BW music theatre program director honored with Cleveland Arts Prize

Victoria Bussert, head of BW's music theatre program, has been honored for her phenomenal work with a 2019 Cleveland Arts Prize Mid-Career Artist Award. Now in its 59th year, the Cleveland Arts Prize is the nation's oldest municipal arts award, annually celebrating exceptional artists in Northeast Ohio.

Cleveland Arts Prize

Cleveland Arts Prize recognizes artists in literature, dance, theater and visual art with emerging artist, mid-career and lifetime achievement awards. The winners will receive their awards and the $10,000 prize attached to them at a ceremony in September.

Cleveland Arts Prize Executive Director Alenka Banco shared in the awards announcement, "It's more than a monetary prize to artists who are doing great work. It's really about a family and it's about Cleveland's legacy."

Theatre "powerhouse"

Bussert has been directing theatrical productions for more than 30 years, including staging not only musicals, but also operas, concerts and tours both across the nation and abroad. In addition to directing the music theatre program at BW, Bussert is also a resident director at Great Lakes Theater and the Idaho Shakespeare Festival.

"She's a powerhouse. The kids and the students that are coming out of her program are really on a national and an international stage," Banco said of Bussert in the awards announcement.

Read it in The Plain Dealer

A feature in The Plain Dealer notes the arts prize prize jury "praised her both for directing and teaching."

Colton Ryan '17, hired on Broadway before his graduation, told the newspaper. "She's tough in all the right ways. She's tenacious about your potential and passion."

"It is truly an honor to be awarded the Cleveland Arts Prize," Bussert says. "Mid-career to me means I still have a lot of work to do!"