The late Ben Westlund, a Central Oregon legislator and state treasurer, will be honored in Sisters on Monday when the Ben Westlund Memorial Award will be presented to Brad Tisdel during a private event.
Tisdel is the program director and co-founder of the Americana Project, which offers music instruction and more to schools in Sisters. The award-winning program is a collaboration between the Sisters Folk Festival, Sisters School District and Creative Educational Resources.
Cate O’Hagan, the executive director of Arts Central, devised the award as a way to honor Westlund’s contributions to the arts. Westlund helped craft legislation that led to the formation of the Oregon Cultural Trust and was a big arts supporter. He died in 2010.
— From staff reports
