March 2020 marks the 11th year of the St. Albert Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts Awards.
As a show of appreciation for the city’s wonderful artists, organizers invite the community to nominate individuals who make a lasting contribution and enrich our lives.
Tamsin Brooks, community cultural co-ordinator, noted the awards “serve to celebrate arts and artists, and recognize people do a lot to contribute to arts and culture. As well as the established artists, it recognizes up-and-comers and we usually receive a lot of nominations for youth. They do a lot of good things in the community and we like to celebrate them.”
The awards recognize outstanding achievements from any artistic practice. But the acknowledgement is not limited to music, theatre, dance, literature, poetry, media arts, visual arts and crafts.
Organizers also encourage nominations from artists working and producing photography, digital media, film, television and recording projects. Awards are presented for a complete body of work rather than just one project.
“Art is all encompassing. Art is anything you do artistically that brings you joy. It could be anything from a punk band to doing sketches at your desk,” said Brooks.
She explains the importance of nominating artists for awards.
“Many artists tend to be solitary. If they are a painter or a writer or a composer, it’s solitary work and sometimes they receive very little recognition. Nominations validate what they do and the recognition gets their voice out in the community.”
There are six categories this year. The most prestigious is the Lifetime Achievement Award. The 2019 recipient was visual artist Lewis Lavoie. Throughout the past decade other Lifetime Achievement recipients included composer/conductor Michael Massey, potter Elke Blodgett and educational theatre duo Maureen Rooney and Paul Punyi.
The other five categories are: youth artist, emerging artist, established artist, arts champion and excellence in arts teaching.
All recipients received an original work by a St. Albert artist and a $1,000 cheque. The Lifetime Achievement Award winner is also inducted into the Cultural Wall of Fame.
Nomination deadline is Friday, Jan. 17, 2020. Nominee announcement is Friday, Feb. 14, and the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts is Thursday, March 19, at the Enjoy Centre. It is a creative partnership with Night of Artists.
Complete nomination guidelines are available at stalbert.ca/exp/arts-culture/mayors-celebration.
