Mayor Mike McGinn at the 2011 Mayor’s Arts Awards ceremony. Photo by Jennifer Richard.

Join Mayor Mike McGinn in celebrating 10 years of Seattle’s creative community and this year’s award recipients at the annual Mayor’s Arts Awards, noon, Friday, Aug. 31, at Seattle Center’s North Fountain Lawn. The Bumbershoot Visual Arts Exhibits will also be open for a free public preview from 1 to 9 p.m. No reservation necessary.

In honor of the awards’ 10^th anniversary, 10 groups and individuals are being honored this year. The winners are: Freehold Theatre Lab/Studio; KEXP; Li Hengda, choreographer, artistic director and founder of the American Asian Performing Arts Theatre and Hengda Dance Academy; Lucia Neare’s Theatrical Wonders; Seattle Arts & Lectures; Buster Simpson, public artist; Three Dollar Bill Cinema; TilibSedeb (Singing Feet), the Duwamish Tribe’s language and culture performance group; The Vera Project; and Olivier Wevers, dancer, choreographer and artistic director of contemporary dance company Whim W’Him.

The Mayor’s Arts Awards ceremony is presented in partnership with Bumbershoot®: Seattle’s Music & Arts Festival with support from event sponsor Chihuly Garden and Glass and media sponsor City Arts magazine.