Cultural Council 2025 Cultural Arts Awards

The Cultural Council Birmingham Bloomfield, now in its 30th year, has announced the 2025 winners of the Cultural Arts Awards.

Those being recognized include Bryan Frink – A Musical Driving Force – receiving the Cultural Arts Award; Robert Schefman – Broadsdtroke Bard – Lifetime Achievement Award; and the Birmingham Musicale – Partners with the Arts Award.

In the case of Frink, the Cultural Council had this to say: “A lawyer by trade, he’s a force within his own neighborhood as “creator, performer, participant and enthusiast of the arts.” Bryan Frink shares his home studio as a nurturer and supporter of local as well as nascent musicians and students with special needs: he is their muse; a volunteer, philanthropist, and, in the spirit of community, the host with his wife of an annual summer music festival on their front lawn, “Frinkstock.”

Bryan Frink

Robert Schefman

As for Schefman, the council said he “is a ‘’storyteller with a paintbrush.” He is a celebrated local painter and sculptor of national renown: his works are in museums and private collections across the country, and his awards include the Kresge Artist Foundation Fellowship in Visual Art; the Pollack-Krasner Foundation’ The Bernard Maas Prize, ArtServe Michigan Artist Grant; The Arts Foundation of Michigan; Sculpture Space, Inc; and the University of Iowa. Schefman is Professor Emeritus at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, where he spent 20 years teaching and mentoring students, and prior to that taught youth and adult classes at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, impacting several generations of artists in the community. He has served as mentor, juror, lecturer and a panelist; a lifetime of dedication to his own oeuvre and to the arts community.

The Cultural Council noted the Birmingham Musicale is celebrating 100 years giving concerts, fostering talented young musicians, and performing community service.

The awards will be presented at a reception at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center Friday, October 3, from 5-7:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

The Cultural Arts Awards are sponsored by the Cultural Council of Birmingham Bloomfield, in conjunction with the Birmingham Bloomfield Arts Center (BBAC), Bloomfield Community Television, Downtown Newsmagazine and The Community House.