THE AWARDS

Mission Statement

The Carbonell Awards is an independent not for profit arts organization, established in 1976. Its purpose is to recognize and honor excellence in theater and the arts throughout South Florida, and in so doing:

• Promote theater and the arts to the community as a whole;

• Stimulate further development of the professional theater community and its audiences;

• Encourage the development of the region's future theater artists through educational scholarships.

Historical Overview & Partners

Created in 1976 by South Florida’s arts critics and columnists, The Carbonell Awards are among the nation’s senior regional arts awards, along with New York's Drama Desk and Chicago's Joseph Jefferson Awards, and predates others including Washington, D.C.'s Helen Hayes and Philadelphia's Barrymore Awards.

In 1994, the South Florida Critics Circle invited the Theatre League of South Florida (formed in '91 to represent the region's theaters and individual artists) to jointly administer the program. In 2001, The Broward Center for the Performing Arts invited the Carbonell Awards to be among its events, and became the third partner in this prestigious cultural tradition.

In 2002, the critics circle voted to turn the awards program over to a new, community-based board and administration in order to fulfill both the awards and scholarship programs' potential. The board of trustees includes the region's most respected arts executives and patrons, assisted by an awards council comprised of theater and arts administrators, journalists and arts activists throughout the region.

Scholarship Program

The annual awards ceremony was originally designed to raise scholarships for students in the tri-county area, to study at accredited colleges and universities for careers in the visual and performing arts, and in journalism. Since the first, single $500 scholarship was given in 1978, dozens of students in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties have received a total of approximately $100,000.

Success & Self-Sufficiency

The not-for-profit Carbonell Awards spent its first quarter-century as an independent program without government support of any kind, and a few donations through the 1990's. Volunteerism throughout the media, arts and hospitality communities sustained the award ceremonies, so that regularly-priced ticket sales alone generated earned income to support the primary scholarships goals.

Special Guests

Guest stars, emcees and honorees who’ve graced the Carbonell stages include legendary George Abbott, Carol Channing, William Christopher, John Rhys-Davies, Nanette Fabray, Jose Ferrer, Alice Ghostley, then-Florida Governor (and now U.S. Senator) Bob Graham, Robert Goulet, Scott Hamilton, Jerry Herman, John Herrera, Don Johnson, Larry Kert, Werner Klemperer, Jaye P. Morgan, Edward James Olmos, Charles Nelson Reilly, Burt Reynolds, Chita Rivera, Tristan Rogers, Donald Saddler and others.

Ceremonies have appeared at the former Diplomat Hotel, the Parker Playhouse, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Miracle Theatre, Burt Reynolds Jupiter Theatre, The Crest Theatre, Colony Theatre, and now The Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

Manuel Carbonell

Internationally renowned sculptor Manuel Carbonell is the creator, namesake and Grand Benefactor of South Florida's Carbonell Awards. Mr. Carbonell designed the original solid bronze-and-marble award in 1976. His gallery, Beaux Arts Gallery, Ricardo J. Gonzalez III, director, casts and donates each statuette to this day. Born in 1918 in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba and educated throughout Europe, he fled Cuba's totalitarian regime in 1959. His art works now adorn museums, galleries, private collections and public projects throughout the free world.

George & Joy Abbott

Mr. Abbott (1887-1995), long a resident of Miami Beach, was a major influence on American Theatre. The late Mr. Abbott and his wife Joy (currently chair of the Broadway Theatre Hall of Fame) began their association with The Carbonell Awards in the mid-1980's, at which time the region's award for Outstanding Achievement In The Arts Award was renamed in his honor. Mrs. Abbott continues to present the award to each year's honoree, a list that spans the cultural elite of South Florida's modern history.

~ History ~

The beginnings of a regional critics' society date from discussions begun in 1971 among critics from the Miami Herald (John Huddy), Miami News (Bill von Maurer) and Fort Lauderdale News (Jack Zink). Later, a loose drama critics' circle was formed among reviewers representing eight Miami/Fort Lauderdale publications from 1972 through 75. Members published collective annual theater citations in their respective publications during those years.

Discussion of a larger organization was instituted by Zink, then Entertainment Editor of the Fort Lauderdale News, in March of 1976. In June of that year, 19 arts writers from Miami, Fort Lauderdale and the Palm Beaches formed The South Florida Entertainment Writers' Association.

Then-Miami News Entertainment Editor von Maurer led the association to create an annual awards ceremony in November, 1976, as a vehicle to raise scholarships for South Florida high school students seeking careers in the arts or journalism. Von Maurer invited sculptor Manuel Carbonell to design an award statuette for the region's new theater awards. Mr. Carbonell responded not only with a design, but also cast and donated each statuette to the winners, which he continues to this day, and has willed from his estate in perpetuity.

The 1st annual Theater Circle Awards were renamed the Carbonell Awards in 1978. Each award is a solid bronze statuette mounted on a marble base. Angela Lansbury, the original winner as Best Actress for the touring production of "Mame" in 1976, was presented her award the following year on opening night of a touring appearance in "Gypsy" (for which she won the following year's award). Ms. Lansbury said "Ooh, it looks like an embryo."

The Carbonell Awards predate The Helen Hayes Awards in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia’s Barrymore Awards, and other regional theater/arts  awards  in Atlanta, Cleveland, Denver, etc.

The Theatre League of South Florida, formed in 1991, was later invited to participate and played an increasing role in the annual award ceremony through the succeeding decade.

To accommodate expanding goals as well as the growing involvement of both the League and the broader arts community, the critics organization  incorporated in 1998 as The South Florida Critics Circle & Carbonell Awards, Inc.   

The organization was unique among critics' societies in the United States in that it contained separate theater, film and music critic circles. The Carbonell Awards at times included music and film as well as its annual theater and interdisciplinary awards over the past quarter-century. The SFCC also developed and maintained professional journalistic standards and policies.

The organization’s Carbonell Awards program also is unusual among regional arts awards in that the ceremonies  serve a double charitable purpose, to honor the arts community and to raise college scholarships for South Florida arts and journalism students. Nearly $100,000 was disbursed to dozens of students from 1976-2000 from net proceeds from the award ceremonies—without government grants and with only small, infrequent donations until the late 1990's, when benefactor Jay Harris led the design of an enhanced charitable mission.

The critic members of the SFCC represented newspapers, TV, radio, magazines, local and national trade journals.

However, changes in the region's entertainment, cultural and media industries resulted in a fragmenting of entertainment coverage by writers, columnists and commentators. Coupled with the Awards program's development into a large-scale regional cultural event, conflicts arose between the program's needs and the ethical issues surrounding the founding journalistic society's relationship with the arts community.

As a result, in early 2002, the founding drama critics' organization voted unanimously to divest itself of the awards program's administration, and created a community-based successor administration. Critics may continue to participate as members of the voting panel and other committees, as their parent organizations permit.