Canada Council announces winners of the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Awards

Ottawa, December 16, 2008 ��� Integrated arts artist Diane Borsato, set and costume designer Linda Brunelle, author Marlene Cookshaw, visual artist Geoffrey Farmer, choreographer and dance artist Susanna Hood, filmmaker Shandi Mitchell and composer Michael Oesterle are the winners of the Canada Council for the Arts Victor Martyn Lynch���Staunton Awards.

The annual awards, worth $15,000 each, recognize outstanding mid-career artists in the seven disciplines funded by the Canada Council: dance, integrated arts, media arts, music, theatre, visual arts and writing and publishing. The prizes were created using funds from a generous bequest made by the late Victor Martyn Lynch���Staunton to the Canada Council.

The seven Victor Martyn Lynch���Staunton Award recipients were chosen through a nomination process by the Grants to Professional Artists peer assessment committees during the 2007���2008 fiscal year. The winning candidates are considered the most outstanding mid-career artists of those nominated.

Images of the winners can be downloaded from the Canada Council image gallery at: www.canadacouncil.ca/news/imagegallery.

Diane Borsato ��� Integrated arts

Integrated arts artist and visual artist Diane Borsato has become known for her relational gestures and eccentric experiments. She regularly exhibits videos, photographs and drawings that document her activities. Her humorous and multidisciplinary practice includes such works as Sleeping with Cake (1999), The World's Longest Paper Clip Chain (2001), Artifacts in My Mouth (2003), Wondering How Long He Can Keep Up The World (2005), Moving the Weeds Around (2005), How To Respond in an Emergency (2006), and Three Performances (After Joseph Beuys, Marina Abramovic, and Bonnie Sherk) (2008).

Ms. Borsato has exhibited in galleries and museums across Canada and internationally including the Mus��e national des beaux-arts du Qu��bec (Qu��bec City), the Art Gallery of York University and the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery (Toronto). She is currently a professor of Interdisciplinary Studio at the University of Guelph and lives in Toronto.

Linda Brunelle ��� Theatre

Over the past decade, set and costume designer Linda Brunelle has designed costumes and sets for numerous productions in dance, theatre, opera, film and circus. Her most recent projects include her participation in the creation of Salina (2006) at the Th����tre National de Lille-Tourcoing, Nord Pas-de-Calais, in France, Nebbia (2007) by Cirque ��loize, Bacchanale (2008) for Th����tre d'Aujourd'hui and La petite pi��ce en haut de l'escalier (2008) at Th����tre du Nouveau Monde.

Her work has often received mentions at the Gala des Masques and she was awarded a Masque for Si j'avais la seule possession dessus le jugement dernier (1998), Th����tre d'Aujourd'hui. Audiences have also remarked on the quality of her work, awarding her the Prix Gascon -Roux for the costumes in Tristan et Yseult (2004) at Th����tre du Nouveau Monde and the Audience Award for the costumes in Le Revizor (2003) at Th����tre Denise���Pelletier. In 2003 and 2006, she represented Canada at the Prague Quadrennial of international scenography. Since 2004, she has shared her expertise with students at the National Theatre School.

Marlene Cookshaw ��� Writing and Publishing

Born in Lethbridge, Alberta, Marlene Cookshaw has lived most of her adult life on British Columbia's west coast. She is the author of five books of poetry (the first, Personal Luggage, was published by Coach House Press in 1984) and one chapbook of prose poems, Coupling, by Outlaw Editions. Brick Books has published her other collections: The Whole Elephant (1989), Double Somersaults (1999), Shameless (2002), and Lunar Drift (2005), two of which were shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay BC Book Prize for Poetry. Other awards have included the Robinson Jeffers Tor House Prize, the Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize, Arc's Poem of the Year, League of Canadian Poets prize and a National Magazine Silver Award for Poetry.

Ms. Cookshaw completed a BFA at the University of Victoria and worked for many years with The Malahat Review. She now writes and farms on Pender Island with her husband and fellow poet, Mitchell Parry.

Geoffrey Farmer ��� Visual Art

Born in British Columbia, Geoffrey Farmer lives and works in Vancouver. Through his studies at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver and at the San Francisco Art Institute, he developed a strong interest in the notions of process and narrative. His work is at once fragile and multiform, operating on the same level as everyday experience: simultaneously rational and chaotic, undeniably concrete yet shaped by the imagination. Mr. Farmer has seen his career take off meteorically in the last few years. In 2008 alone, he was the subject of a survey exhibition at the Mus��e d'art contemporain in Montr��al, a solo exhibition at the Witte de With in Rotterdam, Netherlands, participated in the Sydney and Brussels Biennale as well as in group exhibitions at the Tate Modern, the ICA Boston and Johnen + Sch��ttle in Berlin. He is currently exhibiting at National Gallery of Canada in the group exhibition Caught in the Act: The Viewer as Performer which runs until February 15, 2009.

Susanna Hood ��� Dance

Susanna Hood, Artistic Director of hum, is a compelling and virtuosic performer in dance and music. She was a member of the Toronto Dance Theatre from 1991 to 1995. For over a decade, she has been synthesizing voice and movement into a dynamic practice through which she creates intimate, raw and sensual performance work. She has performed the works of various Canadian choreographers, composers, and filmmakers (including Tedd Robinson, John Oswald, Nilan Perera, and Phillip Barker) and has performed widely as an improviser both in dance and music. Her choreography, compositions, and interdisciplinary collaborations have been presented locally, nationally, and internationally on stage and film since 1991. Awards include the 1998 K.M. Hunter Emerging Artists Award in Dance and the 2006 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Performance in Dance for She's gone away. Ms. Hood resides in Toronto.

Shandi Mitchell ��� Media arts

Shandi Mitchell lives near Halifax. A writer and director, she fuses image, word and sound to create dramatic narratives that reflect the hidden, inner experience of her characters. Her work has been described as visually poetic, emotionally resonant and sublimely crafted. Her screenplay for Baba's House won the Women in Film and Television Toronto KODAK Filmmaker Award and Script Award. Baba's House screened at numerous festivals and garnered awards at the Houston International WorldFest (Kodak Cinematography Award, Gold Jury Award); Yorkton Short Film Festival (Best Cinematography, Best Script, Best Drama); Atlantic Film Festival (Best Canadian Short, Best Art Direction); and earned two Gemini nominations. Her experimental short Tell Me screened at major festivals and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Ms. Mitchell is currently developing her first feature film, The Disappeared. She is also a fiction writer and her debut novel Under This Unbroken Sky will be published in August 2009 by Penguin Books (Canada), Weidenfeld and Nicolson (UK), and Harper Collins (US).

Michael Oesterle ��� Music

Composer Michael Oesterle was born in Ulm, Germany, in 1968. He immigrated to Canada in 1982 and since 1996 has been living in Montreal. His works have been performed and commissioned by orchestras, ensembles and soloists throughout North America and Europe. His most recent commissions include new works for ASKO Ensemble (Amsterdam), the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Aventa Ensemble and Ensemble contemporain de Montr��al+ (ECM+).

He frequently collaborates with artists of other disciplines and has produced projects in dance, visual arts, film and theatre. He composed the music for cNOTE, a film by animator Christopher Hinton, produced by the National Film Board of Canada. cNOTE won the 2005 Genie award for best animated-short. In 1997 he co-founded the Montreal based Ensemble KORE, and between 2001 and 2004 he was composer-in-residence with l'Orchestre M��tropolitain du Grand Montr��al. To listen to his music, and to view his collaborative work, please visit his website at www.footwrite.com.

General information

In addition to its principal role of promoting and fostering the arts, the Canada Council for the Arts administers and awards many prizes and fellowships in the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural and health sciences, engineering, and arts management. These prizes and fellowships recognize the achievements of outstanding Canadian artists, scholars, and administrators. The Canada Council for the Arts is committed to raising public awareness and celebration of these exceptional people and organizations on both a national and international level.

Please visit our website (www.canadacouncil.ca) for a complete listing of these awards.

Karen Kain announces she is stepping down as Canada Council Chair

Ottawa, March 28, 2008 ��� Karen Kain, Chair of the Canada Council since September 2004, announced today she is stepping down on March 31 to dedicate herself completely to her full-time job as Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Canada.

"I accepted this position because I passionately believe in the essential role of the Canada Council and thought I would be able to devote sufficient time, attention and energy to it," she said in a letter to the Minister of Canadian Heritage. "Since my subsequent appointment as Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Canada, I have found it increasingly difficult to do justice to both positions."

"It is with regret that I accept Ms. Kain's resignation. Over the past three and a half years, she has contributed greatly to the successes of the Canada Council for the Arts," said Jos��e Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages. "However, I understand her desire to fully direct her energy to her work with the National Ballet of Canada. I offer my sincere thanks for the leadership Ms. Kain has provided and wish her the very best in her future endeavours."

Ms. Kain described her experience at the Canada Council as "deeply rewarding" and thanked the federal government for increasing its financial support to the Canada Council during her tenure as Chair. The government announced last July that the Council's annual parliamentary appropriation would be increased by $30 million on an ongoing basis, following a one-time increase of $50 million over two years. Ms. Kain also presided over the celebration of the Canada Council's 50^th anniversary in 2007 and, most recently, the development of a new Strategic Plan and Action Plan to guide the Council's activities over the next three years.

"I have been deeply honoured to have had the opportunity to lead the Canada Council for the Arts, which is one of the most important public institutions in the country," she said. "I am particularly proud of the Council's 50th anniversary year, when we drew attention to the outstanding Canadian artists and arts organizations that have contributed so much to the lives of Canadians, with Council support. I am also grateful for the appointment of a new Director in Robert Sirman, who has brought a new dynamic to the Canada Council at this important time in its history."

Under the Canada Council's governance policy, Vice-Chair Simon Brault will assume the official duties of the position until a new Chair is appointed by the federal government. The Chair's responsibilities include presiding at meetings of the Council's 11-member Board and representing the Council in its relations with the government, Parliament and the public.

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Media contact: Donna Balkan: 613-566-4305 or 1 800 263-5588, ext. 4134

E-mail: donna.balkan@canadacouncil.ca

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E-mail: heather.mcafee@canadacouncil.ca

Visit our web site at www.canadacouncil.ca.

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Canada Council Grants Facilitation

Dr Jane Colwell is pleased to announce that she has launched a GRANTS FACILITATION service to assist both artists and arts presenters with their grant submissions to the Canada Council, Foundations or provincial grant sources.

She brings fifteen years of experience with successful submissions in the arts, academic and not-for-profit sectors. As Director of Colwell Arts Management and National Coordinator for the Piano Six Project she secured grant funding for her individual artists career development activities, for tours, and for various promotional activities.

Find out more:

ph: 519-588-3499

e: jcolwell@golden.net

http://web.mac.com/janecolwell/iWeb/Grants20%Facilitation/Grants.html

Chris Paul Harman wins 2007 Jules L��ger Prize for New Chamber Music

[Ottawa] January 22, 2008 - The Canada Council for the Arts announced today that the work Postludio a rovescio by composer Chris Paul Harman is the winner of the 2007 Jules L��ger Prize for New Chamber Music. Postludio a rovescio was commissioned in 2006 by the Nieuw Ensemble, and will receive its Canadian premiere under the baton of Robert Aitken on April 11 at Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. It is the second time Mr. Harman has won the prize (the first time was in 2001 for Amerika).

Awarded annually in partnership with the Canada Council, Canadian Music Centre and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Soci��t�� Radio-Canada, the Jules L��ger Prize for New Chamber Music is designed to encourage the creation of new Canadian chamber music and to foster its performance by Canadian chamber groups. The $7,500 prize was established in 1978 by the Right Honourable Jules L��ger, then Governor General of Canada.

"Postludio a rovescio, scored for an instrumental ensemble favouring plucked instruments, is an elaboration of an earlier work I had composed for solo violin," said Mr. Harman. "The source material for both works is drawn from the Passacaglia for solo violin by Heinrich Biber. The title, meaning 'inside out postlude' in Italian, refers to the way in which many of the structural and gestural elements of Biber's original music have been 'inverted' in my own work."

The competition for the prize is administered by the Canadian Music Centre. The Canada Council funds the award, selects the peer assessment committee and organizes the prize presentation ceremony. Every year, the winning work is broadcast nationally by CBC Radio 2 and Espace musique, Radio-Canada's music network.

