About the Arts Awards
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Media Package 33rd ArtsNL Arts Awards Saturday, April 28, 2018 Labrador West Arts and Culture Centre Labrador City, NL ArtsNL announces provincial Arts Award winners FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Saturday, April 28, 2018 (Labrador City, NL) – ArtsNL presented the 33rd ArtsNL Arts Awards tonight at the Labrador West Arts and Culture Centre in Labrador City, NL. Six awards honouring the accomplishments of Newfoundland and Labrador’s artists were presented, as well as the 2017 Lawrence Jackson Writers’ Award - a special addition to the gala for this year only, which went to a Labrador resident, Alex Saunders. The winners are: ArtsNL Patron of the Arts Award: Newfoundland and Labrador Credit Union CBC Emerging Artist Award: Sharon Bala Memorial University Arts in Education Award: Eric West ArtsNL Hall of Honour Award: Jacinta Mackey Graham ArtsNL Arts Achievement Award: Beni Malone BMO Bank of Montreal Artist of the Year Award: Duane Andrews “This year, ArtsNL was delighted to return to Labrador as we continue with our commitment to take the annual awards gala on the road every second year,” says ArtsNL executive director Reg Winsor. “The ArtsNL Arts Awards are both a reflection and celebration of the professional arts and cultural work generated by the many talented artists, groups, and arts organizations in Newfoundland and Labrador. ArtsNL is proud to play its role in fostering the creation and enjoyment of the quality artistic work generated through the professional arts and cultural sector, regardless of artistic discipline.” “The arts awards were last held in Labrador in 2010 hosted by Happy Valley-Goose Bay, so Council decided they would come to Labrador City this time and we’re very grateful for the municipality’s welcoming hospitality,” ArtsNL Chair Stan Hill added. “ArtsNL was also happy to hold the province’s first ever indigenous arts symposium in Labrador in 2016, and we look forward to our host organization role for the upcoming regional indigenous arts symposium, Petapan, organized by the Atlantic Public Arts Funders scheduled for June 2019.” Nominations for the awards are submitted by the arts community and the general public. Council members of ArtsNL vote by secret ballot to select the finalists and winners. “Tonight we acknowledged the strong collective output, achievements, and successes of the province’s diverse and tenacious arts and cultural sector, which significantly contributes to the Newfoundland and Labrador economy,” Hill concluded. Winners of the CBC Emerging Artist, Memorial University Arts in Education, ArtsNL Arts Achievement, BMO Bank of Montreal Artist of the Year awards receive a $2,500 cash prize and a piece of artwork. The inductee to the ArtsNL Hall of Honour and the ArtsNL Patron of the Arts Award receive a piece of artwork. For information contact: Joshua Jamieson Communications Officer, ArtsNL Office: (709) 726-2212, ext. 203 Mobile: (709) 746-6531 [email protected] www.artsnl.ca About the ArtsNL Awards The annual ArtsNL Awards Show and Gala honours the accomplishments of Newfoundland and Labrador’s artists. Nominations for the Arts Awards are submitted by the arts community and the general public. Members of Council vote by secret ballot to select the finalists and winners. Winners of the CBC Emerging Artist, Memorial University Arts in Education, ArtsNL Arts Achievement, BMO Bank of Montreal Artist of the Year awards receive a $2,500 cash prize and a piece of artwork. The inductee to the ArtsNL Hall of Honour and the ArtsNL Patron of the Arts Award receive a piece of artwork. The Awards The ArtsNL Patron of the Arts Award 2017 - recognizes a person, business, or organization that has demonstrated an ongoing commitment to the arts in Newfoundland and Labrador through innovative, community, or sustained support of artistic activity. The CBC Emerging Artist Award 2017 - recognizes new and undisputed talent. It is awarded to an emerging artist, group or arts organization that has earned significant recognition for a piece of work or a generally out-sized impact on the scene. The Memorial University Arts in Education Award 2017 - recognizes an artist who has made an outstanding contribution to arts in education in Newfoundland and Labrador over a period of years. The ArtsNL Hall of Honour Award 2017 - recognizes a person, group, or organization that has made a distinguished lifetime contribution to the cultural life of Newfoundland and Labrador. The ArtsNL Arts Achievement Award 2017 - recognizes a practicing artist who has made an outstanding contribution to the cultural life of Newfoundland and Labrador over a number of years. The BMO Bank of Montreal Artist of the Year Award 2017 - recognizes the art or activity of a person, group or organization that has made an outstanding contribution to the cultural life of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2017. ArtsNL Patron of the Arts Award Recipient for 2017 Newfoundland and Labrador Credit Union Newfoundland and Labrador Credit Union takes pride in