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Six local cultural icons and five legacy artists from a wide variety of backgrounds, were inducted to the Chatham-Kent Arts and Culture Heroes Wall of Fame Wednesday night.

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More than 100 people were at the Chatham Cultural Centre for the event, which featured a reception in Studio One, followed by a presentation in the Kiwanis Theatre.

The shrine at the cultural centre, launched in 2022, is a Chatham-Kent Arts and Culture Network program, sponsored by Waste Connections of Canada and Chatham-Kent’s Forward Together grant program with the centre’s in-kind support.

Dan White, the network’s board chair, said inductees have had a significant impact locally and beyond.

“The arts heal. The arts foster understanding. And most importantly, the arts inspire us to evolve beyond boundaries, ideologies, nationalities and politics,” he said. “This is worth celebrating.”

Annual inductions take place in six categories – visual, performing and literary arts, music, dance and cultural builders – representing communities across Chatham-Kent with legacy and contemporary selections.

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Inductees receive a permanent plaque at the cultural centre and join the virtual wall on the network’s website.

Michelle Robbins represented the Buxton Homecoming, which was inducted in the cultural builder category.

She said the group humbly accepted the honour, noting the more-than-century-old annual event is made possible by many more people than those on stage.

“This award would be nothing if it wasn’t for the many of our ancestors that came to Buxton that sought their freedom and made this award possible for us to continue to build on their legacies,” Robbins said. “It takes a village to put this event together.”

Acclaimed guitarist and songwriter Tom Lockwood, a music inductee, called it an honour “to be included with such a wonderful group.”

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He reminisced about playing on the Kiwanis stage decades ago, calling it a gem in the community.

“The arts is a good thing to have in your life,” Lockwood said. “Whether it be a writer, painter, dancer. It enriches you.”

Landscape artist Tracy Bultje, a visual arts inductees, thanked everyone involved in the event.

Community support, and her strong faith, inspired her work, she said, adding there is a story behind all of her pieces.

“I observe the chaos and the tension along the dark, murky, complicated places, in juxtaposition to the glorious, vibrant piercing of light,” she said. “I present a landscape as a parallel to our imperfect condition, that presents a resolution full of hope and joy.”

During the ceremony, the network also recognized the first recipients of their emerging youth artist scholarship awards, Teryn Romanick and Thomas Martin.

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Romanick, an Ursuline College Chatham graduate, is studying fine arts at Western University. Martin, a Chatham-Kent secondary school grad, is attending the Ontario College of Art and Design University.

The Wall of Fame oversight and scholarship selection committees included Dan White, James Snyder, Christie Coatsworth, Juwels LeGardi, George Sims and Art Stirling.

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2024 WALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

VISUAL ARTS

• Tracy Bultje, landscape artist, Chatham
• Frank Jordan*, wildlife artist, Chatham
• Leonard Jubenville*, landscape and figurative artist, Pain Court

PERFORMING ARTS

• Lawrene Denkers, actor, Chatham, East Kent

MUSIC

• Tom Lockwood, guitarist and songwriter, Chatham
• Frances Adaskin*, pianist and teacher, Ridgetown
• Geoffrey O’Hara*, composer, singer and professor, Chatham

DANCE

• David Nixon, ballet dancer, choreographer and artistic director, Chatham

LITERARY ARTS

• Ray Robertson, novelist and essayist, Chatham
• Arthur Stringer*, novelist, screenwriter and poet, Chatham

CULTURAL BUILDERS

• Buxton Homecoming, community celebration, North Buxton

*Legacy inductees

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