Four women are the recipients of this year's State Foundation on Culture and the Arts awards.

Agnes C. Conrad and Barbara B. Smith will each receive the Governor's Award for Distinguished Achievement in Culture, Arts and Humanities. Conrad, who is credited with creating the archives profession in Hawai'i, was appointed territorial archivist in 1955 and served as state archivist from 1959 to 1982. She established professional standards for archives and record management and also helped in the creation of the state records center.

Smith started the University of Hawai'i-Manoa's ethnomusicology program more than 50 years ago and is considered the mother of ethnomusicology in the state. Retired from UH since 1982, she remains involved in the schools' music department and also does field work abroad. In 2007 she was named a "Living Treasure" by Honpa Hongwanji Mission.

Deborah G. Nehmad and Laura Ruby have been given the Individual Artist Fellowship in Visual Arts. Nehmad's work, which involves such techniques as etching, burning and stitching on paper, has been displayed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, numerous university art galleries and the Honolulu Academy of Arts. Ruby has shown her print and sculpture works in nearly 200 regional, national and international exhibitions, including more than 30 solo shows. The SFCA has commissioned several pieces from Ruby, who teaches at UH-Manoa.

The Governor's Award is the state's highest honor for people with outstanding lifetime contributions to culture, arts and humanities in Hawai'i. The fellowship recognizes the artistic excellence of individual artists.

The recipients will be honored later this year during ceremonies at Washington Place. For more information, visit www.hawaii.gov/sfca or call 586-0307.