Joe Nardone Sr.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.
WILKES-BARRE — Finally, there will be a Luzerne County Arts & Entertainment Hall of Fame.
The establishment of the LCAEHOF was announced Thursday during a noon news conference in the lobby of the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts on Public Square.
The organizing committee issued the following statement:
After years of discussion and wishful thinking, a committee was formed to discuss the establishment of a Hall of Fame to honor and memorialize all those who have made their mark in the world of arts and entertainment by enshrining them in this prestigious Hall.
And there are many that will be enshrined in the coming years.
Luzerne County natives will be eligible, as well as all those who lived at one time or another in Luzerne County, or who made their mark in Luzerne County.
The criteria is simple — our committees will review all those whose names are brought forward and decide who will be honored.
We expect that our first class will likely be our largest. We also expect to announce our inaugural class in the spring of 2023 and we will hold an induction dinner in the fall of 2023.
Getting to this point, to announce the formation and establishment of the Luzerne County Arts & Entertainment Hall of Fame, has been a lot of work. We have been meeting regularly for months and we are all in agreement on what we have established.
But the real work begins now.
The Luzerne Foundation is our partner for fundraising and we will have more on that in the near future.
We are also going to conduct a Logo Contest,” details will be announced soon.
We have established several committees and we will be filling all seats on those committees and they will begin meeting as soon as possible. Each committee will go about gathering nominees and they will deliberate until they have decided who will be brought forth for consideration. There will not be any set numbers for how many to be considered or elected for enshrinement.
We want to be sure our first class includes those most deserving in all categories.
Our committees are: Music, Film, Television, Stage, Media, Art (painting, sculpture).”
The members of the Luzerne County Arts & Entertainment Organizing Committee are:
Joe Nardone Sr., Gallery of Sound
Bill O’Boyle, Times Leader
Lindsay Griffin-Boylan, President/CEO Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber
Tony Brooks, Wilkes-Barre City Council/Wilkes-Barre Preservation Society
Mayor George Brown, Wilkes-Barre City
Constance Wynn, RACETeam — Rediscovering Ancestry Through Culture and Education
Alan K. Stout, Visit Luzerne County
Jody Busch, musician/recording engineer