Hopica Nowo
The Awards Ceremony and Banquet were held at the Polish Museum of America. Presiding over the ceremony was First Vice President Iwona Flis. PAHA President Karen Majewski and Museum President Richard Owsiany offered the opening remarks.
Staś Kmieć was the recipient of the “Creative Arts Award” in recognition of outstanding contributions to the field of the the Creative Arts to promote an awareness of the Polish experience in the Americas.
An award-winning director-choreographer and folk ethnographer from Manhattan, NY, as well as a dancer, actor, writer, journalist, and historian, Kmieć has devoted a lifetime to the preservation and celebration of the Arts and Polish culture —from acclaimed international productions to folklore scholarship, journalism, and the founding of the Lublin Polish Song and Dance Ensemble “Lubliniacy.”
“This is the first recognition I’ve received from American Polonia, and it carries deep meaning for me,” Kmieć said. “I grew up Polish. The traditions and pride of Poland were woven into me by my parents and grandparents. My life in the arts has always run parallel to my fascination with Poland—its culture, history, and resilience.”
Other awardees included:
- Mieczysław Haiman Award – Maria Zakrzewska for her career with the Chicago Public Library,
- Oscar Halecki Prize – Dr. John Micgiel editor of Poles, Polonia, and the Quest for Liberty
- Skalny Civic Achievement Award – Małgorzata Kot, Managing Director of the Polish Museum of America; Dr. Łucja Mirowska-Kopec, Educator. Chicago Public Schools; Irena Frączek, and Dawid Rydzewski, activists in the Polish American Congress of Wisconsin
- Swastek Prize – Dr. Anna D. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann, for her article “Performing Pierogi,”
- Amicus Poloniae Award – Beth Holmgren, who has published widely on Polish literature, theater, popular culture, and film
- James S. Pula Distinguished Service Award – Neal Pease, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Wisconsin
The conference opened with Jan Lorys and Małgosia Kot’s presentation, “The Polish Museum of America: Past, Present, and Future.” Daniel Pogorzelski led a walking tour of the Wicker Park neighborhood, home to the “Polish Triangle,” once the center of the world’s Polonia and, for more than a century, the largest Polish population outside of Poland. A special remembrance was dedicated to Thaddeus Gromada.
Conference sessions included: “Contributing to American Polonia,” “Polish Marks on the Land,” “Gendered Journeys,” “World War I and the Shaping of Polish Diasporic Identity,” “Witness to War,” “Chicago Is a Polish Town,” “Dividing Lines, Common Ground,” and “Being Polish Across Space, Time, and Language.”
Presenters included: Anna Sosnowska-Jordanovska Benjamin Bax, Anne Gurnack, Frank Renkiewicz, Donald Pienkos, Aloysius Mazewski, Edward Moskal, Lucja Mirowska-Kopec, Angela Pienkos, Jan Plachta, Kathleen Callum, Mark Dillon, Mary Erdmans, Iwona Flis, Barbara Krupa, Robert Sloma, Pien Versteegh, Victoria Granacki, Yanek Mieczkowski, Sara Funk, Agata Zborowska, Neal Pease, Izabela Kimak, Daniel Kaliszyk, Paul Grajnert, and Francis Raška.
Photo: S.Kmieć.
Next year’s PAHA Conference will take place in New Orleans, Louisiana, January 7–10, 2027. For more information, visit www.polishamericanstudies.org.
