 Chris O’Donnell, BC ’92, accepted the first annual Arts Council Alumni Award at a dinner last weekend for the event.
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Chris O'Donnell, critically-acclaimed actor and BC '92, garnered the first Arts Council Alumni Award at a dinner for the Boston College Fifth Annual Arts Festival last Saturday evening. Sponsored by the Alumni Association, alumni were invited to attend a mass for the Arts given by J. Robert Barth, SJ, the awards dinner, and either a performance of A Little Night Music or "Music of the British Isles" by the BC Concert Band.
Grace Cotter Regan, executive director of the Alumni Association, welcomed alumni to the dinner. "This is the third annual Alumni Day, and it's been a great partnership with Cathi Fournier, the project director of the Arts Council," she said.
Regan said that educating and developing students is of great importance, and that the Arts Council was honored to have O'Donnell in attendance. Regan then introduced Jeffrey Howe, the Arts Council chair.
Howe extended a thank you to "the extraordinary helpers who worked on the festival." Howe went on to express how fortunate the Arts Council is for the support at BC. "When the festival was started five years ago, and we were seeking help, everyone jumped in: the buildings and grounds, the BC Police Department." Howe expressed his pleasure of having additional help each year.
Like Regan, Howe discussed the three-year partnership with the Alumni Association and also discussed that the success of the growth of the festival reflects the success of the arts at BC. Howe cited new arts majors, the opening of the McMullen museum, and new chairs in the arts departments as additions since O'Donnell attended BC.
A central point of the Arts Festival this year was the Fives exhibit. Howe explained that since "no student here knows BC without the Arts Fest, we wanted to show its history and when it started." Howe said the Fives fulfilled that role.
Howe continued by talking about O'Donnell. "We take great pride in accomplishments of students and I am so proud to honor Chris this year. Students and alumni are key to the living tradition of BC. It is important to take advantage of the rich offerings at BC."
Howe then introduced Fr. Robert Barth, who gave the blessing.
After all attendees were seated with dinner, Howe resumed the stage and introduced a special tribute film written, produced, and directed by Sarah Ledoux, A&S '03. The film showcased O'Donnell and his achievements. It included clips of students talking about some of their favorite O'Donnell movies, and showed a clip from each of O'Donnell's films.
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