For the past 18 years, Michele “Kiki” McKinney has been, as colleagues describe her, “the one that makes it all happen” at the annual Evanston Ethnic Arts Festival.

McKinney received the 20th Annual Mayor’s Award for the Arts on Jan. 31, celebrating her influence on the Evanston cultural community. She has worked in almost every position at the festival from chairwoman to volunteer coordinator to “official troubleshooter.”

Still, she’s quick to give credit to the hundreds of arts patrons she’s worked with.

“Certainly this award could have gone to any number of other people I could have thought of,” McKinney said. “People working together for the common good and the evolution of the (Evanston Ethnic) Arts Festival, along with other important community events — they’re the real reward.”

The Mayor’s Award is given each year to an individual and to an organization that demonstrate a substantial commitment to the arts and was presented this year at the mayor’s State of the City address. This year’s organization award went to Mitchell Museum of the American Indian at Kendall College.

McKinney’s other contributions include serving on the Evanston Committee for Cultural Diversity in the Arts and working on the Evanston Arts Council’s Black History Month celebrations.

But of all her work, she’s “hooked” on the Ethnic Arts Festival, McKinney said. The 18-year-old festival is held the third week in July, when hundreds of vendors and performers celebrate the folk and fine arts of ethnic groups around the globe.

“It’s one of the best ways to bridge many gaps that perpetuate social ignorance,” she said. “You can’t help but be passionate about it. All ages, all cultures, families, all economic backgrounds, all citizens can enjoy this festival together.”

Laurel Burrows spent more than 15 years working with McKinney and said the New York City native’s strength is her ability to form connections between people.

“She makes everybody else think that they’re the most wonderful thing that ever happened,” Burrows said. “If they ever have to do anything without her, I don’t know how they’re going to do it.”

McKinney is a force that unifies festival participants, said Lorelei McClure, volunteer and former chairwoman of the Ethnic Arts Festival.

“She is the glue that brings the two elements together: the folks who are putting the festival on and those that are bringing the treasures,” McClure said. “If I’m going down the walkway with her, everyone’s calling out to her. She knows everyone.”

McKinney is a writer, dancer, grandmother and daughter of a civil rights lawyer. She attended marches in the South with her family and has volunteered all her life to introduce communities to new arts experiences.

“It has always been unique that the arts — whether they be performing, visual, musical — have been the things that have bridged people of all ages and ethnicities, without a doubt,” she said. “The arts is love, the arts is life, and you can’t have a better example of unity, of the melding of nationalities as you do the third week of July.”

Despite all of McKinney’s contributions, she said she was still humbled by the award.

“To be recognized for a long-time volunteer commitment and contributions to helping make where we live a better place for all residents is certainly quite an honor,” she said.