The Deerfield Park District has set the standard for promoting community arts, according to a recent honor from the lllinois Association of Park Districts.
Deerfeld earned the Helen Doria Arts in the Park Award, according to a press release. The award recognizes outstanding promotion of and support for local visual and performing arts, as judged this year by the Arts Alliance Illinois. Its namesake, Helen Doria, was a dedicated advocate of arts in the park throughout Chicago.
Deerfield Park District events this year featured 1,380 participants and drew 3,300 spectators, according to the release.
Highlights included the Deerfield Family Theater auditioning 160 locals for a forthcoming production of "Into the Woods!" The family theater fills its casts with locals and uses professional crews for plays each fall. Another group of local thespians, the Theater D program, saw success with its production of "I Hate Hamlet."
The district also offered music and dance programs for all ages and hands-on youth art classes led by teachers and professional artists. Free concerts in the park treated residents to Motown, rock, country music and more; parks were also the site for free art displays, according to the press release.
The district was recognized for promoting art displays in public and vacant commercial spaces. It included a student art contest organized through Deerfield High School, with the winning and runner-up pieces put on public display. The village of Deerfield’s Fine Arts Commission hosts an annual summer arts festival that typically draws thousands, the release said.
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