The Canadian Conference of the Arts Announces its National Arts Award Winners for 2009

(Ottawa, ON) Sep­tem­ber 13, 2010 — The Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts (CCA) is pleased to announce the win­ners of its national arts awards for 2009. Françoise Sul­li­van and Joyce Zemans will receive the Diplôme d’honneur, while Mau­rice For­get and Robert Jekyll will receive the Keith Kelly Award for Cul­tural Lead­er­ship. The win­ners will be pre­sented with their awards dur­ing the CCA’s 65th anniver­sary Gala din­ner, tak­ing place on Novem­ber 1, 2010 at the National Arts Cen­tre (NAC) in Ottawa.

The Diplôme d’honneur is pre­sented annu­ally in recog­ni­tion of a sus­tained con­tri­bu­tion to the cul­tural life of the coun­try, whether through vol­un­teer activ­ity, men­tor­ing, patron­age, indi­vid­ual arts prac­tice or other rec­og­nized sup­port. It was first awarded in 1954 to the Right Hon­ourable Vin­cent Massey, then Gov­er­nor Gen­eral of Canada, in recog­ni­tion of the report of the Royal Com­mis­sion on National Devel­op­ment in the Arts, Let­ter and Social Sci­ences. Since then, the CCA has rec­og­nized more that 70 vision­ar­ies and cre­ators of Canada’s rich cul­tural iden­tity includ­ing Glenn Gould, Nor­man McLaren, Joe Fafard, Gabrielle Roy and Phyl­lis Lam­bert. Françoise Sul­li­van will receive the award in recog­ni­tion of her illus­tri­ous career and con­tri­bu­tion to visual arts in Canada, while Joyce Zemans will be hon­oured for her involve­ment in the cul­tural sec­tor as a scholar, men­tor and leader.

The Keith Kelly Award for Cul­tural Lead­er­ship has been awarded annu­ally since 1998, when it was estab­lished to rec­og­nize the lead­er­ship shown by the for­mer National Direc­tor of the CCA dur­ing his tenure. It is pre­sented to a Cana­dian who has made a sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tion to the arts through advo­cacy work or the devel­op­ment of cul­tural pol­icy, or who has oth­er­wise demon­strated lead­er­ship in the field. Mau­rice For­get will be rec­og­nized for his con­tri­bu­tion as a phil­an­thropist, donor and sup­porter of Montreal’s cul­tural scene. The award will also be pre­sented to Robert Jekyll for his role as a leader and pro­moter of the fine craft sector.

Recip­i­ents of the awards are selected by the CCA’s Awards Com­mit­tee, based on nom­i­na­tions received from CCA members.

The Gala will take place from 6:30 pm to 9 pm. Acclaimed Cana­dian actor and direc­tor Paul Gross will be the keynote speaker. The gala will also serve as a kick off to the CCA’s National Pol­icy Con­fer­ence, Artists: Pow­er­ing the Cre­ative Econ­omy?, tak­ing place Novem­ber 2 and 3 at the NAC. To reg­is­ter and pur­chase tick­ets for the gala, please visit http://www.ccarts.ca/en/events/.

The Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts is a national forum for the arts, her­itage and cul­tural com­mu­nity in Canada. It pro­vides research, analy­sis and con­sul­ta­tions on pub­lic poli­cies affect­ing the arts and Cana­dian cul­tural insti­tu­tions and indus­tries. The CCA fos­ters informed pub­lic debate and seeks to advance the cul­tural life of Canadians.

Biogra­phies

A vision­ary in her field, Françoise Sul­li­van stands among the nation’s most influ­en­tial and inno­v­a­tive con­tem­po­rary artists. Born in Mon­treal, Sul­li­van received her early train­ing at the École des beaux-arts de Mon­tréal before mov­ing to New York to study dance. Although she gar­nered acclaim as a pio­neer of mod­ern dance, it has been her work as a visual artist, painter and sculp­tor that has truly marked her long career. She was part of the Automa­tistes, an avant-garde move­ment, and was a sig­na­tory of the group’s 1948 man­i­festo, Refus Global. Her work has been exhib­ited in national and inter­na­tional gal­leries, and has been awarded numer­ous grants and prizes. Sul­li­van holds hon­orary degrees from the Uni­ver­sité du Québec à Mon­tréal and York Uni­ver­sity in Toronto. In 2005, Sul­li­van received the Gov­er­nor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts. In 2009, she was appointed an Offi­cer of the Order of Canada.

Joyce Zemans has made valu­able con­tri­bu­tions to the cul­tural sec­tor through her work as a scholar, teacher, writer, vol­un­teer and men­tor. She is a Pro­fes­sor Emerita and Senior Scholar at York Uni­ver­sity. She is also the Direc­tor of the MBA pro­gram in Arts and Media Admin­is­tra­tion at York’s Schulich School of Busi­ness. She pre­vi­ously served as Dean of York’s Fac­ulty of Fine Arts, Chair of York’s Depart­ment of Visual Arts and Act­ing Direc­tor of the MBA Pro­gram in Non­profit Man­age­ment and Lead­er­ship. She is a for­mer Direc­tor of the Canada Coun­cil for the Arts. Her lead­er­ship and tenac­ity dur­ing her tenure at the Coun­cil was evi­dent as she effec­tively led the orga­ni­za­tion through an impor­tant period of tran­si­tion. Zemans is actively involved as a mem­ber of the advi­sory boards of the Toronto Arts Coun­cil, the Cre­ative Trust and Con­cor­dia University’s Insti­tute for Stud­ies in Cana­dian Art, among oth­ers. She is a Mem­ber of the Order of Canada.

A lawyer by pro­fes­sion, Mau­rice For­get is a well-known phil­an­thropist and sup­porter of the arts and cul­ture scene in Mon­treal. For­get is the for­mer Chair­man of the law firm Fasken Mar­tineau DuMoulin, and has been actively involved as a mem­ber of the board of numer­ous artis­tic orga­ni­za­tions, cov­er­ing var­i­ous dis­ci­plines. For seven years, he served as the Chair of the Con­seil des arts de Mon­tréal (CAM) and under his guid­ance and per­se­ver­ance, CAM achieved its sta­tus as an arm’s-length cor­po­ra­tion, sep­a­rate from the City. An avid art col­lec­tor, in 1995, he donated his col­lec­tion of 400 con­tem­po­rary art­works to the Musée d’art de Joli­ette and con­tin­ues to con­tribute art­works as a donor and lender. In 1998, For­get was appointed a Mem­ber of the Order of Canada. In 2009, he was named Arts-Business Per­son­al­ity of the Year by the Board of Trade of Met­ro­pol­i­tan Mon­treal and the Con­seil des Arts de Montréal.

An advo­cate for the arts, a ded­i­cated leader and a tal­ented visual artist, Robert Jekyll has had a great impact on Canada’s cul­tural land­scape. For over 30 years, he has oper­ated a stained glass stu­dio prac­tice in Toronto. His works have been included in exhi­bi­tions and major col­lec­tions across Canada, and have been com­mis­sioned at many pub­lic loca­tions. Beyond his tal­ent as an artist, Jekyll has been rec­og­nized for his con­tri­bu­tions to the advance­ment of fine craft. He played a piv­otal role in the ref­or­ma­tion of the Cana­dian Crafts Coun­cil, now known as the Cana­dian Craft Fed­er­a­tion. Dur­ing his tenure as Found­ing Pres­i­dent and Admin­is­tra­tive Direc­tor of the Fed­er­a­tion, he led the organization’s advo­cacy efforts and increased its pub­lic pro­file. He has also been con­nected with craft and design move­ments through his involve­ment on the boards of the Ontario Crafts Coun­cil, Visual Arts Ontario, the Design Exchange and the Cana­dian Soci­ety of Dec­o­ra­tive Arts.