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Riverside, CA – The University of California Riverside’s radio station, KUCR 88.3fm will announce the 2012 KUCR CIVITAS Award recipients at 1:30pm on Thursday, June 7 in downtown Riverside.  The awards, in their inaugural presentation, recognize and celebrate unique and significant current and past contributions to the civic and cultural life of Riverside and the greater Inland Southern California region.

According to KUCR General Manager Louis Vandenberg, “KUCR has been broadcasting to the Riverside community and beyond since 1966.  Over that time, the Inland region has seen its civic and cultural character gradually transformed by individuals who have, through dedicated commitment and hard work, become agents of change and progress.  They have enriched our lives in the region through a wide variety of civic and cultural contributions, making our communities more livable, more interesting and more prosperous.   They have exemplified excellence and have brought an increasingly positive regard to Inland Southern California.  Sometimes they are well-known, sometimes not.  These awards, unique in the area, identify some of those who have brought, and are bringing, positive change to our region.”

KUCR Program Coordinator Tina Bold adds, “we’ve been contemplating doing these awards for years and decided that the time was right to launch.  The awardees are people we have come to know, or know of, through our work.  We have seen their work and the good they do.  KUCR is a creative place, in which the UCR campus community – students, faculty and staff, produces broadcasts their original programs to the community.  It’s a diverse reflection of a diverse community.  The awards recognize creative and original people in the Inland Empire. The recipients for this year are stellar.  And we have a number of excellent nominees already being reviewed for 2013.”

Announcement of KUCR CIVITAS Awards to be made at Tio’s Tacos in downtown Riverside on June 7^th at 1:30PM.  Some of the recipients will be present and will make brief comments.   A more formal reception for Award recipients will be held in Fall 2012 on the UCR campus.

2012 KUCR CIVITAS Award Recipients

Given by UC Riverside’s KUCR radio to recognize unique and significant current and past contributions to the civic and cultural life of Riverside and the greater Inland Southern California region.

Marsia Alexander-Clarke Longtime Riverside resident, born in Valpariso, Chile, studied art in New York.  Marsia Alexander-Clarke is a widely acclaimed visual artist with history of numerous critically-praised works and exhibitions,  including a current exhibit/installation at UCR’s Culver Center of the Arts through September 22.  She will be speaking about her work at the California Museum of Photography at 2pm on June 23^rd and at 5pm on July 28^th.) LIFE ACHIEVMENT. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsia_Alexander-Clarke http://marsiaalexanderclarke.com/

Martin Sanchez Restauranteur and Artist: owner and creator of Tio’s Tacos, Downtown Riverside, CA.  Originally from Michoacan, Mexico, Martin Sanchez has created, along with his daughter, a restaurant which has become a storied Riverside landmark, full of fantastic sculptures, fountains, structures, sometimes comical, sometimes mysterious, and always amazing.http://www.kcet.org/arts/artbound/counties/riverside/tios-tacos-riversides-folk-art-wonderland.html

Bill Fold Lifelong Riverside resident, former concert producer at UC Riverside’s Barn, Producer and Festival Director of Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Producer and Festival Director of the Coachella Valley Stagecoach Country Music Festival, Artist Manager of NYC band Sleigh Bells.  Coachella was conceived in the mid-90’s with the goal of making the best multi-day music festival the best experience possible for the concert-goer.  Now in its 14^th year, Coachella is the biggest music festival in the world, and continues to grow, expand, learn and change, striving always to innovate and perfect the concert experience. http://www.coachella.com/

Alaska Quilici Longtime Riverside resident, now based in Berkeley, California.  Creator of the Riverside Saturation Art and Music Festival, Co-Founded Zineworks, a roving workshop and education team that teaches culture and production of independent media in schools and at Coachella., Publisher of the American disaster zine “Hot Water” and its Tumblr counterpart (manyroadstoruin.tumblr.com), First outreach and events planner and creative writing instructor for the Inlandia Institute at the Riverside Public Library, Riverside and San Bernardino juvenile Gang Outreach and writing coach, Founding member of the Open University at UC Berkeley, Curator of Historian’s Eye at UC Berkeley, a partnership with Matthew Frye Jacobson at Yale, to bring people’s history into the digital humanities. (http://historianseye.commons.yale.edu/), currently an American Studies student UC Berkeley.  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Saturation-Fest/102974799738568

Jane Block Longtime Riverside resident.  Former KUCR Producer/Host and Creator “Women’s Space,” a pioneering program in its field. Jane Block is a Riverside-based Civic and Environmental Champion.  She is a former President and Vice-President of the Riverside Land Conservancy, founder of the Riverside City/County Arroyo Committee, a longtime member of the Santa Ana River Task Force, Board Member Ecological Cities Task Force, Board Member UCR Center for Sustainable Development, Board Member UCR Center for Conservation Biology, Executive Board Member Endangered Habitats League.  LIFE ACHIEVEMENT. http://www.riversidelandconservancy.org/

