A Columbus couple with more than 30 years of devotion to a broad spectrum of the arts in Bartholomew County and the surrounding area has been given the state’s highest arts honor.
Bob and Barb Stevens have been honored with the Governor’s Arts Award, state officials announced.
Originally presented in 1973, these awards recognize excellence in artistic achievement, philanthropy, arts education, and leadership in the arts and are presented biennially at a public event. The public event for the 2020 recipients has been postponed to 2021 due to the public health crisis.
The couple, profiled last summer in a Republic story for their leadership and financial backing of the Singing Winds Visitor Center at the T.C. Steele Historic Site near Nashville, is among seven recipients from all over the state.
Since they were out of town when Thursday morning’s announcement was made, they happily chuckled about getting the news from friends and others.
“We just knew we were in the running,” Bob Stevens said.
“It’s very nice,” Barb Stevens said. “I know that’s not a very good quote, but it is. And we don’t know exactly who we should thank (for the nomination).”
“Columbus and southern Indiana are very special places in our lives,” Bob Stevens said. “ And we know that other people have done some wonderful things for Columbus and Brown County, and we just like the idea of paying it forward to show our appreciation of the area where we live.”
Since moving to Columbus, Indiana in 1985, the duo have been leaders in business and supporters of the arts. Their commitment to Columbus and the surrounding area includes support of organizations such as Columbus Area Arts Council, the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, the cherry floor in the performance space at The Commons, Indiana University J. Irwin Miller Architecture Program in Columbus, and the Brown County Art Gallery expansion.
The Steele site and the painter’s heralded artwork are especially important to them. In fact, Barb Stevens calls T.C. Steele, who helped make Brown County a well-known artist’s colony, “the Claude Monet of the United States.”
The husband-and-wife team already are busy with their next major project set for 2026: the centennial of the death of Steele and the centennial of the founding of the Brown County Art Gallery.
