The Santa Barbara County Arts Commission awarded the 2013 Leadership in the Arts Award to Connie Rohde-Stanchfield, a longtime local educator and arts advocate, at the Dec. 3 Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting. The commission also presented the award at a special celebration on Dec. 5 at the Channing Peake Gallery, located on the first floor of the county administration building in Santa Barbara.
Rohde-Stanchfield is well known as the founder of the C Gallery, a fine art gallery in Los Alamos. The longtime artist and arts educator also taught for decades, and founded Arts Outreach, a local nonprofit organization that serves more than 3,000 students a year. She also founded after-school programs for young artists, was the director of the Family School in Los Olivos, and was a recipient of the 2003 Walt Disney American Teacher Award.
The Santa Barbara County Arts Commission started the Leadership in the Arts Award in 2006 in order to honor and recognize individuals or organizations who have made a significant impact on the arts and culture of our region through innovative thinking and exemplary commitment to promoting, sustaining, and advancing our quality of life through thee arts. Previous recipients include Nat Fast, Joe and Margie Talaugon, Mark Whitehurst and Kerry Methner, and others. More information is available at sbartscommission.org.
This article appears in Dec 12-19, 2013.