We believe if economic factors, things like businesses and jobs and development, can be considered a community’s life blood, arts and culture should be viewed as a city’s heart and soul.

Members of the Marquette arts and culture community last week got together last week to recognize excellence in one area of arts and culture: theater. The first annual Marquette Area Theatre Awards were staged at the Upper Peninsula Masonic Center in downtown Marquette and included a wide variety of performances and performers from 2019.

The idea came from producer Sarah Balding of the Masonic Center last fall as a way to give back to local theater groups, Peninsula Arts Appreciation Council representative Eliisa Gladwell said for a Mining Journal story on the matter.

The four main groups involved included Masonic Arts Theatre Fellowship, Peninsula Arts Appreciation Council of Negaunee, Superior Arts Youth Theatre and Lake Superior Theatre.

“Theater is so important. It allows people to express themselves in a way that nothing else does,” Gladwell said for the Journal story. “Theater has a really great community that surrounds it and the people that you see here tonight are going to be extremely thankful for that.”

The purpose of this writing isn’t to provide a listing of award winners. More information on the event itself can be found on the Journal’s website at www.miningjournal.net. What we do want to do, however, is to emphasize our support for local arts and culture activities as a general proposition, including, of course, theater.

A vibrant arts and culture community is part of a well-rounded community. This awards event is one good way to recognize that fact.