The Post Parade Wines, Brook & Pam Smith Arts Innovation Award: Ben Sollee

Ben Sollee

This award is presented to someone who is fueling innovative work in the arts – Ben Sollee. Sollee is a Kentucky-born cellist, singer-songwriter and composer, who constantly infuses his work with variety and ingenuity. In the ten years since the release of his debut record, “Learning to Bend,” Sollee has toured nationally – traveling via bicycle for a deeper connection to communities – collaborated with a number of musicians including Kentucky artist Daniel Martin Moore and Jim James from My Morning Jacket and continued to produce a substantive, inspiring body of work that ranges from Appalachian mountain music to blues. Sollee followed up his 2016 album “Infowars” by creating a technology-infused production of Harold and the Purple Crayon with StageOne Family Theatre, producing music for an interactive sculptural installation called Livestream and much more. The breadth and depth of his innovative artistic portfolio demonstrates that modern artists know no limits.