CFPCA alumni honored at 40th Annual Arts Achievement Awards
The College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts at Wayne State University presents its 40th Annual Arts Achievement Awards, honoring outstanding alumni and former students. The honorees will be recognized for their dedication to, and advocacy for, the arts and communication and for achievements in their respective fields.
The 2019 Arts Achievement Awards will take place on Thursday, April 18 from 6-8:30 p.m., at WSU's McGregor Memorial Conference Center, located at 495 Gilmour Mall, Detroit, MI 48202. The event is free and open to the public. RSVP by April 11.
2019 Arts Achievement Awards Honorees:
Mary Henige (Career Achievement Award in the Field of Communication) spent 30 years at General Motors in a variety of communications leadership roles including overseeing social media and digital communications for nearly six years, beginning one month prior to bankruptcy. In December 2015, she founded Magnetica Communications LLC, a consultancy which specializes in providing communications counsel to the C-Suite. She is currently the director of strategic communications for the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Mary earned a BA in speech communication, and a MA in organizational communications and public relations, both from Wayne State, in 1986 and 1993, respectively. She is working toward a MA in theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary. She has been the professional advisor to Wayne State's PRSSA Chapter since 1993. She was the 2003 president of the PRSA Detroit Chapter and co-chaired PRSA's 2008 International Conference, which was held in Detroit. In 2011 she was inducted into the PR News Hall of Fame. In 2016 she was elected to the PRSA College of Fellows. She has a heart for Detroit, volunteering and mentoring college students and new professionals.
Raymond Pointer (Career Achievement Award in the Field of Art and Art History) "rolled" off the assembly line at Henry Ford Hospital on July 4, 1952 only to have the mold broken once they saw what they had! From 1963 to 1973, Ray experimented with animation, leading to his first professional exposure at The Jam Handy Organization. He graduated from Cass Technical High School with a Commercial Art degree and received his B.A. in Film and Television Production at Wayne State University. He received the first Student Oscar in 1973 for his cartoon short, Goldnavel, and directed Rosa Parks: Modern Day Heroine for Wayne State Urban Studies.
Ray was a Motion Picture Specialist in the U.S. Navy, promoted to Producer for The Navy Office of Information in Washington D.C. and Writer/Director of corporate video programs for General Dynamics Land Systems. In the 1990s, he was a Storyboard Artist, Animator, and Director for Film Roman, DIC, Hanna-Barbera, Disney Interactive, MGM, and Nickelodeon. In 1996 Ray was inducted into The Television Academy of Arts and Sciences Animation Peer Group.
Since returning to Michigan in 2008, Ray was an Adjunct Professor in Digital Media at Kendall College of Art and design in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the author of The Art and Inventions of Max Fleischer: American Animation Pioneer.
Richard Margitza (Career Achievement Award in the Field of Music) learned to play the violin at the age of four. His grandfather was a cellist and his father a violinist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He then studied classical piano for a bit, and also played oboe before switching to tenor in high school. He attended Wayne State, Berklee College of Music, University of Miami and Loyola University New Orleans. Rick toured with Maynard Ferguson and Flora Purim in the 1980s, and moved to New York City in 1988, where he played with Miles Davis.
Between 1989 and 1991, Margitza released three sessions for Blue Note Records, and has recorded copiously thereafter, including with Eddie Gómez, Tony Williams, Bobby Hutcherson, Maria Schneider, McCoy Tyner, and Chick Corea. He has also composed a saxophone concerto and two symphonies for orchestra.
Margitza, who has long been regarded as one of the "Young Lyons" of the International Jazz Scene, is nowadays one of the most respected musicians of his generation. Excellent tenor and soprano saxophonist, mostly inspired by John Coltrane, Michael Brecker and Wayne Shorter, he has managed to expand and develop his unique voice, highly poetic and sharply incisive.
Frank Hartenstein (Career Achievement Award in the Field of Theatre) has a career spanning over 40 years, during which time he was involved in over 35 productions both on and off Broadway. He was the first assistant stage manager of the original production of A Chorus Line and the original production stage manager of many musicals including Big River, Into the Woods, Starlight Express, The Who's Tommy, the 2001 revival of 42nd Street, Baz Luhrman's production of La Boheme and the 2012 revival of Jesus Christ Superstar. In addition, Frank has stage managed 10 Musicals at the La Jolla Playhouse, several tours and many industrials. He has taught at Rutgers University and the Yale School of Drama.
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Contact: Patrick Field, CFPCA Alumni Officer
(313) 577-1087
patrick.field@wayne.edu