More than 300 artists, business leaders, cultural professionals and community builders gathered today for the announcement of the 2011 Toronto Arts Foundation Awards at the annual Mayor’s Arts Awards Lunch. “Toronto’s artistic community is very present here today,” said Susan Crocker, Chair of Toronto Arts Foundation. Claire Hopkinson, Executive Director of Toronto Arts Foundation added, “Our artists play a vital role in writing the on-going cultural history of this great city. We continue to help them expand their reach ensuring that residents in every corner of the city are given opportunities to participate in transformative arts activities.”
The winners of the 2011 Toronto Arts Foundation Awards are:
Arts for Youth Award – Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre
Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre is a Toronto repertory company founded by Artistic Director Deborah Lundmark and Managing Director Michael deConinck Smith in 1980 to present gifted next-generation artists in professional productions. Since 2000, CCDT has conducted over one hundred Ontario Community Residencies engaging 160,000 students and teachers with mainstage performances expressly crafted for young audiences. CCDT received a $15,000 cash prize. Lundmark remarked this award is a validation for all their students and dancers and it will help to continue on their “effort to keep bringing dance by young people to young people”.
Toronto Arts and Business Award – TD Bank Group
TD Bank Group plays a leadership role in the cultural development of Canada’s next generation of artists and audiences. Perhaps best known for its sponsorship of major music festivals, TD also supports cultural education programs and increases accessibility to those programs among Canadian children and youth. From student rush ticket programs to tours to remote communities, TD helps performing arts organizations engage and inspire the next generation.
RBC Emerging Artist Award – Adam Garnet Jones
Adam Garnet Jones is a young Aboriginal (Cree/Métis) director and filmmaker. A graduate of Ryerson University’s film program, his short films include Cloudbreaker and A Small Thing, both chosen for screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. Adam has served on the board of the imagineNATIVE film festival, and from 2005-2007 coordinated 7th Generation Image Makers, a program geared towards at-risk inner-city youth. He has worked as a film programmer for the Inside Out film festival and was appointed to the Ontario Film Review Board in 2009. Adam Garnet Jones received a $7,500 cash prize. Garnet Jones confessed he felt “underserving” at first but is looking forward to creating a feature film thanks to this award.
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| L-R: TD Bank Group Rep., Dr. Sankaran; Michael deConinck & Deborah Lundmark, Adam Garnet Jones and Jane Marsland. |
Muriel Sherrin Award for International Achievement in Music – Dr. Trichy Sankaran
Dr. Trichy Sankaran is a globally-respected artist, composer, educator and cultural ambassador, who consistently demonstrates mastery, creativity, ingenuity, humility and devotion. As an active contributor to the music scene in Canada, he has composed a dynamic body of work that bridges the musical traditions of both India and the West. Collaborations include performances with New Music, jazz, Western Classical music, world fusion and internationally-recognized Carnatic and Hindustani musicians, such as Zakir Hussain, U. Srinivas, Hariprasad Chaurasia. Dr. Sankaran received a $10,000 cash prize. He stated that “it’s an honour” to receive the award and as he told me, “2011 has been a very special year.”
Rita Davies and Margo Bindhardt Cultural Leadership Award – Jane Marsland
Jane Marsland is an articulate advocate for the arts and has served on a wide range of boards, advisory groups and committees for many years. Jane was co-founder and director of ARTS 4 CHANGE, a three-year program designed to create positive change for and by arts professionals in Toronto, as well as co-founder and Director of Technical
Assistance of the Creative Trust: Working Capital for the Arts. She has been the recipient of two arts community awards: a “Harold” in 2001 and the Sandra Tulloch Award for Innovation in the Arts in 2002. Jane Marsland received a $10,000 cash prize. As Marsland put it, her work is “always about the [artistic] community; they give so much.”
Each award winner also received an original work of art by Katie Bethune-Leamen, commissioned by Toronto Arts Foundation.
