Arts & Entertainment

Picture

Film/TV Producer Jerry Bruckheimer
comes home to claim ArtServe award.

Bill Carroll
Special to the Jewish News

hen he was a young
boy growing up poor
in a small house in an
old Jewish section of Detroit,
Jerry Bruckheimer used to get
money from his mother and go
to the weekly matinee at the
neighborhood theaters.
Attending those shows helped
him develop a love for the cine-
ma.
Today, Bruckheimer is one of
the most successful producers in
Hollywood, with movies, videos
and recordings generating more
than $12 billion in gross sales.
He pioneered big-budget action-
adventure films, many of them
$100 million blockbusters, that
dominated the movie industry in
the 1980s and 1990s, earning 30
Academy Award nominations,
five Oscars, five Grammy Awards,
three Golden Globes among 18
nominations, six Emmys out of
20 nominations and four People's
Choice Awards.
His two Crime Scene
Investigation television programs
— CSI: Miami and CSI: New York
— are currently among the top
10 shows in the Nielsen Media
Research ratings, and the popu-
lar Cold Case is his newest TV
hit.
After dabbling in photography
and even winning some awards
as a teenager, he left Detroit for
an advertising job on New York's
Madison Avenue, then went to
Hollywood to pursue his movie-
making dream. He'll return
Tuesday, Nov. 15, to receive the
International Achievement Award
from ArtServe Michigan. It's one
of seven of the 2005 ArtServe
Michigan Governor's Awards for
Arts & Culture to be given at the
Detroit Opera House by the

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Southfield-based nonprofit cul-
tural organization. Gov. Jennifer
Granholm will present the 20th
annual awards.
"These awards showcase
Michigan artists, art organiza-
tions and patrons who have been
vital to the development of the
state's cultural resources:' said
Barbara "Bunny" Kratchman of
Bloomfield Township, president
of ArtServe. "This is one of the
biggest cultural events of the
year — usually attracting 600-
700 people — and we hope to
raise more than $300,000. It
emphasizes Michigan talent and
the high quality of arts in the
state
Kratchman is the driving force
behind the organization that has
been building support for the
arts through advocacy, services
and education in various formats
since 1965, when the U.S.
Endowment for the Arts was cre-
ated. She and ArtServe have rid-
den the ups and downs of the
state's economy over those years,
launching the Governor's Awards
in 1985 under Gov. James
Blanchard. ArtServe was
realigned in 1997 with the merg-
er of four state arts organiza-
tions.
The other award winners are
Patricia Shek, a Saginaw civic
leader; James Tatum, a Detroit
jazz musician; Oliver Pookrum,
founder of the Detroit African
Renaissance Theater; the
Kalamazoo Regional Educational
Service Agency; the Lansing State
Journal and three recipients of
the Cultural Organization Award:
the Detroit College for Creative
Studies, the Grand Rapids
Festival of the Arts and the
Barrien Box Factory for the Arts.
One of Kratchman's spare-time
jobs is trying to get more public-
ity for the ArtServe Governor

Mumford High grad Jerry Bruckheimer's

productions have earned a total of

Big Picture Man on page 46

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November 10 - 2005

$12 billion in gross income.

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