Belleville,Ontario, Canada
Cultivating Creativity

Arts Recognition Awards
2007 award winners

The Quinte Arts Council’s Arts in Education and Awards and Bursaries Committee is pleased to announce the winners of the 2007 Arts Recognition Awards.  From the nominations submitted, the Committee has selected two organizations, one company and three individuals who will be receiving their awards made of beautifully-blown glass by Mark Armstrong at the Quinte Cabaret event at the Empire Theatre on Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m.

This year we’ll honour the Quinte Opera Guild for the role that it has played since 1984 making opera accessible to Quinte audiences.  “It does this,” states nominator Wanda Slawinski, “by providing informed previews of operas being presented by the Canadian Opera Company and introducing young people to opera by annually sponsoring two voice students to attend an opera in the coming season.”  Supporter and Opera Guild member Catherine Deuber says, “I find that the Guild provides support and exposure for a lesser-known music genre but one that is important in the lives of many people.”  Lee and Eleanor Gerard also enthusiastically supported this nomination having been members since its inception.  “For almost a quarter of a century, the Guild has been instrumental in fostering knowledge of, and interest in, the world of opera.”  The couple also states the Guild’s dedication to the encouragement and love of opera in young people and how the members “follow their careers with pride.”  Muriel Smith of the Canadian Opera Company wrote to say that the generous donation that the Opera Guild made to the new opera house in Toronto to commemorate the Guild’s 20th anniversary, established it as “becoming an ongoing part of the COC’s future” and sited the role that the Guild has played in helping them become internationally recognized.    

The Quinte Rotary Music Festival, which will be celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2008, will also receive an award for welcoming over 20,000 talented local musicians to this annual competition and showcase.  Nominator Lillian Duffy cited that the Trenton, Belleville, Stirling and Quinte Sunrise Rotary clubs work together to provide “the direct means by which we can encourage the youth of our area to enjoy and pursue their passion for music.”  Elizabeth Grew added that “cash awards have helped students to pay for tuitions to arts and music programs at the post secondary level every year helping many talented young people make music their careers. I believe I am one of the first such local students to win an award as part of a folk- singing quartet from Moira Secondary School where we performed in four-part harmony Simon and Garfunkel’s Are You Going To Scarborough Fair? in 1968 and it helped give a very shy student the encouragement to pursue my artistic interests in a career that has spanned over 25 years in many aspects of arts production and administration all across Canada.”

Entrepreneur and playwright Rob Brown was nominated by Debra Tosh of the Belleville Theatre Guild.  Rob, who founded of Arts Marketing Services Inc., an international company with 56 offices in the United States and 28 in Canada with more than 3200 employees, has made a career in fundraising and marketing for the arts in all disciplines.  She writes, “Rob discovered his love of the arts while performing Rinse Cycle at Quinte Secondary School. His pants split, the audience howled, and he was hooked!”  He went on to perform at the Belleville Theatre Guild, before moving to Toronto where he established Arts Marketing Services Inc.  He returned home with his wife, Yolanda Vanderkolk, and has continued his support and involvement in a variety of projects including major sponsor for Art in the County, an annual art show, donation of his cruise, The Majesty, for volunteers of the Prince Edward County Arts Council (PECAC), and donation of his restaurant bar, The Bah Habah Habah Bah in Picton, with proceeds to support the PECAC Jazz Festival.  This new venue was also host to Come to Your Senses, a visual art show featuring 10 local artists.  Rob also regularly showcased and paid local musicians to entertain the guests, paid local actors to perform in his murder mystery trilogy, and his venue was part of QAC’s Ear Candy Music Festival.

Rob brings his talent and expertise to local artists and organizations such as donating his time to establish a three-year pledge drive for The Regent Theatre Revival in 2004, raising more than $10,000 for  Belleville Theatre Guild’s elevator addition in 2004 where he donated his production of Richard Cory Went Home Last Night, a murder-mystery play that he wrote and directed, and the production of the Rocky Horror Hallowe’en Dance at the Royal Canadian Legion in Belleville as a joint fundraiser for the BTG and the Humane Society. BTG’s chair was compelling in her letter of support, stating that Rob is “very committed to the success of community theatre and the arts in general in the Quinte area”.

Visual Artist Michael Rutland has known and worked with Brown for more than 30 years.  He supported the nomination stating that, “Rob Brown should definitely be recognized, not only for his fundraising and sponsorship of the arts in general, but for his great personal support of emerging artists.”

There was also overwhelming support for the nomination of fibre artist, Anne Buckley, citing her accomplishments as a weaver, spinner and traditional rug hooker.  Nominated by Glennyce Sinclair, Anne has been described as “a moving force in the promotion of these arts” which is due to the extensive time that she dedicates by practicing her craft as well as “volunteering, mentoring, instructing and being a member of a variety of guilds.”  She is everywhere, sharing her talents and passion with elementary and high school students, residents of nursing homes, church, agricultural and groups dedicated to conservation.  Anne is renowned for her one-of-a-kind, functional and decorative items using fibres and creates many of her own patterns.

In an effort to hone and keep her skills fresh, Anne is continually attending conferences, courses and workshops.  Joan Foster writes in support of the nominations that, “with people like Anne, who is so keenly interested in promoting the excellence and tradition of rug hooking, as well as her other artistic talents, the arts in the Quinte area has a bright future.”  Life member and past president of the Belleville Weavers and Spinners Guild, has known Anne Buckley for more than 20 years and conveys admiration for her contribution to the artform by saying that “Her work is of high quality and good design.  We are fortunate to have her as a member given all the time that she volunteers to demonstrate weaving and spinning.”

Our two final awards will go to an individual and a local business in recognition of those who have donated the most in any given year to the Quinte Arts Council’s programming and projects.  This year we are pleased to announce that Muriel Gibson and Bob Clute Pontiac Buick GMC will each receive their awards for contributions of $10,000 each to QAC’s programming and projects in 2007.

Tickets to see the awards presentation as well as attend the 40th Anniversary version of Quinte Cabaret are $25 each and on sale now at the Empire Theatre box office (613-909-0099, www.theempiretheatre.com).  Check out our web site at www.quinteartscouncil.org and next week’s Belleville Intelligencer Weekend Magazine article for a complete list of the talent that will be featured on Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m. at the Empire Theatre.  The last Cabaret sold out two weeks before the show, so act quickly to avoid disappointment.

The Arts Recognition Awards are sponsored by OLG and Wilkinson & Co.