The Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts announced Bill Sineath as the inaugural recipient of the Lena Bosch Lifetime Achievement Award at the 35th Spring Into Art Gala, on April 14.

Bruce Smith, president of the Lowndes-Valdosta Arts Commission (LVAC) and Sementha Mathews, executive director of the Turner Center, presented the prestigious award to Sineath, in the memory of Lena Bosch, an individual who exhibited outstanding, creative, innovative, and visionary leadership in the advancement of the arts in our community. LVAC created the award to annually honor people who embody Lena’s passion and spirit for the arts through the Turner Center. 

“Our family could not be more thrilled with this inaugural award recipient; and, I know that my mother is smiling from above,” said Bart Bosch. “Her and Bill Sineath’s relationship was one of mutual respect and admiration. My wife, Anita, and I look forward to this award continuing as a reminder of how people like my mother and Bill serve the Turner Center for the Arts and the Valdosta, Lowndes County arts community for the benefit of others.”

Sineath, a strong supporter of the LVAC for more than 30 years, has demonstrated his leadership and commitment to the Turner Center through extensive board and committee membership, as the interim director while serving on the search committee for a new director, through widespread planning and fundraising efforts, and though his involvement in most strategic projects over the past three decades. 

A bronze cast iron plaque with the facial image of Bosch hangs in the Price-Campbell Gallery at the Turner Center and will include the cast iron name plates of Sineath and all future award recipients. The recipient also receives an original glass art award created in the Turner Center’s new Glass Art Studio by glass artist James Downey.