The
Wilfred E. Helwig Distinguished Artist
Program
The
Wilfred E. Helwig Distinguished Artist
Program The
Helwig Distinguished Artist Endowment
was established in 1987 by Florence Helwig
in memory of her late husband. Helwig
Distinguished Artists have included Itzhak
Perlman, Richard Stoltzman, Hal Holbrook,
Andre Watts, Brian Bedford, Dave Brubeck,
Cleo Laine and John Dankworth, Doc Severinsen,
Chita Rivera, Billy Taylor, Peter Nero,
Rosemary Clooney, Olivia Newton-John,
and Roger Williams.
Wilfred
E. Helwig (pictured above), Indiana businessman
and philanthropist, founded the Helwig
Insurance Agency in Indiana in 1928. During
his long and successful career, Mr. Helwig
energetically participated in area civic,
safety, and charitable organizations,
actively supporting the Community Chest
(now the United Way), the Indiana County
YMCA, the Shrine Crippled Children's Hospital
and Burn Institutes, the Children's Home
for the Blind in Pittsburgh, and the Penn's
Woods Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
He was a charter member of the IUP President's
Council
Florence
E. Helwig (pictured here with1995-96 Helwig
Distinguished Artist Doc Severinsen) has
carried on her late husband's  philanthropic
work in the Indiana community and in her
winter home in Ft. Lauderdale, where she
is a member of the Ft. Lauderdale Opera
Society, the Florida Symphony Association,
and the Broward Friends of the Miami Ballet.
In Indiana, Mrs. Helwig has actively supported
the university as a charter and continuing
member of the President's Council and
as a major benefactor through the endowment
that supports this series. She has energetically
supported the Indiana Symphony Series,
the YMCA, the Indiana Arts Council, and
many other Indiana County charitable organizations.
She has received the Distinguished Patron
of the Performing Arts Award from the
Indiana Symphony Society for "long-term,
consistent active support to the furtherance
of the performing arts in Indiana."
In 1994, she received two Support of the
Arts Awards from the Indiana Arts Council
as a result of submissions from both The
Lively Arts at IUP and the Indiana Symphony
Society. The Indiana Chapter of the American
Red Cross has honored her with a lifetime
membership on its board of directors,
is listed as one of Indiana's Most Notable
Women, and in 2000 received the IUP President's
Medal of Distinction.
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