Nearly a dozen Chatham-Kent natives are being honoured for their contributions to arts and culture.

The Chatham Kent Arts and Culture Network (CKACN) has announced the six local cultural icons and five legacy artists to form the 2024 class of inductees to the Arts and Culture Heroes Wall of Fame.

Each inductee was chosen from nominations provided by citizens and the oversight committee. They will be recognized under one of six categories — visual arts, performing arts, music, dance, literary arts and cultural builders.

Plaques naming each inductee are permanently mounted on the Heroes Wall of Fame at the Chatham Cultural Centre. Their names are also included on a ”virtual wall” on the CKACN website.

The class of inductees will be honoured during an induction ceremony at the Cultural Centre on October 23. During the ceremony, CKACN will also formally recognize the first recipients of its Emerging Youth Artist Scholarship Awards — Teryn Romanick and Thomas Martin.

The inductees of the Arts and Culture Heroes Wall of Fame for 2024 are listed below:

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, Songwriter (Chatham)
· Frances Adaskin – Pianist, Teacher (Ridgetown)
· Geoffrey O’Hara – Composer, Singer, Professor (Chatham)

Dance
· David Nixon – Ballet Dancer, Choreographer, Artistic Director (Chatham)

Literary Arts
· Ray Robertson – Novelist, Essayist (Chatham)
· Arthur Stringer – Novelist, Screenwriter, Poet (Chatham)

Cultural Builders
· Buxton Homecoming – Community Celebration (North Buxton)