and Artist Naples. Brenda has also been very active in bringing the arts to children, volunteering in after school voice, piano and theater activities with the Boys and Girls Club of Allentown and sponsoring summer camp scholarships in arts and music programs for children. Musikfest is, of course, one of the McGlade’s favorite events, having been to most every festival since the beginning.

Boyle Construction, Bethlehem
Business Supporter of the Arts Award

This award honors a Lehigh Valley-based business that has made a profound impact on the community through their support in the arts. Boyle Construction has been a leader in construction management in the Lehigh Valley since 1977. The company has over 100 construction professionals working to ensure projects are ‘Built Better.’ They are proud of the long list of repeat clients and businesses they have had the pleasure to work with over the last 45 years. Their Building Better Together Committee invests in local organizations such as ArtsQuest that help support the lives of people in the community where employees, customers and partners live, work and play.

Sean Cousland, Center Valley
Emerging Artist of the Year

This award celebrates an artist from 18 to 30 years of age who demonstrates excellence in his/her field. This award is designed to honor an up-and-coming artist, or an artist who has had a breakthrough year, and through his or her work has contributed to the region’s culture and community in a positive way. Sean Cousland danced and now teaches with Easton’s O’Grady Quinlan Academy and has earned an astounding competitive career status which includes: seven-time regional champions, two-time US Open Champions, top five at the All-Scotland, Great Britain and North American Championships. He was also 2-time runner up in 2021&2022 and placed 3rd at the 2023 An Chomhdháil World Championships held in Ireland. Cousland has performed locally at Celtic Classic and Musikfest along with these professional Irish dance shows: “Celtic Angels” across the United States in 2020, “Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance” in Belfast 2022 and US tour 2024, “Feet of Flames” within Taiwan 2020/2022/2023, and USATODAY’s #1 best theme park entertainment show “Celtic Fyre” at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia for 5 seasons 2021-present.

Isabelle Morales, Bethlehem
Student Scholarship Award

This $2,500 scholarship award is presented to one student in the region who demonstrates significant talent and promise in the visual, literary, or performing arts. Morales has been drawing her whole life and is primarily self-taught. Inspired by the works of Jaiden Dittfach, Kazuma Kaneko, and Hirohiko Araki; studying the works of Rui Komatsuzaki; and learning from her art teachers, she honed her art skills through mediums such as oil and acrylic painting, pen and ink, oil pastels, charcoal, graphite, colored pencils, and digital means using programs such as Paint Tool SAI and Clip Studio Paint. Morales’ artwork displays a complex level of understanding in anatomy, color, line and weight, shading and lighting, texture, and communicating complex themes and emotions. She plans to pursue a career in illustration as first-generation college student.

Beth McFadden, Bethlehem
Arts Educator of the Year

This award honors a Lehigh Valley-based educator, teaching artist or arts administrator who has made a profound impact on students and/or the community through his or her work in the arts. This award is open to any individual working with students in preschool, kindergarten, elementary, middle, or high school. McFadden attended BASD schools, graduated from Liberty High School, and as she prepared for art school applications, she took private art classes at the newly opened Banana Factory. She later attended Tyler School of Art, receiving a BFA in Glassblowing. After working at various glass studios, including Corning Museum of Art, Wheaton Art and Cultural Center, and Goggle Works, she helped build the Banana Factory’s glass studio. Afterwards, she pursued a Masters in Art Education Kutztown University. For the past decade, as a teacher at Liberty High School, she’s created “McFadden’s World”, where she emphasizes inclusivity and designs lessons that introduce students to contemporary artists–especially highlighting female and BIPOC artists communities.

Dr. Lee Riley, Bethlehem
Visual Artists of the Year

This award is for two- and three-dimensional visual art. As the Chief of Oncology at St. Luke’s University Health Network, and with no formal training in glass or art, Riley sought classes and workshops starting at the Banana Factory in Bethlehem PA. It was his cold glass workshop with Martin Rosol at Corning Museum where he envisioned combining his interest in minerals with his glasswork. During COVID, Riley became a resident artist at the ArtsQuest Banana Factory. Riley began incorporating art into his medical practice helping cancer patients create glass pendants while undergoing therapy. Dr. Riley’s work has been exhibited in Lehigh Valley galleries, newspapers, regional TV spotlights, the Bethlehem’s Visitor’s Center, and at Globe Fine Art in Sante Fe, NM.

Pablo Batista, Bala Cynwyd
Performing Artist of the Year

This award recognizes a Lehigh Valley performing artist whose work symbolizes excellence in its field. Batista began studying Latin percussion at the age of nine and has made performing percussion his life. He has worked with Grover Washington, Jr., and has performed, recorded, and toured internationally with some of the biggest stars in rhythm and blues, jazz, Latin pop and gospel such as Alicia Keyes, Patti Labelle, Kirk Franklin, Jill Scott, Gerald Levert, Jeffrey Osbourne, Phyllis Hyman, Teddy Pendergrass, Diana Reeves, Norman Brown, Manny Oquendo and Libre, Eddie Palmieri, Musiq and H.E.R. Batista has performed on Grammy-winning recordings in jazz, R&B, and gospel, as well as on a Oscar winning soundtrack. Pablo Batista and his Latin Jazz Ensemble and Pablo Batista’s Mambo Syndicate perform throughout the region.

Tickets are currently available for purchase at www.artsquestfoundation.org/linnyawards. Individual event tickets are $225 for the event.

The Linny Awards also has select opportunities for sponsors who are interested in saluting these ‘rock stars’ of the Lehigh Valley’s art scene. If you or your company are interested in sponsoring an award or table at the 2023 awards ceremony, contact ArtsQuest Foundation Executive Director Selena Lavonier at slavonier@artsquest.org.

Winners for this year’s award ceremony were selected by the ArtsQuest Performing Arts Board, Visual Arts Board and the ArtsQuest Foundation Board of Trustees.

About the Linny Awards
Named after the late Marlene ‘Linny’ Fowler, a stained-glass artist and community leader who supported artists and arts organizations throughout the Lehigh Valley for more than a quarter century, the Linny Awards are designed to recognize and celebrate the region’s flourishing arts community. The Linny’s are open to individuals living or working in Lehigh, Northampton, upper Bucks and upper Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania, as well as Warren County in New Jersey.

Proceeds from the Linny Awards go to support the nonprofit ArtsQuest Foundation, which Fowler helped found in 2003. The foundation is focused on supporting and strengthening the long-term sustainability of ArtsQuest, the nonprofit that presents Musikfest and more than 4,000 other programs, events and educational classes annually for our region.

For complete information on the ArtsQuest Foundation and the Linny Awards, please visit www.artsquestfoundation.org/linnyawards .