Royal Oak Educator Earns Arts Group's Yearly Honor

Educators from Royal Oak, West Bloomfield, Grosse Pointe Woods and Howell will receive Touchstone Awards this spring for inspiring students in creative and performing arts. 

They’re among 13 winners announced Wednesday by Michigan Youth Arts, a Royal Oak alliance of statewide arts educators. Winners also are nominated for Michigan Educator of the Year recognition in their subject areas and receive program grants from a corporate sponsor, MEEMIC Insurance of Auburn Hills.

Selections are based on "a record of advocacy for arts programs, dedication to bringing out the very best in their students and a continued commitment to artistic excellence," the announcement says.

Southeast Michigan recipients are:

• Cindy Babcock of Royal Oak, a Registered Dance/Movement Therapist at Creative Arts Therapies Inc. of Detroit, which serves students with disabilities.
• Mark Johnson, auditorium technical director for drama and music at West Bloomfield High School.
• Phillip W. Moss, chair of creative and performing arts at University Liggett School in Grosse Pointe Woods.
• Rod Bushey, director of choirs at Howell High School.

"Touchstone awardees show us the best in arts education," said Kim Dabbs, director of Michigan Youth Arts. "They endow Michigan’s children with a lifelong capacity for innovation."

Awards will be presented in May during the 50th annual Michigan Youth Arts Festival, a three-day event at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.

Nearly 1,000 high school musicians, singers, dancers, actors, poets, writers and other young performers from around the state are invited to attend May's festival after a nine-month screening process at schools. Teachers also participate.

The May 10-12 event includes workshops and guest artists, as well as public exhibits and performances. Most are free.

A black-tie dinner benefitting Michigan Youth Arts and ArtServe Michigan, a Wixom nonprofit, will mark the golden anniversary.