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| Pam Hall is the inductee to the Fortis Hall of Honour. |
Last Friday the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council held
its 30th annual arts awards ceremony in the auditorium of The Rooms. St.
John's. This competition pits the
seven disciplines of the professional arts against each other, meaning that
artists and organizations in dance, theatre, film, writing, visual arts, music
and multidisciplinary media vie for achievement awards. All awards are commemorated with a
specially commissioned work of art and, except for Patron of the Arts, with a
$2,500 cheque. This year is also
the NLAC's 35th anniversary and tomorrow the new logo for the council will be
released.
The evening held few surprises in terms of award winners if
only because all of the finalists were worthy nominees. These names were released back in June
and if you'd like to know more, here's a link to the full list: http://www.nlac.ca/news/20150618.htm
For the sake of brevity, here are the six winners: Fortis Properties Arts Hall of Honour
Award: Eastern Edge (visual/organization); Fortis Properties Arts Hall of
Honour Award: Pam Hall (visual artist); CBC Emerging Artist Award: Aaron Collis
& Emilia Bartellas (music); Memorial University Arts in Education Award:
Grant Etchegary (music); Patron of the Arts Awards: John O'Dea; Cox &
Palmer Arts Achievement Award: Jim Duff (music): BMO Bank of Montreal Artist of
the Year Award: Deanne Foley (film).
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| Grant Etchegary is widely known in the province for his leadership with youth orchestras in the province. |
What piqued my interest was how the awards ceremony had
changed from last year, especially in light of the belt-tightening we all have
been feeling with the reduction of oil revenues in the province and the general
atmosphere of an election looming.
The NLAC is still rotating its awards ceremony to different
regions, which makes good sense in terms of representing its constituency. Last year it was held in Clarenville
and next it will be out west. In
past years, the awards ceremony was treated to more lavish production with live
music and elaborate staging. What
remained were the CBC created videos honouring each of the winners and of
course comments from involved parties and winners. It was still a feel good event but a fiscally responsible
one.
Being recognized for your contribution to the cultural life
of your home province is perhaps more strategic when financial times are
strained. In the life of an
artist, most times are financially tight but every once in a while it is down right
necessary to receive validation just in order to keep going. Even receiving a commission to create
the small sculptures this year must have been a tremendous boost to carver
Elias Semiak. In my books, he too
is a winner. If I was a recipient,
I'd make sure that I was first at the NLAC offices to choose my sculpture. All of them are different. Early bird gets first choice.
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| The musical duo of Aaron Collis & Emilia Bartellas won Emerging Artist beating out two visual artists– Ally Baird and Audrey Hurd. |
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