supporting the arts. NLCU believes that supporting talented and creative individuals, and organizations, at the local-level strengthens our province, and country as a whole. The arts sector always brings people together, as it simultaneously helps with building a stronger sense of community and cultural identity. Whether it’s a local theatre production, concert, visual art exhibition, dance performance, or a writer’s retreat, empowering local artists and arts organizations has always been one of NLCU’s primary goals. NLCU is proud of Newfoundland and Labrador’s people, heritage, and culture. The sense of caring and community is engrained in who they are, as is the idea of community development and social responsibility. NLCU’s own corporate values speak to its commitment to the people and communities of the province and their co-operative goals are entrenched in everything they do. Those values include education, excellence, trust, social responsibility, integrity, empowerment, and innovation. With this in mind, NLCU continues to support various local arts organizations province-wide. NLCU is a major sponsor of the bi-annual Fresh Fish Award for Emerging Writers, which provides writers with financial support necessary to grow their craft and professional skills. Also, ensuring that children have access to the arts is a chief concern for NLCU. Each year NLCU sponsor’s the Tuckamore Music Festival’s Children’s Concert, as well as various theatre groups, musicals and Kiwanis music festivals throughout the province. NLCU also supports emerging authors by helping fund Piper’s Frith Writer’s Retreat, which pairs aspiring writers with experienced local professionals. NLCU is proud to offer its continued support to these talented individuals and organizations. CBC Emerging Artist Award Recipient for 2017 Sharon Bala McClelland & Stewart Senior Editor Anita Chong wrote that in her 20 years in Canadian publishing, she’s rarely seen such a meteoric rise for a debut writer. Sharon Bala’s Globe and Mail bestselling novel, The Boat People, hit store shelves in January 2018 and is available worldwide. The Boat People has had an enormous impact on the Canadian literary scene, securing long list recognition for Canada Reads. The book earned Sharon the Percy Janes First Novel award in 2015, and she has been awarded ArtsNL professional project grants in the past to develop her work. Her short story Miloslav received an honourable mention at the National Magazine Awards for fiction, and two of her short stories are included in the prestigious Journey Prize Stories collection. Bala has also won the Writers Trust/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize for Butter Tea at Starbucks, and she will serve on the 2018 Journey Prize jury. Sharon is a member of The Port Authority, a St. John’s writing group, and she is also a three- time recipient of the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts and Letters award. Her short fiction has appeared in: Hazlitt, Grain, PRISM international, The Dalhousie Review, The New Quarterly, Room, Riddle Fence, and in a collection called Racket: New Writing from Newfoundland. Memorial University Arts in Education Award Recipient for 2017 Eric West Eric West is a guitarist, composer and publisher based in Ladle Cove in Notre Dame Bay. He has performed and recorded with classical ensembles, folk groups, and the children’s music duo Heather and Eric. Since 1988 Eric has performed as half of that duo and together they’ve toured through Canada and the US. Heather and Eric have recorded three albums and were featured in five TV specials. In 1996 they wrote and recorded the children’s book and CD Wind Over Dark Tickle (published by Breakwater Books and heard on CBC). They were co-winners of the Newfoundland and Labrador Environmental Achievement Award in 1994, and recipients of the 1993 Writers Award from the Outdoor Writers of America, for the TV special No Small Wonder done for CBC television. Eric has composed and arranged music for radio, television and stage with credits that include Sesame Street in 1991, the 1984 ArtsNL Arts Awards, and Land and Sea. He has published a guitar method book and CD, seven anthologies of folk song arrangements of Newfoundland and Labrador song standards, and one for children’s songs. In 1999, Eric was the Musician in Residence for Gros Morne National Park, which led to Gros Morne – A Musical Journey, a CD- ROM featuring music, songs and images inspired by Gros Morne National Park. In 2007, he received the ArtsNL Arts Achievement award, following a tour of Ireland he did with the Potluck Singers – a community choir that performs in hospitals, nursing homes and other venues around the province. He also leads workshops at schools and music camps. In 2001 Eric started the Vinland Music Camp – an annual week-long workshop dedicated to teaching and preserving traditional music, storytelling and dances of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Soundbone Traditional Arts Foundation, a non-profit organization incorporated in 2009, now runs the camp with Eric as the current president.