The Numerica Performing Arts Center is proud to announce the 2023 Stanley Lifetime Achievement Award winners: Matthew Pippin as the recipient in the professional division and Tom McNair as the recipient in the volunteer division. The Stanley Lifetime Achievement Awards were designed in 2002 to honor the life-long arts and cultural commitment of Mr. Bob Stanley.
The winners are honored at Holiday Spice on November 30 & December 1.
Matthew Pippin – Professional Division
Matthew Pippin was born in Wenatchee and grew up in the theatre doing any kind of project he could get his hands on. He’s a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA NYC campus). He’s been involved with Hot August Nights, Music Theatre of Wenatchee, Full Circle Theatre, The Levelers, The Radar Dames, Mission Creek Players, Leavenworth Summer Theatre, Snowy Owl Theatre, and both Wenatchee and Eastmont High School productions. Most recently for Eastmont as the director of The Radium Girls. In 2023, he jumped into the world of literary arts by releasing his book Nine Strangers, with a sequel to it coming out in May. This is the first award Matthew has ever received for acting and what a doozy it is.
Tom McNair – Volunteer Division
Growing up in the small mill town of Riegelwood, North Carolina, Tom was introduced to music through piano and trombone lessons. He played his horn in high school and in college took up the guitar and even made a record in Nashville with two friends. In 1981 Tom moved to Wenatchee and soon became involved in playing guitar, singing and directing an adult choir at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. The trombone again became an interest and he joined the Wenatchee Big Band and played in many community theater pit bands and the Holiday Spice Band. In 1993 Tom and other local jazz enthusiasts organized the Wenatchee Don Lanphere Jazz Fest that brought many nationally noted top jazz musicians and bands to Wenatchee from 1993-1995. An early supporter of establishing a community performing arts center, now known as the Numerica PAC, Tom was a member of the Supporters of the Center Board from 2000 to 2009 and its president in 2002-2003. Tom joined the Wenatchee Valley Symphony in 2010 and became its principal trombonist. In 2022 Tom became president of the Wenatchee Valley Symphony Board. In addition to playing with the symphony, Tom occasionally played with the Ellensburg Big Band and accompanied them to the Christchurch New Zealand Big Band Festival in 2019. He also did side rock gigs with Family Dog from Winthrop. Tom has a music group called Jazz Jam that plays at local venues. He is also the music director of the School Choir at St. Joseph’s School.
Former Stanley Lifetime Achievement Award Winners
A Stanley Lifetime Achievement Award Winner is someone who has left a profoundly positive and lasting impression on the arts in Central Washington. Pippin and McNair join a list of local legacy lifetime achievement winners:
