(L-R) Pam Beezley, Kelly Cannon-Miller (DCC Board Member) and Cate O’Hagan (DCC Co-Chair) | Photo by Brent Barnett
The Deschutes Cultural Coalition (DCC) of the Oregon Cultural Trust presented its seventh annual Ben Westlund Memorial Award to Pamela Beezley from The Sunriver Music Festival on Wednesday December 19 at the Liberty Theater during The Arts and Culture Alliance’s Holiday Party. The award was established in 2012 to honor the memory of former Oregon legislator and state treasurer Ben Westlund who championed the creation of the Oregon Cultural Trust in 2001.
The award was presented by Deschutes Cultural Coalition Co-Chair Cate O’Hagan. “Ben was a passionate advocate for support of our arts and culture assets in Oregon and believed that all people deserve access to cultural programs and the fundamental benefits they provide. As a resident in Central Oregon he was an ardent supporter of the arts here. An extraordinary skill set is required to be a successful executive director of a nonprofit. To succeed, an executive director must possess sometimes contradictory attributes, such as vision and attention to detail, policy nerd attributes and charm, discipline and forgiveness, endurance and patience plus an ability to stand during receptions for hours and sit through years of meetings. To top it off, Pam exhibits an amazing level of enthusiasm and inquisitiveness that is unmatched in my experience. Congratulations Pam, you deserve this and much more,” stated O’Hagan.
The focus of the evening for the DCC was to honor cultural hero Pamela Beezley with the Ben Westlund Memorial Award. The honor comes with a $1,000 cash award. If an individual is a recipient, they are invited to regrant the funds to a qualifying cultural nonprofit of their choice. Beezley announced she would donate the award to The Sunriver Music Festival.
Previous recipients of the award are Les Joslin, Bob Boyd, Brad Tisdel, Americana Project; Brad Porterfield, the Latino Community Association and Carol Leone, The Museum at Warm Springs and the City of Redmond.