Tanya Humphrey Lifetime Riverside resident, UCR alum and former KUCR program host, Civil Rights and Community Activist, Creator – Riverside’s first city-wide Kwanzaa Celebration, Creator – Riverside’s Underground Railroad Black History event, Creator – African American/Mexican Art and Photography Exhibit, with the largest minority attendance ever at California Museum of Photography, former owner – Indigo African Arts, Books and Gifts, co-founder of Riverside Coalition for Police Accountability, Chairperson – Black Women’s Leadership Forum, Chair – NAACP Political Committee, formerly on UCR Alumni Board of Directors, formerly served on UCR Alumni Executive Committee and former Chair of the UCR Alumni Scholarship Committee. LIFE ACHIEVEMENT

Blood Orange Info Shop Collective Award for multiple contributions to Riverside arts and culture, in print, spoken word, musical performance.  BOIS is a unique and experimental community resource which has become a creative venue and focal point for the local DIY movement.

Scott Talkov Longtime Riverside resident, Scott is a former KUCR program host and ASUCR Senator.  He is now practicing law in downtown Riverside at Reid & Hellyer.  Very active in multiple areas of civic life, Talkov is the founder of the ASUCR Legal Clinic for UCR Students, President of the Riverside Barristers and creator of ThingsToDoInlandEmpire.com promoting local arts, entertainment and events. http://www.thingstodoinlandempire.com/

Darren Conkerite Longtime Riverside resident, owner – manager Back to the Grind coffeehouse – a frequent venue for community events, meetings, performing arts, celebrating 16years in business this year.  Darren Conkerite’s Back To The Grind’s support for the arts in downtown riverside include Art walk, Saturation Festival, Riverside Pride, The Mission Inn Run and The Orange Blossom festival. BTTG has also coffee-hosted events for the city, including the Mayor’s Ball and Taste and Tour. http://www.back2thegrind.com/

Gabriel Roth Riverside native, musician, producer, entrepreneur and co-founder of the soulful and authentic New York-based Daptone Records.  Gabriel Roth’s deep musical sensibilities and his dedication to old-school recording and producing techniques have made recordings which have timeless integrity and character in the American soul, r&b and funk musical traditions.  Over the past several years, Daptone has become the most frequently played record label on KUCR.  This award honors the achievements of Gabriel Roth as a Riverside native  and says “thank you” for the recordings of such artists such as Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley,  The Budos Band and more. http://www.daptonerecords.com/

Award critera: The KUCR CIVITAS awards are done via a confidential process in which nominees are made, selected and reviewed by KUCR leadership in consultation with a wide-range of individuals, including UCR alumni, UCR campus and Inland community leaders.  Those under consideration for the KUCR CIVITAS Award are not made aware of their status as nominees and the process is non-competitive.  The award recipients represent the consensus of the awards committee.  Special, but not exclusive, consideration is given to reflecting our diverse Inland population.  Special, but not exclusive, consideration is given to achievements in cutting-edge, alternative, or avant-garde arts.  Special, but not exclusive consideration, is given to innovative community-oriented entrepreneurs.  Special, but not exclusive, consideration is given to recognizing those who have contributed substantially, but have not, for whatever reason, been previously cited.  The number of CIVITAS AWARDS will not exceed 10 in a year, but may be variably fewer.  The name of the award, Civitas, was arrived at in consultation with a Harvard lawyer, steeped in Latin, who advises KUCR management, as a name that reflects upon the broad diverse community of Inland Southern California.

In the CIVITAS AWARDS , KUCR embraces, among other considerations, the ideas of Dr. Richard Florida, former professor of Sociology at Carnegie-Mellon and currently professor and Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.  Dr. Florida is the author of The Rise of the Creative Class.  In his oft-cited studies of American cities, Dr. Florida makes a case showing that those communities that embrace full-range and cutting-edge creative arts, along with education, are the most livable, the most civil and the most economically prosperous.  The KUCR CIVITAS Awards assert that the civic and cultural dimensions of community are inextricably connected and complimentary. 

KUCR 88.3fm embodies the values that it honors in the CIVITAS AWARDS.  In its 45 years on the air, KUCR has uniquely connected UCR student, faculty and staff broadcast talent to the Inland community with original creative program content.  Since 1966, KUCR  has been an Inland Empire beacon of diverse, intelligent, often challenging content, incorporating music (including jazz, indie rock, world, and much more), culture and public affairs in a rich and stimulating program mix.  The station is staffed primarily by UCR students, along with contributions from the faculty and staff of the university.  It is heard via 88.3fm in western Riverside and San Bernardino counties and at www.kucr.org via the world-wide-web.