Growing up in Texas, being born in 1950 into segregated society, Sharon Samuels Reed is clearly moved when she acknowledges that she was not supposed to be able to do all the things she has with her life. “The arts gave me a way to survive,” she said. “Not only to survive, but to thrive.”
“Thank you seems so inadequate for how I feel for your bestowing this wonderful award on me,” she said, accepting a 2010 NOW Women's History Award. She then added, “My mother is very proud and I will be happy to share this with her.”
This highly sought after motivational and inspirational speaker and resource specialist is the founding artistic director of the Heritage Ensemble and the founder of the Youth Heritage Ensemble of Central Illinois.
A graduate of Bradley University, Illinois State University and the University of Arkansas, Sharon remains active in the Delta Sigma Delta sorority, serves on the Lakeview Museum board and has worked to support Crittenton Centers.
Reed is a past recipient of awards from the YWCA Pekin, the YWCA Peoria, the Interfaith Alliance of Central Illinois, and Who’s Who Among Teachers. She received a Drum Major Award in honor of Martin Luther King..
Reed’s personal art philosophy is to achieve equal access to the arts for all. She strives to tear down walls and build bridges between all people.
“We are in concert together,” Reed said. “While I might not be a member of the National Organization for Women, we all have a place to play in community. We all can tear down walls and build bridges on every corner where we stand. I thank God for organizations like NOW. I thank God for the arts. It is through the arts that I am a survivor.”
Reed advocates that one of the ways to help the children of today, especially those children who have such disparity in their lives and are not children of privilege, is to close those gaps through their participation in a fine arts program.
“That is why I am working today as a retiree,” Reed said. “The school district received a 21st Century Grant for an arts integration program. In am working in that program still believing the arts are the way we can close the achievement gaps.”
To read about this year's recipients, click on the links below.
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