A celebrated Kalamazoo College faculty member with several career awards and honors to his name has earned another accolade. The Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo announced Wednesday that Professor of Theatre Arts Lanny Potts will be the latest with K connections to receive the Community Medal of Arts Award.

Since 1985, the annual award has recognized an artist who is a leader in their field, has a significant body of creative activity, has received local and/or national acclaim, and has impacted the Kalamazoo community through art. It encompasses all art forms, including but not limited to visual, musical, theatrical, literary, performing, multimedia, architecture and design.

“I think this is an honor for all artists within the community,” Potts said. “When we celebrate the work of any of us, we celebrate the work of all of us—as artists, as a community, and importantly, as an incredibly rich artistic community. The work of the Arts Council celebrates this incredibly vibrant cultural life in our community. When I think about being recognized as part of our artistic community, I think about all of the amazing artists I’ve been able to work with, the collaborations that have been fostered, and the stories that have been told.”

Potts’ local work began in summer 1986. After serving the John F. Kennedy Center for the American College Theatre Festival as a stage manager, he worked as a technical director and lighting designer with the Kalamazoo Civic Youth Theatre program. He was hired in 1987 as the technical director for K’s Festival Playhouse, which then was a summer professional equity theatre founded in 1962 by Nelda K. Balch and Dorothy Upjohn Dalton.

Since, his career has included professional design and production work in Germany; international design work in Caçeres, Spain, and Varanasi, India; and hundreds of local and regional productions. Close to home, Potts has earned five Michigan Wilde Awards in the category of Best Lighting Design through the Farmers Alley productions of Gypsy, The Light in the Piazza, Bridges of Madison County, Camelot and Bright Star. He also earned a national lighting award for Fun Home from the John F. Kennedy Center; regional design awards in Atlanta, Chattanooga and Lansing; and two governor’s commendations in Georgia and Michigan.