COVINGTON — For seven years, the Covington Community Center has helped put residents in touch with their neighborhoods through projects such as community murals, mosaic benches and Appalachian storytelling.

        Now the nonprofit organization is the 2002 winner of the Governor's Community Arts Award.

Patton

        Gov. Paul Patton will present the community center's award — and those of nine other recipients — at a Feb. 20 ceremony and reception in the Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort.

        Gerri Combs, executive director of the Kentucky Arts Council, said the Covington Community Center was one of 30 nominees for the award.

        “The Covington Community Center is an exemplary model of a service organization in a very poor area economically that has chosen the arts as a vehicle for reaching out to young people and adults in a way that builds community and improves the overall image of the neighborhood,” Ms. Combs said.

        The community center was nominated last year for the award by Beth Sewell, former executive director of the Covington Business Council. The nomination is good for three years.

        In late October, Jean St. John, director of community arts initiatives for the community center, learned of the recognition in a letter from Mr. Patton.

        “I believe it's our efforts to bring people together through the arts and community development” that led to the honor, Ms. St. John said. “Many people who are involved in our projects are not normally people who would get involved in an arts project.”

        Ms. St. John came to the community center in 1994 as part of a three-year community artist-in-residence grant and never left.

        Arts projects the center has been involved in include:

        • The 1996 and 2000 Jack in the City program, which encouraged residents of Appalachian descent to tell stories of their heritage in public forums.

        • Folk-life surveys on artistic traditions in various neighborhoods — everything from gospel to hair braiding to home crafts.

        • Coordination of community murals painted in five Covington neighborhoods by residents under the direction of professional artists.

        • Development of the Duveneck Arts and Cultural Center on Covington's east side.

        • Coordination of the five Millennium Mosaic Benches, now in the lobby of the Northern Kentucky Convention Center and eventually destined for a planned park near Covington's riverfront.

        “They do so much for Covington in so many different ways,” said Joe Calk, the Governor's Awards project coordinator.

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