12th Annual Bravo Awards Gala Honorees Announced

Sunday, February 5, 2017

The Des Moines Art Center, Hoyt Sherman Place and Suku Radia were honored at the 12^th Annual Bravo Awards Gala held on Saturday, February 4.

The Encore Award was presented to the Des Moines Art Center in recognition of the organization’s longstanding exceptional contributions to the region’s cultural landscape. For more than 65 years, the Des Moines Art Center has been a leading cultural and economic asset to the Greater Des Moines community and the state of Iowa. It is recognized regionally, nationally and internationally for its outstanding collection, broad range of exhibitions and education and outreach programming.

Hoyt Sherman Place was the recipient of the first-ever Standing Ovation Award. The Standing Ovation Award honors an organization that has seen tremendous programmatic development and operational excellence over the past one-to-two years. Built in 1877, the historic Hoyt Sherman Place creates outstanding experiences for the cultural, historic and educational benefit of Greater Des Moines and its residents. Working with local and national partners, Hoyt Sherman Place regularly presents some of the best singer/songwriters, comedians, authors and popular radio and TV personalities.

Suku Radia was honored with the Bravo Award at Saturday night’s event. Each year, the Bravo Award is given to an individual, family or foundation whose contribution to the arts has benefited the central Iowa region. Radia, a founding board member of Bravo, has been, and continues to be, instrumental to the success of Bravo and the arts and culture community it supports.

Radia has been an active member of the Greater Des Moines Community for more than 40 years. As the CEO of Bankers Trust, he has been voted Best Minority Business Leader many years and Most Influential Business Leader five consecutive years. While Radia’s involvements include professional, economic development, educational and charitable organizations, he also has a great passion for Greater Des Moines’ arts and culture organizations. He is often not only their champion, but also a lead fundraiser. Radia’s role as an advocate for the arts and culture community has helped it to thrive.

Awards presented at the annual gala recognize organizations and community members that consistently exemplify Bravo’s six guiding values – collaborative, accountable, regional, opportunistic, passionate and inclusive - in their impact on, and support of, arts and culture in central Iowa.