And the 30th annual Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts nominees are ...
From fresh new voices to municipal legends — the 30th anniversary Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts nominees have been declared.
Nominees include local festival organizers, supporters of the arts, corporations and, of course, artists of multiple stripes — including musicians, novelists, poets, dancers and visual artists. The annual Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award — wisely no longer a horse race between artistic dignitaries of magnitude — will be a surprise.
In the emerging artist category, poet Nasra Adem, visual artist Kasie Campbell, dance director Stephanie Lilley, singer Marleana Moore, dancer Kate Stashko and Jeannie Vandekerkhove, also a dancer, are in the running.
The Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize, which must touch on the city in some way, will be taken by one the following writers — Lauralyn Chow for Paper Teeth, Katherine Koller for Art Lessons, or Trent Portigal for A Floating Phrase.
Up for the John Poole Award for Promotion of the Arts is Masters Arts Academy’s Sventiana Kanyo, After the House Lights’ Jenna Marynowski, UP+DT Festival’s Brent Oliver, and Monetizing Your Creativity Podcast’s Zach Polis.
For excellence in arts management, it’s a race between Rayanne Doucet of Edmonton Poetry Festival, Carol Holmes of Writers’ Guild of Alberta, Kim Mattice Wanat of Opera Nuova, Ken Regan, recently retired from CKUA, and the lively Murray Utas of Fringe Theatre. The full list of nominees is at left. Congratulations to one and all, as well as to the Professional Arts Coalition of Edmonton for its hard work pulling this together, and of course the mayor, for engaging in the artistic ecosystem.
The prizes in the 10 categories will be given out at a red-carpet “elegant” event starting at 8 p.m., Monday, May 1, at City Hall.
This will feature performances by the Dungarees, Nasra Adem, the Gadjo Collective, Good Women Dance Collective, Miranda Allen, AJA Louden and visitors. Tickets, $50, are on sale at yeglive.ca.