Bo List, the new director of the arts at Danville Independent Schools, is being recognized with a prestigious Lexington award. 

On July 31 at The Lyric Theatre and Cultural Center, he will be honored as the recipient of the Performance Arts Award from Arts Connect Lexington’s Arts Awards. Doors open at 10:45 a.m. with a seated luncheon at 11:30 a.m. and presentation of awards at 12 p.m. According to the Arts Connect Website, where individuals can sign up for the event, individual tickets are $45 each. A table for eight people is $320, and a table for 10 people is $400.

List said he is “deeply humbled and grateful” to be the award recipient. 

“It comes along at a time when I feel all the more energized to sing the praises of the arts and their ability to do good in individuals, in schools, in communities, in just who we are as a country,” he said. “How do I feel? I feel all the lovely butterflies that one should feel when someone says nice things about them.”

He said past winners of the awards, which are given by category — the Visual Arts Award, the Performance Arts Award, the Janet Holloway Literary Arts Award, the Arts Educator Award and the Arts Benefactor Award — are very impressive. One past winner is Frank X Walker, who is a Danville High School alumnus and was Kentucky Poet Laureate from 2013-2015. 

“Looking back at past honorees in [the Performance Arts Award] or in other categories, I feel like I’m in exceptionally good company,” List said. 

The awards are based on contributions to the Lexington arts scene. List is a Lexington native and, according to the Arts Connect website, he serves as an occasional adjunct theater instructor at Transylvania University and as contributor to the Kentucky Humanities Chautauqua series of historical dramas. He is also a playwright.

In his experience with K-12 education, he spent 10 years as a middle and high school theater instructor, in the Memphis area and at Sayre School in Lexington. He has spent 12 years as drama faculty for the Kentucky Governor's School for the Arts. 

For the award, there is a nomination process and a selection committee for the winners. List said that one benefit of receiving the award is that he hopes that it will raise awareness to the Danville Schools and his new role there, to strengthen the Danville Schools’ arts programs. 

“If an award like this increases my stock in Central Kentucky or in Kentucky, that’s great, and it will pay dividends here in Danville and hopefully help me to continue to open some doors of opportunity for our students and community here,” he said.