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Arts council to give its annual awards Six winners recognized Oct. 12 By CLEVE TWITCHELL Nancy Jo Mullen, the Formations Dance Project and Peggie Greuling will be honored by the Arts Council of Southern Oregon at its annual dinner. So will the Bill Thorp Insurance Agency; Coming Attractions Inc. and owner John Schweiger; and the Rogue Valley Youth Correctional Facility and its Superintendent Donald Gray. They are the winners of the arts council's six annual awards, and they'll be recognized when the council holds its meeting and awards dinner. This year's dinner will be on Tuesday evening, Oct. 12, at Redmen Hall in Jacksonville, with social hour at 5:30 p.m. and buffet dinner at 6:30 p.m. It's open to the public. Tickets are $25. Call 779-2820. Mullen has been named individual of the year. She's being honored for her 11 years as executive director of the Rogue Gallery & Art Center in Medford and on-going work with the arts community. An artist herself, she now teaches printmaking at Southern Oregon University. Formations Dance Project will get the nonprofit arts organization award for its outreach and nurturing of the dance community. The group does shows at the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater in Medford twice a year as well as other projects. Greuling has been voted art teacher of the year. She has donated her time over the past three years to organizing and teaching the Suzuki Violin Project at Talent Elementary School to more than 80 students, at no cost to their parents. The Thorp agency of Grants Pass has won the small-business award for persuading State Farm Insurance to donate $2,000 to underwrite the Grants Pass Concerts in the Park series and upgrade its sound system. Coming Attractions, the Ashland-based movie theater firm owned by Schweiger, gets the large-business award for being a champion of independent cinema, showing many art films that are not booked elsewhere in the area. Schweiger bought the Varsity Theatre in Ashland, built Ashland Street Cinema and now has more than 65 screens in the Northwest. The Youth Correctional Facility in Grants Pass wins the arts education group award. Superintendent Gray was instrumental in obtaining a grant from the Oregon Arts Commission that paid for 400 hours of arts programs. The purpose was to help at-risk youth enhance their tools for getting back into mainstream society. Gray hired Joelle Graves of Ashland as program coordinator and she developed arts programs for youth ages 12-15, taught by such artists as Judy Dolmatch, Rick Evans, Joe Fenwick, Pat Inos, Bobbi Kidder and Dave Marston. Patsy Smullin will be the emcee for the dinner. Bob Wilson is presiding officer and Judge Ross Davis will conduct the installation of new officers. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA