Edmonton Arts Prizes recognize work in music, film, books and visual art
Individual expression, artistic freedom and cultural collaboration were all given a big boost as the 2024 Edmonton Arts Prizes were awarded at Varscona Theatre Wednesday night.
Encouraging and indeed rewarding the works of four category winners with $15,000 a pop and a sweet resume cherry, the jury-picked annual prizes in local music, film, visual arts and books made a declaration about who we are as a city.
Runners-up received a nice $5,000 apiece, the entire giveaway totalling $100,000 among 12 finalists.
The City of Edmonton Music Prize went to Philippines-born pop singer HAIDEE's debut album This Shouldn't Be Typical, with Arlo Maverick's Blue Collar and Home Front's Games of Power taking the runner-up prizes.
Cree actor-filmmaker Cody Lightning's Hey, Viktor!, which played Tribeca and TIFF, took the City of Edmonton Film Prize, with Adam Scorgie's Thunder: The Life and Death of Arturo Gatti and Omar Mouallem's The Lebanese Burger Mafia close behind, each awesome.
The Eldon + Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize went to the textile, watershed-based work of Kelsey Stephenson for her work Currents up at Art Gallery of St. Albert last year. Taiessa for variegate at Harcourt House and Tiffany Shaw's piece at The Works Art & Design Festival, my children, my mother, her mother and their mother, and their mother, and their mother, and their mother.… nitawasimisak, nikawiy, okawiya ekwa okawiwawa, okawiyiwa, ekwa okawiyiwa ekwa okawiyiwa.…, deservedly earned the $5,000 each.
Finally, the Robert Kroetsch-City of Edmonton Book Prize went to Jennifer Bowering Delisle and her collection of lyric essays on motherhood, Micrographia, with Anna Marie Sewell's novel Urbane and Richard Van Camp's graphic novel The Spirit of Denendeh: As I Enfold You in Petals getting the runner-up booster shots.
Partnered with the City of Edmonton, the Edmonton Arts Council co-ordinates the annual awards, working with community partners Alberta Media Production Industries Association, Alberta Music, Audreys Books, CARFAC Alberta, Edmonton Community Foundation and Writers' Guild of Alberta.
It goes without saying that all these works are worth seeking out, each of the 12 winners adding texture and terrific stories to our surroundings — a congratulations and thanks to you all, well deserved.