BALDWINSVILLE — After three years of behind-the-scenes work, the Baldwinsville Community Hall of Fame for Visual and Performing Arts is ready for its opening act.
The Hall of Fame will honor alumni, mentors and community members “whose talent, expertise and dedication have enhanced the cultural landscape of the Baldwinsville Central School District and community of Baldwinsville.”
The board recently announced its inaugural round of inductees: Evelyn Batchelor Mercer, Frank Cammuso, Gina Lamparella, James Kryshak, Jay Ashby and Norm Wanzer. They will be honored in a ceremony next spring.
An area outside the Baker auditorium will display plaques dedicated to the Hall of Famers as well as an informational kiosk so visitors can learn about each inductee’s contributions.
Carol Jacobe, president of the Hall of Fame’s board of directors, said retired teacher and former BCSD Board of Education member Sally Dayger approached her with the idea in 2019.
“She had attended a hall of fame [for the arts ceremony] at Liverpool High School. She was pretty impressed and was surprised we didn’t have one here,” Jacobe said.
Jacobe and Dayger teamed up with Baker High School Principal Kris Denton to form a committee. Rounding out their ranks are Nancy Rowe, Todd Hobin, Mary Tall, Sandy Baker, Jim Goulet, Bill Mercer, Kris Denton, Karen Mullarney and Muffet Herkala. The group secured nonprofit status and the blessing of the BOE. The Hall of Fame is a separate entity from the school district, but four of the six inductees in the first class are alumni and two were teachers.
“Kris Denton, the principal at the high school, has been really crucial at making this happen,” Jacobe said.
The committee compiled a list of 15 to 20 nominees and narrowed them down to six finalists. Alumni must have participated in BCSD arts programs, graduated from BCSD and have been out of high school and active in the arts for at least 10 years.
Hall of Fame nominations are not limited to performers and artists. Mentors, educators, costumers, lighting designers, journalists and others who make art happen behind the scenes are eligible, Rowe said. People can be nominated posthumously as well.
“It’s the unsung heroes of all the productions that happen in the district,” Jacobe added.
Rowe said current board members are not eligible to be nominated, but she said Jacobe — a longtime educator in B’ville schools and Le Moyne College — likely will get her due once she leaves the committee.
With the first year of selections complete, the board is now looking to the community to get involved through donations, volunteering and contributing to the nomination process.
“What we’re hoping is that the community will now pick up and help do these nominations on a yearly basis,” Jacobe said. “We definitely want to get some new people, young people on the committee. I think most of us are retired or nearing retirement age.”
Jacobe said Baldwinsville is a community with strong values “that works together and supports each other.”
“There’s always parents out there willing to go the extra mile to help teachers with their productions,” Jacobe said.
The students are good eggs in general, she added.
“The subs used to tell us they’d rather sub in Baldwinsville than any other place,” Jacobe said.
While neither Rowe nor Jacobe is from Baldwinsville originally — “We’re transplants,” Jacobe said — they wouldn’t trade Baldwinsville for anywhere else.
“I wouldn’t want to live any other place,” Jacobe said.
The induction ceremony will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 20, 2023, at the Baker High School Auditorium. The event will be open to the public. For more information or to donate, visit bvilleartshalloffame.org.
Meet the inductees
More comprehensive biographies of each honoree will be available closer to the induction ceremony, but here are the basics:
- Evelyn Batchelor Mercer (1935-2020): choral director, school board member, organist, piano teacher, accompanist
- Frank Cammuso: award-winning political cartoonist, graphic novelist, Syracuse University professor
- Gina Lamparella: Broadway and TV actor, singer and theater director
- James Kryshak: award-winning opera singer (tenor)
- Jay Ashby: Grammy-winning producer, jazz musician and professor of Jazz Studies, Composition, and Trombone at Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio
- Norm Wanzer: marching band and musical theater pioneer, multi-instrumentalist, All-County and community band director
