05/28/2026
Please join us in celebrating our co-founder and Creative Director (of Happiness), Ryan McGuire, recipient of the 2026 Rita Kipp Community Engagement Award presented by the League of Women Voters.
This special honor recognizes individuals who make a lasting impact through nonpartisan advocacy, civic engagement, and community building.
The selection committee was inspired by the way Ryan built the Granville Center for the Arts from the ground up after recognizing a cultural void in our community. What began as a big dream and an empty cement block building has become a vibrant, welcoming home for creativity, connection, and belonging. Today, the arts center offers hundreds of free events each year for everyone from preschoolers to senior citizens, all powered entirely by volunteers and rooted in the belief that art should be accessible to all.
Through partnerships with Denison students and faculty, local businesses, churches, nonprofits, and community organizations, Ryan helped turn an ambitious vision into something beautifully real and deeply human. But what makes this story even more remarkable is that he didn’t just imagine the center; he physically built much of it himself. Ryan has poured his creativity, heart, and countless volunteer hours into every corner of the center.
The committee also recognized the countless quiet ways Ryan shows up for the community beyond the arts center walls, whether it’s delivering coffee to poll workers on election day, picking up litter weekly with his daughter, supporting local nonprofits, or finding new ways to bring people together through kindness, creativity, and joy.
What makes this recognition especially meaningful is that Ryan has done all of this as a volunteer. While his title may say Creative Director, on any given day, he is also the janitor, builder, event planner, graphic designer, teacher, concert host, podcast producer, coffee maker, supply organizer, community cheerleader, and wearer of many, many hats, including his famous propeller hat.
