Monday, June 23, 2014

Roanoke Named One of 'Most Livable' Cities in America 

U.S. Conference of Mayors Announces 2014 City Livability Award Winners at June 21 Annual Meeting in Dallas

The City of Roanoke has been recognized with the Outstanding Achievement Award in the 2014 City Livability Awards Program at the U.S. Conference of Mayors' 82nd Annual Meeting in Dallas, Tex. Roanoke received the award for its 2013 Parks and Arts Program.

Award-winning cities were determined by an independent panel of judges, selected by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Winners were chosen from a pool of more than 200 applicants.

This is the 35th year in which cities have competed for the award, which is sponsored by the Conference of Mayors and Waste Management, Inc., the nation's largest environmental solutions provider. The award recognizes mayoral leadership in developing and implementing programs that improve the quality of life in America's cities, focusing on the leadership, creativity, and innovation demonstrated by the mayors.

"Roanoke is very grateful to receive this award from the nation's mayors," said Mayor David A. Bowers.  "The real award recipients should be the city's Arts and Culture Coordinator, Susan Jennings, and Roanoke Parks and Recreation Director Steve Buschor, who have introduced neighborhoods in every quadrant of the Star City to the lively, performing arts of our community, and brought our people into their parks on nice summer afternoons, through this Parks and Arts Program. Roanoke humbly accepts this, yet another prestigious national recognition for our city."

About Parks & Arts:

Parks and Arts is a program developed to foster community interaction with innovative arts programing. The program emphasizes the city's Arts and Cultural Plan goal to bring performing and visual arts directly to neighborhoods. 

Parks and Arts events provide venues for a wide variety of local and regional artists, dancers, and musicians to showcase their talents. With a focus on community settings, these events meld the outdoors with the arts, engage residents in art, and promote neighborhoods' diverse cultural and historic resources.

Through this program, the city hopes to strengthen support for neighborhood-based art and culture; attract and retain artists by supporting programs that encourage them to live and work in Roanoke's neighborhoods; and develop new audiences for arts and cultural groups and individual artists. 

For more information about the program, please contact Susan Jennings, the city's Arts and Culture Coordinator, at 853-5652 or email her at susan.jennings@roanokeva.gov. 



Admission is FREE!

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