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As the house lights came up in the Museum of Contemporary Art auditorium, event cochair Lisa Yun Lee asked everyone to take out their cell phones, turn them on, and text a donation.
Winners had been chosen during a nine-month process that involved 35 local nominators and five jury panels of national arts leaders.
Then—whew—$700, followed in blessedly more rapid increments to $1,250, when the audience was released to make its way upstairs, where food, drink, and music awaited and the continuing tally would be projected on a wall.
• Marta Garcia, teaching artist• Mierka Girten, actor• Lisa Kaplan, musician• Irena Knezevic, visual artist• Ronnie Kuller, musician • Michael Rodriguez, dancer • Vershawn Sanders-Ward, choreographer• Robert Schleifer, teaching artist• Kelli Simpkins, actor• Cauleen Smith, visual artist
