Hassie Davis

Outstanding Teaching Artist

Hassie Davis is a locally and nationally known performing and teaching artist based in the St. Louis Metro area. As a performer, she has worked with various theater companies around the country, most notably with TheaterWorks/USA performing at the Kennedy Center. As an arts educator, she has utilized her skills in Arts Integration with many arts education programs such as Muny 1st Stage, Gitana Theater, The Canvas Project, and is a member of the Wolf Trap International Arts Integration program. In addition, she is a 2016 Fellow of the Regional Arts Commission Community Arts Training Program. She helped to create and has served for the last 21 years as Program Coordinator for CLUB CHIPS. CHIPS Health and Wellness Center’s innovative teen leadership program utilizes the arts to guide teens in acquiring valuable knowledge about their mental and physical health in order to educate and empower themselves and their peers.

Andrea Hughes

Community Impact Artist

Andrea Hughes is a career artist who is dedicated to showcasing art created in her neighborhood. Currently, she is curator/director of the 14th Street Artist Community, and president of the Zuka Art Guild. This St. Louis native is an advocate for bringing together like-minded people through the joy and beauty of art. In 2007, she joined the Community Arts Training (CAT) program, whose members are passionate about enriching their surroundings. After joining Peace Weaving Wholeness, she organized virtual art classes for senior citizens and helped to complete “Doors of Old North St. Louis,” a collection of paintings to convey peace and unity. In addition, Andrea assisted in the construction of a mural titled “We Are The Flowers Of One Garden,” a visual cornerstone of the area’s revitalization effort. One crowning achievement was the suggestion that works by Zuka members be displayed in the St. Louis Civil Courts Building and area apartment complexes. 

Dianne Isbell

Outstanding Working Artist

Dianne Isbell, founder of HATS by DI-Anne, has been designing and creating one-of-a-kind national award-winning hats and fascinators for over fifteen years. Her designs have been worn for special events all over the world. Whether she is designing for Lady Gaga, the President Bush family or her next-door neighbor, her attention to detail and perseverance for perfection are the same. Witnessing the big smile and the eyes literally lighting up of the lady who dons one of her designs for the first time are what makes her day, regardless of the fact she may have worked all night to meet her own satisfaction. Yet no matter how many orders she has to fulfill, she always supports as many local charities as possible, by donating one of her designs to their fundraising events. From a local farm girl who attended a one-room school, to a highly successful long-term Federal Civil Service career, to attending classes at night and on weekends, to graduating Summa Cum Laude, with a B.A. in Social Psychology and a M.A. in Management, her motto of “Anything Worth Doing, Is Worth Doing Right” says it all.

Mee Jey

Emerging Artist

Mee Jey’s artistic journey has been interdisciplinary, ranging from drawing to painting, sculptural installations, text, and time-based media, including performances. Her approach to art and life is dialogical, making the process of creating as significant as the final form/s. Mee’s specialization is to make the best use of any available resources or lack of them. She wants her art to have a connection with society and she tries to engage the community in every possible way. In the last 4 years in the U.S., most of her works were created from repurposed fabric and other materials. Mee finds it equally challenging, stimulating, and satisfying to use whatever material is available.

Emily Rauh Pulitzer

Lifetime Achievement

Emily Rauh Pulitzer received degrees in art history from Bryn Mawr College and Harvard University. Pulitzer was Assistant Curator of Drawings at Harvard University’s Fogg Art Museum and Curator at the Saint Louis Art Museum. She co-founded Arts in Transit, was appointed a NEA juror which resulted in a site specific work, Twain, by Richard Serra in downtown St. Louis.
She was appointed to the St. Louis Art Museum’s Board of Commissioners, the boards of MoMA and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, the Rothko Foundation and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. She was a Harvard Overseer and joined the Harvard Art Museums Director’s Council in 2021.
In 2001 Pulitzer founded the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in a building she commissioned from Tadao Ando, his first major commission in the United States, and chairs its board. She also helped found and chairs the Board of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
In 2012, Pulitzer was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama. Other awards include The St. Louis Award, The Leo Award, Pioneer Spirit Award and the Contemporary Art Museum’s Outstanding Contributions to the Arts.

Pam Trapp

Major Contributor to the Arts

Given the opportunity to relocate in 1997, Pam and her husband Greg agreed that her hometown of St. Louis would be a great place to raise their two young sons and be near family. After a career in product management at Progressive Corporation, she became involved in many local philanthropic organizations through fundraising support and board service, focused mainly on her passion for education and the arts. She currently serves in leadership roles at the Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis Shakespeare Festival and the St. Louis Public Schools Foundation. A vocal and hopeful advocate for a better St. Louis region, Pam is guided by a strong belief in education equity and the power of the arts to bring our community together.

Photo credit for all Honoree headshots: Diane Anderson