The Lied Center of Kansas has named the iconic Paul Taylor Dance Company and Trish Averill Neuteboom, creative arts/speech and drama teacher at Southwest Middle School, as the 2024–25 season’s IMPACT Awards recipients. Each season, the Lied Center recognizes one artist or group for distinguished service to the performing arts and one USD 497 educator for distinguished service to arts education.
The IMPACT Awards will be presented on April 16, at the Paul Taylor Dance Company’s performance at the Lied Center. Lied Center Executive Director Derek Kwan said of the recipients, “Paul Taylor Dance Company represents the gold standard of American modern dance in performance, education and advocacy. Trish Averill Neuteboom has affected the lives of countless Lawrence Public School students over the last twenty years, spreading the joy of theatre arts. We are honored to recognize them.”
The Paul Taylor Dance Company is “one of the most exciting, innovative and delightful dance companies in the entire world” (The New York Times). Established in 1954, the Paul Taylor Dance Company celebrates modern dance and attains the highest levels of artistic excellence, while nurturing and elevating a diverse and inclusive community of dancers, choreographers, collaborators, educators and audience members. Current and former company members help teach at the Taylor School, which serves a wide range of dancers spanning from 2-year-olds to adults. The company has performed in more than 520 cities in 62 countries and has produced many prominent dancers and choreographers, such as Twyla Tharp, David Parsons, Pina Bausch and Patrick Corbin. PBS has featured the company in nine different programs, including the Emmy Award-winning Speaking in Tongues.
As an outstanding educator as well as a working actress and director in the Lawrence and Kansas City areas, Trish Averill Neuteboom holds a deep passion for the arts. Neuteboom has been directing and teaching theatre for 25 years, and she joined the Lawrence school district in 2006. She received a degree in musical theatre and directing from the University of Northern Colorado and later attended Baker University, where she earned her master’s in education. Through her work at Southwest Middle School and with programs like the Lied Center’s 3rd Grade Theatre Arts Day and Lawrence Arts Center’s Summer Youth Theatre, Neuteboom has made a great impact on the next generation of performers in the Lawrence community.
Each year, the Lied Center selects up to five artists or groups from the current season to be considered for the IMPACT Award based upon the criteria of leadership in their field, artistic integrity, commitment to arts education and the creation of new and innovative work. In the fall, current and former Friends of the Lied board members vote for one of the nominees via electronic ballot. The educator is selected with the assistance of USD 497 ambassadors to the Lied Center as well as past IMPACT winners. This selection is based on the teacher’s service to arts education. The honorees are presented their awards on stage at the winning artist’s Lied Center performance. This year’s winners will be added to the list of esteemed recipients, such as Terence Blanchard, the Dancing Wheels Company, Emmet Cohen, Samuel Ramey, Joshua Bell, Black Violin and Wynton Marsalis; and USD 497 educators Melissa Smith, Lysette DeBoard, Rachel Downs-Doubrava, Peter Gipson, Johannah Cox, Deborah Woodall Routledge, Sara Bonner, Dani Lotton-Barker and Lois Orth-Lopes.
Tickets for the Paul Taylor Dance Company performance on April 16 at 7:30 p.m. can be purchased at lied.ku.edu or the Lied Center Ticket Office.
