Two Nudges..and an Appointment

Ottawa , Sep­tem­ber 16, 2004

Nom­i­na­tions due for CCA Awards

They may not have the hype of Cana­dian Idol, but the Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts is seek­ing nom­i­na­tions for its pres­ti­gious awards: the Diplôme d’honneur and the Keith Kelly Award for Cul­tural Lead­er­ship.   (A detailed descrip­tion of the cri­te­ria for each award is avail­able on our web­site: http://www.ccarts.ca/en/awards/ )

These are pre­sented annu­ally to mem­bers of Canada ‘s cul­tural com­mu­nity who have made sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions to the spirit and vital­ity of the arts and cul­ture in this coun­try.   The Awards Com­mit­tee selects the awards recip­i­ents from nom­i­na­tions sub­mit­ted by mem­bers of the CCA.   The dead­line for nom­i­na­tions is Sep­tem­ber 30, 2004 .   All mem­bers are urged to get their nom­i­na­tions in as soon as possible!

The awards will be pre­sented at a spe­cial recep­tion on the evening of Fri­day Novem­ber 19, as part of CCA’s National Pol­icy Con­fer­ence ( From Act to Action — more details on the web­site).   The recep­tion is being hosted by the Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor of Saskatchewan, the Hon­ourable Dr. Lynda Haver­stock; atten­dance is open to CCA con­fer­ence par­tic­i­pants and invited guests.

In Search of Leaders

The CCA holds its Board elec­tions every 3 years.   The next elec­tions take place over the win­ter of 2004–2005, and in prepa­ra­tion for this the CCA Nom­i­nat­ing Com­mit­tee is updat­ing its data­base of poten­tial cul­tural lead­ers and activists who might be inter­ested in serv­ing on the Board.

Do you know any­one who…

… is a prac­tis­ing artist and/or works for an arts ser­vice orga­ni­za­tion and is pas­sion­ate about advo­cacy and pol­icy work?

… is a leader in an artis­tic dis­ci­pline and/or region?

… is a cul­tural activist, well-regarded by his or her peers?

… works in the cul­tural indus­tries or for an indus­try association?

You can sug­gest some­one you know, some­one you work with, or even put for­ward your own name.   Please provide:

• name, title and organization;
• con­tact infor­ma­tion both for your­self and the person(s) you are nominating;
• bio­graph­i­cal infor­ma­tion or source (eg: web­site) for information.

All details will be added to a data­base which will be ref­er­enced when con­sid­er­ing peo­ple as poten­tial Board members.

… AND AN APPOINTMENT

The Canada Coun­cil for the Arts announced today that the for­mer prima bal­le­rina Karen Kain is their new Chair. In a world-renowned dance career that spanned four decades, Kain per­formed with the pre­mier bal­let com­pa­nies of the world, includ­ing the Bol­shoi and Bal­let de Mar­seille in addi­tion to a 26 year career as the prin­ci­pal dancer for the National Bal­let of Canada.

Since her retire­ment in 1997, Kain has remained active as an advo­cate for dancers and artists. In 1985, she was named the first pres­i­dent of the Dancer Tran­si­tion Resource Cen­tre (for­merly the Dancer Tran­si­tion Cen­tre), an orga­ni­za­tion that helps dancers make the per­sonal and pro­fes­sional adjust­ments to their lives after their per­form­ing careers. She is cur­rently the Chair of the Advi­sory Coun­cil at the Cen­tre, as well as the Artis­tic Asso­ciate at the National Bal­let of Canada.

“Karen Kain is one of Canada’s most beloved stars,” said CCA National Direc­tor Jean Malavoy of the announce­ment. “Her inspir­ing legacy as an artist is pre­served in every Cana­dian soul. Her pas­sion as an arts advo­cate has made an indeli­ble imprint on our nation cul­tural scene. She was ready to make the move to Canada Coun­cil. Hasn’t she con­stantly chal­lenged her­self with new roles?”

Kain was named as a Com­pan­ion of the Order of Canada in 1994, and in 2002 was awarded with the Gov­er­nor General’s Per­form­ing Arts Award for her dis­tin­guished con­tri­bu­tion to the arts in Canada .