BRATTLEBORO — Hilltop Montessori School announced the inception of The Kahn Mason Annual Award honoring outstanding contributions to the school.
Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason, of West Brattleboro and New York City, are the namesakes and first recipients of the award. The ceremony will take place Saturday, June 10, at 5 p.m., in the Hilltop Arts Barn.
The generosity of an initial seed gift from Mason and Kahn enabled Hilltop to buy the property at its current 43-acre location off Guilford Street in Brattleboro. The school relocated in 2009 from rented space at the former Austine School where it had been for 17 years.
In addition to the game-changing gift that facilitated the move to its new home, the Kahn Mason Foundation has, over the years, granted funds to Hilltop for art education, programs, and supplies.
“When Wolf was awarded the U.S. State Department's Medal of Arts in 2016, it got us thinking that we should give both him and Emily an award for all they've done for our school over these many years,” Head of School Tamara Mount said in a news release.
“By establishing this award in their name, we will be able to honor those in our Hilltop community who truly leave their mark on our school as Wolf and Emily have done, not only with philanthropic contributions, but also gifts of talent and time,” Mount added.
The award ceremony comes just two weeks prior to the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center's opening exhibition on June 23 of Kahn's recent paintings entitled, “Wolf Kahn: Density & Transparency.” The show will be at the museum until Oct. 8.