ODU Faculty Members, Student Honored with Cultural Alliance Awards

Nancy Klein and Christopher Hanna

Old Dominion faculty members Nancy Klein and Christopher Hanna, along with student Connor Norton, were honored with 2013 Alli Awards by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Hampton Roads during a ceremony Sunday, Nov. 10, in Norfolk.

The awards recognize leaders in Hampton Roads for "extraordinary contributions to the arts and cultural industry," according to a Cultural Alliance statement.

Klein, the ODU Department of Music graduate program director and director of choirs, won the organization's Vianne B. Webb Award for Lifetime Achievement. "She has served the arts community in the state of Virginia as an educator, performer, conductor and mentor since 1986, impacting the musical lives of musicians from the elementary through university levels - including military, church and community musical organizations," the statement said.

Hanna, an associate professor of theatre at ODU and the Virginia Stage Company's artistic director, won a Creative Leadership award "for his dedication of over 30 years in working in the arts and engaging communities in the power of live theater," the alliance's statement said.

Norton, a double major in theatre production and women's studies at ODU, took home the Emerging Arts Volunteer award. "He is a Governor's School graduate and active in the community - the Workshop Theatre Group, the Arts for Life Foundation, the Reel It Out Queer Film Festival of Hampton Roads, Access AIDS Care and Hampton Roads Pride," the statement said. "He has helped raise money for these organizations and was instrumental in getting the first reading of Dustin Lance Black's '8' at Old Dominion University."

For more on the 2013 Alli Awards, visit hamptonroads.com for The Virginian-Pilot's coverage.