ARTS SMARTS: Some 600 arts supporters celebrated the 21st annual St. Louis Arts Awards honorees for their accomplishments in such areas as education, innovation, corporate support, lifetime achievement and excellence, last night at the Chase Park Plaza.

A stellar crowd that included the likes of Tim O'Leary from Opera Theatre, Michael Uthoff from Dance St. Louis, Brent Benjamin from the St. Louis Art Museum, Rick Dildine from the Shakespeare Festival, Fred Bronstein from the Symphony and Dwyer Brown from the Contemporary Art Museum, were on hand to fete their fellow artists.

The crowd also included business and political movers and shakers, such as Vince Schoemehl, Jill McGuire, Ron Fromm, Debra Hollingsworth, Glenn Sheffield, Walter Galvin, Donna Wilkinson, Jim Krekeler, Kathy Osborn, Michael Weisbrod and Deborah Patterson.

We ran into Marilyn Sheperd, Peg Weathers' replacement as VP for development for Grand Center Inc. Weathers is working for St. Louis University. Melissa Jones was overheard saying that the 93 days she spent working at Missouri Baptist Medical Center after leaving her post with Jazz St. Louis convinced her she needed to be in the arts. She is now VP of development at the World Chess Hall of Fame.

And long-time actress and casting director, Carrie Houk, gushed that she is ringed to David Walker, dean of the School of Arts & Sciences at Webster University. "We're getting married on May 13, my parent's anniversary, and he didn't even know that when he proposed," Houk said. "He hated me when we first met," she added. "He spent all his time looking over my shoulder to see if someone better was coming along."

About her own career, Houk said she's now full-time in St. Louis, after having commuted for several years to Chicago every week to teach at Columbia College.

The event was chaired by Tom and Carol Voss. Cindy Prost is president of the Arts and Education Council.