Dawna Lee Heising of EOE Interviews Ivy Bethune Tri-Union Diversity Award Winners

SAG, AFTRA & EQUITY Present 2009 Ivy Bethune Tri-union Diversity Awards to George Takei, Cheryl Burke, Charlie Hill and Dr. Victoria Ann Lewis

Los Angeles, CA –. SAG, AFTRA and Actors Equity have tapped actors George Takei and Victoria Ann Lewis, dancer Cheryl Burke and stand-up comedian Charlie Hill as winners of the Ivy Bethune Tri-Union Diversity Awards.  The Equal Employment Opportunity Committees of Actors’ Equity, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists ([AFTRA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) honored the four performing artists for making important contributions to increasing diversity in their professions.

The 2009 Ivy Bethune Tri-Union Diversity Awards were presented in Los Angeles at the East West Players’ David Henry Hwang Theatre, the nation's preeminent Asian American theater organization. The awards, now in the seventh year, are designed to honor individuals and organizations that have set an exemplary standard for creating a multicultural and representational community within the performing arts, working to break down barriers, creating opportunities and generating work for performers from across a wide, cross-cultural base. The awards were renamed in 2005 to honor Ivy Bethune, who was a member of all three unions and devoted more than 80 years of her life to civil rights activism.

The honorees for 2009 are:  Dr. Victoria Ann Lewis (AEA) – writer, actor and teacher who in 1981 established the Other Voices Project at the Mark Taper Forum, dedicated to cultivating and producing writers and performers with disabilities; Cheryl Burke (AFTRA) – dancer who encourages children of all ethnicities to express themselves through movement; Charlie Hill (SAG) – Native American stand-up/storyteller who uses humor to share both things unique to Native American culture and things we all share; and actor George Takei (Tri-Union) for his long-standing history of activism for artists of every race and creed, including his work with the Arts in Transit program that creates opportunity for artists within the public sector, in addition to his very high profile work on issues of marriage equality and sexual orientation discrimination.

Ivy Bethune Tri-Union Diversity Awards celebrate individuals and organizations in the performing arts that have taken an active stand to make a difference toward a more representational, multicultural community by helping build a foundation for diversity within the industry. This year’s theme, “Storytellers,” commends individuals who, through sharing their own stories, have encouraged cross-cultural understanding as well as enabled others to express their dreams and creativity. Previous Ivy Bethune Tri-Union Diversity Award honorees include actors Debbie Allen, Raven-Symoné, Robert Guillaume, Edward James Olmos, Ossie Davis, lyricist E. Y. Harburg and newscasters Beverly White and Belva Davis.

About The Ivy Bethune Tri-Union Diversity Awards

The Ivy Bethune Tri-Union Diversity Awards are in their 7th year of honoring individuals and organizations that have set an exemplary standard for creating a multicultural and representational community within the performing arts, deliberately breaking down barriers and opening doors, generating work for performers across a wider cross-cultural base. The Awards celebrate individuals and organizations in the performing arts that have taken an active stand to make a difference toward a more representational, multicultural community by helping build a foundation for diversity within the industry. This year's theme, "Storytellers," commends individuals who, through sharing their own stories, have encouraged cross-cultural understanding as well as enabled others to express their dreams and creativity.

About Eye on Entertainment
“Eye on Entertainment”, a division of Eye on Excellence™ Productions, is aired twice weekly on Time Warner Cable in Orange and Los Angeles Counties. The “Eye on Entertainment” team covers entertainment events, awards shows and red carpets, and features interviews with successful people in all walks of life, exploring the traits they have in common. Dawna Lee Heising is the executive producer and host of EOE.  She is a long-standing member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) & AFTRA, and is Ms. Universe 2009.  The show is produced and directed by John Cox, an educator in the film and video department at Golden West and Orange Coast Colleges.  John Alsedek is the EOE director of cinematography and also works as the production manager in movies for Robert Michael Conrad and James Nestor.  The EOE photographer is David McNeil, who is a former executive with United Artists and was one of the developers of Pay-per-View.  For more information, please visit http://www.eyeonentertainment.tv/ and www.youtube.com/eyeonentertainment02