The prize will be presented to Mr. Harman on Friday, April 11 at 8 p.m. during a concert by New Music Concerts at Glenn Gould Studio, in the Canadian Broadcasting Centre in Toronto. Postludio a rovescio will be broadcast by CBC Radio 2 on the April 14 edition of The Signal, with host Laurie Brown, between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. and on Espace Musique at a later date.

The members of the peer assessment committee for the 2007 Jules L��ger Prize were violinist Jeremy Bell (Waterloo), composer Gregory Lee Newsome (Toronto) and composer Clark Ross (St. John's, NL). The committee was a "blind jury" which evaluated the works without knowing the names of the composers.

The jury said "this piece is a sonic tour-de-force, well-structured, and developing in a convincing and imaginative way. It is a truly impressive composition, filled with sonic treats that keep the listener's interest throughout."

The jury made a special mention of two other works submitted for the Jules L��ger Prize. They described per essere fresco by Giorgio Magnanensi (Roberts Creek, BC) as "a unique, sonic melee of tremendous virtuosity, demonstrating a powerful artistic vision." This is the second consecutive year that Giorgio Magnanensi is the first runner-up for this work.

The jury also praised Nicole Liz��e of Lachine, Quebec for her work This will not be televised which "assimilates elements of club/urban, pop and contemporary classical music in a fresh and convincing way."

Previous winners of the Jules L��ger Prize include James Rolfe, Linda Catlin Smith, Patrick Saint-Denis, ��ric Morin, Yannick Plamondon, Andr�� Ristic, Alexina Louie, Michael Oesterle, Omar Daniel, Christos Hatzis, John Burke, Peter Paul Koprowski, Bruce Mather, John Rea, Donald Steven, Michael Colgrass, Denys Bouliane, Michel Longtin,
Brian Cherney, John Hawkins, Walter Boudreau, Serge Garant and R. Murray Schafer.

Chris Paul Harman
Chris Paul Harman was born in 1970 in Toronto where he studied classical guitar, cello and electronic music with Barton Wigg, Alan Stellings and Wes Wraggett, respectively. His works have been performed by many ensembles and orchestras in Canada and abroad, including the Asko Ensemble, the CBC Radio Orchestra, the Esprit Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the New Music Concerts Ensemble, the Noordhollands Philharmonisch, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

In 1986, Mr. Harman was a finalist in the CBC Radio National Competition for Young Composers. In 1990, he was the Grand Prize Winner in that same competition for his work Iridescence, which was the selected work in the category for Composers under 30 years of age at the 1991 International Rostrum of Composers in Paris. At the International Rostrum of Composers in 2004, his Concerto for Oboe and Strings was chosen as a Recommended Work in the general category. As a result, both works have been broadcast in some 25 countries.

In 2001, Mr. Harman's work Uta received an honourable mention at the Gaudeamus International Music Week. The same year, his work Amerika was awarded the Jules L��ger Prize and was short listed for the Prix de Composition de la Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco.

In 2005, Mr. Harman was appointed Assistant Professor of Composition at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University in Montreal.

General information
In addition to its principal role of promoting and fostering the arts in Canada, the Canada Council administers awards and fellowships to over 200 artists and scholars annually in the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural and health sciences, and engineering. Among these are the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts, the Killam Prizes, the Killam Research Fellowships, the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prizes, the Governor General's Literary Awards and the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts. Other music awards include the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award, the Virginia Parker Prize, the Bernard Diamant Prize, and loans of fine stringed instruments through the Musical Instrument Bank.

For more information about these awards, including nomination procedures, contact Janet Riedel Pigott, Acting Director of Endowments and Prizes, at 613-566-4414, or 1-800-263-5588, ext. 5041, e-mail: janet.riedel@canadacouncil.ca; or
Carole Breton, Acting Endowments and Prizes Officer, at 613-566-4414, or 1-800-263-5588, ext. 4116, e-mail: carole.breton@canadacouncil.ca.

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Media Contact: Heather McAfee: 613-566-4414 or 1-800-263-5588, ext. 4523

E-mail: heather.mcafee@canadacouncil.ca

Donna Balkan: 613-566-4305 or 1-800-263-5588, ext. 4134

E-mail: donna.balkan@canadacouncil.ca

Visit our web site at www.canadacouncil.ca.

Tous les documents du Conseil des Arts du Canada sont offerts en fran��ais et en anglais.