Performing Arts Students Win Hnatyshyn Foundation Grants

OTTAWA, July 15, 2008 – Eight young performing arts students from five provinces will each receive a grant of $10,000 from The Hnatyshyn Foundation to pursue their studies in September 2008. In announcing the winners of the 2008 Developing Artists Grants competition today Gerda Hnatyshyn, C.C., President and Chair of the Board of The Hnatyshyn Foundation, said this brings to $300,000 the amount awarded in university-level scholarships over the past four years by the Ottawa-based foundation.

The nominees for the grants were identified as having exceptional promise by educational and training institutions across Canada and were then adjudicated anonymously by expert juries from the arts community.

Emily Belvedere, a 20-year-old harpist from Richmond Hill, Ontario, is the winner of the classical music grant for orchestral instrument. She received her high school education through home schooling and is currently finishing her first year of university-level studies under the tutelage of Judy Loman at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

The classical piano grant will be awarded to 18-year-old Isabelle David of Sainte-Julie, Quebec. A graduate of l'ˆâcole secondaire du Mont-Bruno, Isabelle has just completed the first year of a Licentiate in Music degree in piano performance at McGill University's Schulich School of Music in Montreal.

The winner of the Oscar Peterson Grant for Jazz Performance is Samantha Chrol of Winnipeg, a 19-year-old saxophonist and clarinetist, who has just completed her first year of the Bachelor of Jazz Studies program at the University of Manitoba. Samantha is a graduate of River East Collegiate in Winnipeg.

The classical ballet grant goes to 20-year-old Tristan Dobrowney of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, who will be an apprentice with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet for the 2008/2009 season. He has been training in the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School Professional Division for the past six years while completing his secondary education at University of Winnipeg Collegiate.

The winner for contemporary dance is 19-year-old Paige Culley of Rossland, British Columbia. A graduate of Rossland Secondary School, Paige has been taking dance instruction for 10 years including summer sessions in Kelowna and Trail, B.C, and at Arts Umbrella in Vancouver. She has just completed her first year of the three-year Professional Training Program at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre.

Kaitlyn Semple, aged 21, of Regina, Saskatchewan, is the winner of the Developing Artist Grant for English theatre acting. A graduate of Campbell Collegiate High School, she will be starting her final year of a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Acting at the University of Regina this fall.

The French theatre acting grant will go to Catherine Hughes of Val-Morin, Quebec. The 22-year-old drama student, a graduate of the ˆâcole polyvalente des Monts in Sainte-Agathe and the Collˆ®ge Lionel-Groulx in Sainte-Thˆ©rˆ®se, is currently studying at the Conservatoire d'art dramatique in Quˆ©bec City.

The graduate grant for classical vocal performance will be awarded to 24-year-old soprano Valˆ©rie Bˆ©langer of Lambton, Quebec, who is pursuing a Diploma of Advanced Studies in Music (Master's degree level) at the Conservatoire de musique de Quˆ©bec with teacher Hˆ©lˆ®ne Fortin. Valˆ©rie has been studying at the Conservatoire since 2003 and completed the equivalent of a Bachelor of Music degree there in 2007.

The Hnatyshyn Foundation is a private charity established by the late Right Honourable Ramon John Hnatyshyn, Canada's twenty-fourth Governor General. Its programs are funded by donations from government, foundations, corporations and individuals. The Department of Canadian Heritage has provided nearly $2.4 million in matching funds to the Foundation.