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Address: 51 Main St. Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: (217) 356-2337
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Where some awards events might be formal and stuffy, the fifth Annual ACE (for Arts, Culture and Entertainment) Awards will be anything but that. The event is hosted by 40 North | 88 West — Champaign County’s Arts, Culture and Entertainment Council — and will recognize community members for their work in the arts. There are seven awards categories, and the winners will be announced tonight, Oct. 22, at the Highdive in downtown Champaign.

40 North Director of Operations, Steven Bentz said that the event is meant to spark interest in the arts. “The reason for the ACE awards is that it’s essentially an advocacy event. We’re trying to advocate for the arts in this community by shining a spotlight on the people who are doing this incredible heavy lifting,” said Bentz.

Bentz called the event “a big party,” but he explained that such a vibe is essential for its popularity and continued success. “It can seem a little sober to give out an award for advocating for the arts, so ... a nice surprise about this event is that it’s a great big party, and it’s a lot of fun,” he said.

Bentz explained that the night should be enjoyable, not a time-consuming ordeal. “It was conceived as kind of something you could do on the way home and that you would still have an evening after it’s over,” Bentz said. Attendees can look forward to a night that includes food, live entertainment and video clips about the winners, produced by Dreamscape Design.

English Hedgerow will be providing beverages and Indian-inspired hors d’oeuvres to go along with the live music from Rhythm and Raag, a local institute for Indian Performing Arts. Bentz described their mission as one of bringing classical, fine Indian music to the general public. “It’s pretty amazing that they are in this community.” said Bentz. Originally held at Soma, the ACE awards have become more popular since their inception in terms of attendance. “By the third year we thought that we probably needed to move to a larger room and make some format changes to keep it moving along nicely and growing,” said Bentz.

40 North has also seen an increase in nominations, and has received the largest number to date this year. Bentz said the quality of these nominations have been particularly impressive. “It makes it hell on the judges,” joked Bentz, “because they really have a lot of reading and pondering to do, but that’s what it’s all about.”

The judging process is kept as objective as possible, with no 40 North board members or staff members having influence on the outcome. “It’s important to remember that this is a true community event,” said Bentz. “It’s the community that makes the nominations, it’s the community that judges, and community members that win the awards.”

Bentz explained that the award winners are “those people who just have killer commitment to the work they are doing in the arts.” They might be teachers staying after school, or volunteers starting programs on their own. Bentz pointed out, however, that the award winners are often people who do most of their work behind the scenes. “They’re not necessarily the ones up on the stage at the end of the night carrying a bunch of roses,” he said.

“We hope that people get excited about working in the arts,” said Bentz. “We hope that they are thrilled to see someone that they know has put in a lot of time and a lot of sweat equity on creating a program or supporting a performance, or helping arts education … get the recognition they deserve.”