Governor General's Performing Arts Awards
The Governor General's Performing Arts Awards are the foremost honours presented for excellence in the performing arts, in the categories of dance, classical music, popular music, film, and broadcasting. They were initiated in 1992 by then Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn and the first recipient was Gweneth Lloyd, co-founder of Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Initially, the award came with a $15,000 bursary - today's winners receive $25,000 and a medal struck by the Royal Canadian Mint. In addition, two complementary awards are given: The Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts, recognizing the voluntary services to the performing arts by an individual or group, and the National Arts Centre Award, which recognizes an individual artist's or company's work during the past performance year. There is also a mentorship program that connects award recipients with artists in their early to mid-career. Since 2008, the National Film Board of Canada has produced short films about each of the laureates, which are screened at the awards ceremony and streamed online.
Read more about this topic: Governor General's Awards
Famous quotes containing the words governor, general, performing and/or arts:
“Three years ago, also, when the Sims tragedy was acted, I said to myself, There is such an officer, if not such a man, as the Governor of Massachusetts,—what has he been about the last fortnight? Has he had as much as he could do to keep on the fence during this moral earthquake?... He could at least have resigned himself into fame.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“At that,
his small size,
keen eyes,
serviceable beak
and general truculence
assure his survival—”
—William Carlos Williams (1883–1963)
“And no one, it seemed, had had the presence of mind
To initiate proceedings or stop the wheel
From the number it was backing away from as it stopped:
It was performing prettily; the puncture stayed unseen....”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“I haven’t seen so much tippy-toeing around since the last time I went to the ballet. When members of the arts community were asked this week about one of their biggest benefactors, Philip Morris, and its requests that they lobby the New York City Council on the company’s behalf, the pas de deux of self- justification was so painstakingly choreographed that it constituted a performance all by itself.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)