Peter Tolan will receive the Fine Arts Center's second annual Artist/Educator Award at the 12th Annual Friends of the Fine Arts Center Gala on Saturday, February 10, at the Log Cabin in Holyoke. Peter is an Emmy Award winning writer, producer, composer, lyricist, and performer. A former UMass student and a Fine Art Center employee, he spent his years after UMass as a writer and performer at Dudley Rigg's Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis. He moved to New York soon after, where he worked as a playwright. Some of Tolan's credits include the Off-Broadway show Laughing Matters and television's Murphy Brown, Home Improvement, Style and Substance, and The Larry Saunders Show. His screenplays include My Fellow Americans, Analyze This, What Planet Are You From? and Bedazzled. Peter lives in Pasadena with his wife Leslie and their three children.

The 12th Annual Gala -- 2001 A Dance Odyssey -- will feature a musical odyssey of pop, rock, jazz, swing, salsa, and all time favorites performed by internationally-recognized Jeff Holmes and his vocal and instrumental sextet. A cocktail party of epic proportions includes Lil' Italy's pasta, Chicago's renowned beef, and New Orleans seafood, an out of this world Viennese Dessert table, and a silent auction with over a hundred treasures exciting getaways, fine arts and crafts, and many surprises. The Gala is a benefit the Frederick C. Tillis Endowment for the Arts at the Center.

If you have not received an invitation, call the Friends of the Fine Arts Center at 413-545-3671. Tickets are $75 for Patron; $125 for Individual Sponsor; and $1,250 for a Corporate Sponsor table for 10. Tickets can be reserved at the Fine Arts Center Box Office, 413-545-2511 or 800-999-UMAS.

Want to know more? Check out the news release on the gala!

Photo: Peter Tolan, guest at the Fine Arts Center Gala.