About the Arts Awards
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Media Package 31st ArtsNL Arts Awards Saturday, May 28, 2016 Stephenville Arts and Culture Centre Stephenville, NL FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ArtsNL announces provincial Arts Award winners Saturday, May 28, 2016 (Stephenville, NL) – ArtsNL presented the 31st ArtsNL Arts Awards tonight at the Stephenville Arts and Culture Centre in Stephenville, NL. Six awards honouring the accomplishments of Newfoundland and Labrador’s artists were presented. The winners are: ArtsNL Hall of Honour Award: Jim Payne CBC Emerging Artist Award: Latonia Hartery Memorial University Arts in Education Award: Fergus O’Byrne ArtsNL Patron of the Arts Award: Stewart McKelvey Cox & Palmer Arts Achievement Award: Michael Crummey BMO Bank of Montreal Artist of the Year Award: Danielle Irvine “It’s always a pleasure to take the awards back on the road, as we do every second year, and it’s very exciting that this year we see their return to the island’s west coast,” says ArtsNL executive director Reg Winsor. “The ArtsNL Arts Awards continue to celebrate the professional arts and cultural work and successes 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 these individuals create, regardless of artistic discipline.” “As we celebrate the finalists and those who have received honours this evening, we also acknowledge the strong collective output and achievement of our province’s vigorous arts and cultural sector,” ArtsNL Chair Stan Hill added. “As a whole, they and tonight’s honourees, continue to push their creative limits - gaining abundant success, leading our provincial arts and cultural sector to significantly contribute to the Newfoundland and Labrador economy.” Nominations for the awards are submitted by the arts community, arts organizations, and the general public. Council members of ArtsNL vote by secret ballot to select the finalists and winners. Winners of the CBC Emerging Artist, Memorial University Arts in Education, Cox & Palmer 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, arts organizations 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, Cox & Palmer 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 Hall of Honour Award 2015 - recognizes a person, group, or organization that has made a distinguished lifetime contribution to the cultural life of Newfoundland and Labrador. The CBC Emerging Artist Award 2015 - 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 2015 - recognizes an artist who has made an outstanding contribution to arts in education in Newfoundland and Labrador over a period of years. The ArtsNL Patron of the Arts Award 2015 - 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 Cox & Palmer Arts Achievement Award 2015 - 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 2015 - 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 2015. Fortis Properties Arts Hall of Honour Inductee for 2015 Jim Payne Jim Payne’s four decade spanning career has included many highlights for the native of Notre Dame Bay, NL. As a professional musician, Payne is a vocalist, plays guitar, accordion, mandola, tin whistle, and violin. He’s also known as an actor, writer, stepdancer, and arts educator. His projects have generated numerous solo albums, compilation appearances, and the production of records for a team of other artists. His deceptively simple lyrics always poetically encapsulate stirring emotions that are anchored in Newfoundland and Labrador tradition and the province’s greatest tragedies and joys. Payne operates his own recording label, SingSong Inc., which has several award-winning albums in the midst of more than 30 available titles. SingSong also produces concerts and special events featuring traditional and contemporary music, storytelling, and dance. Beyond solo efforts, Payne is one third of the comedy music trio WickedAltogether alongside Pete Soucy and Fergus O’Byrne. He’s a member of a traditional music quartet A Crowd of Bold Sharemen, and often performs as a duo with O’Byrne. Payne and O’Byrne are well known to schools too through their unwavering commitment to take ArtsSmarts and School Touring Program funded projects to the most isolated regions of the province. Sometimes, that means traveling by boat and ferry to small schools where arts-focused encouragement, education, and inspiration become the orders of the day. He’s appeared on stage in productions of Newfoundlanders Away, Hold Fast, and Hamlet which he not only acted in, but also composed a score for. Rising Tide’s Summer in the Bight Theatre Festival in Trinity enjoys his skills as Music Director, and Payne is a regular cast member in their annual REVUE production. Payne’s music is heard on radio and television as part of documentaries and videos. He’s appeared at major festivals in North America and Europe, and performed in Japan and Australia. Payne has represented Canada at international events like a symposium in Kagoshima focused on artists who create music that becomes part of local traditions. On that occasion he was one of five world musicians selected, and the only one from North America. Jim has been honoured with a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Cultural Tourism Award, ArtsNL’s Arts in Education award, and ArtsNL’s Arts Achievement Award. When John Joe Pidgeon, Marystown’s legendary accordionist passed, the family felt Payne’s presence was imperative because Pidgeon always said “Jim Payne was the keeper of the songs of our province.” CBC Emerging Artist Award Recipient for 2015 Latonia Hartery Bay D’Espoir native Latonia Hartery is making her presence known through her work in the provincial film industry. To date she has directed three independent short films and two CBC documentaries, she has line producing credits on six short CBC documentaries, and was a field producer for DocZone twice. The 2012 episode of Land and Sea she directed was one of the series’ highest rated programs ever reaching 360,000 viewers. Her first film that she wrote/directed and produced, called Escape Routes, was funded by Canada Council for the Arts and was screened at the Nickel Independent Film Festival, and at festivals in Calgary and New York. In 2014 Latonia directed the independent film Sadie which screened at festivals across Canada and in 38 countries into 2015 including the Air Canada En Route Film Festival, the Kerry Film Festival in Ireland, and recently at the National Screen Institute Film Festival. The short was also chosen from 900 submitted films from 56 counties to be part of the 10th Women in Film and Television International Short Film Showcase. Hartery was selected to participate in the Reykjavik International Film Festival Talent Lab to study with David Cronenberg in 2015. She is currently a producer on Wanda Nolan’s upcoming short Crocuses, she is writing a feature- Teflon Dons funded by Telefilm, and is the director/writer for a Morag Loves Company produced documentary Sifting Viking Secrets in development. Memorial University Arts in Education Award Recipient for 2015 Fergus O’Byrne Fergus O’Byrne moved from Dublin to Canada in 1967, becoming a founding member of the Irish folk band Ryan’s Fancy. The band recorded over a dozen albums, and toured North America and Ireland for 14 years. They were also featured in a CBC series under the same name for five years. O’Byrne then went on his own, continuing to produce and record new music with Jim Payne, and others. He’s been a guest on many recordings for other folk greats including Minnie White, Shanneyganock, The Punters, Great Big Sea, and Jim Fidler. O’Byrne is a deeply involved volunteer with the Young Folk at the Hall initiative, which just turned 15. A free two week workshop for youth from seven to 18 to pursue interest in singing and folk music, before a performance benefiting the Neil Murray Stage for emerging talent at the annual Folk Festival. So successful, O’Byrne expanded it to other areas like Corner Brook, Stephenville, Marystown, Appleton, and many others – an achieved goal as a result of ArtsNL funding, and other support. Again, proceeds from performances have gone to local organizations with the purpose of creating more arts-focused opportunities for youth. Through the initiative, as well as ArtsSmarts and School Touring Program funded projects, O’Byrne has mentored countless budding talents in the province, like half of last year’s CBC Emerging Artist Award winning duo, Aaron Collis.