The Canadian Conference of the Arts announces its national arts awards winners for 2006

Ottawa, ON (August 23, 2006) — The Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts (CCA) is pleased to announce that its Diplôme d’honneur will be pre­sented to phil­an­thropist and the­atre pro­ducer, Bluma Appel, while the Keith Kelly Award for Cul­tural Lead­er­ship will be given to one of Canada’s long time arts advo­cates, Pat Durr. The 2006 CCA National Arts Awards cer­e­mony will be hosted by the Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor of Ontario, the Hon­ourable James K. Bartle­man, at Queen’s Park in Toronto on Sep­tem­ber 15, 2006.

Over the course of her career in the cul­tural sec­tor that spans over 50 years, Bluma Appel has ded­i­cated immea­sur­able hours and finan­cial resources, not only to the­atre but to opera, orches­tras and artist-run coops. “The list of ben­e­fi­cia­ries is prob­a­bly longer and more exten­sive than we will ever know,” says Alberta G. Cefis, Chair of Opera Ate­lier. An Offi­cer of the Order of Canada and recip­i­ent of the Order of Ontario , Bluma Appel has sat on the Boards of sev­eral cul­tural insti­tu­tions over the years includ­ing the Ontario Crafts Coun­cil, the Nia­gara Sym­phony, Tele­film Canada and the Ontario Tril­lium Foundation.

Per­haps the great­est mon­u­ment to Bluma Appel’s achieve­ments is the the­atre named in her hon­our. Reopened in 1983, the St. Lawrence Centre’s main stage was dubbed the Bluma Appel The­atre rec­og­niz­ing the sig­nif­i­cant finan­cial con­tri­bu­tion that greatly facil­i­tated the theatre’s rebuild­ing. Her ded­i­ca­tion has been felt not only within the cul­tural sec­tor but in mat­ters of health as well, as she is Founder and Chair of the Cana­dian Foun­da­tion for AIDS Research and helped estab­lish the Clin­i­cal Sim­u­la­tion Learn­ing Cen­tre (SINS Lab) at the Fac­ulty of Nurs­ing, Uni­ver­sity of Toronto .

Con­tribut­ing over four decades to Cana­dian arts and cul­ture, Pat Durr has been relent­less and suc­cess­ful in secur­ing the rights of artists in mat­ters of copy­right, tax­a­tion, as well as health and safety. An activist ded­i­cated to both local and national affairs, Pat Durr has exten­sive expe­ri­ence tena­ciously defend­ing Cana­dian visual artists before fed­eral and munic­i­pal gov­ern­ments. “Highly intel­li­gent, per­sis­tent and ana­lyt­i­cal, she uses rea­son and strat­egy to step by step dis­man­tle bureau­cratic road­blocks,” said Jen­nifer Dick­son, C.M.

Although Pat Durr has ded­i­cated her life to sup­port­ing other artists, much of her advo­cacy work is informed by her own artis­tic prac­tice as a print­maker, a prac­tice she reg­u­larly put on hold when­ever she felt an advo­cacy issue needed atten­tion. Despite her numer­ous oblig­a­tions she has suc­ceeded in main­tain­ing a vital art prac­tice and con­tin­ues to exhibit work nation­ally and internationally.

Recip­i­ents of the Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts National Arts Awards are selected by the CCA’s Awards Com­mit­tee, based on nom­i­na­tions received from CCA mem­bers. 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. More than 70 of the vision­ar­ies and cre­ators of Canada ‘s rich cul­tural iden­tity, includ­ing Glenn Gould, Mau­reen For­rester, Oscar Peter­son, and Pierre Juneau have been rec­og­nized since the award’s incep­tion in 1954. The award is in the form of a sil­ver tal­is­man designed by the late West Coast craft­smith, Bill Reid. 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 from 1989–98. 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. The award is an inscribed medal designed by Ottawa medal­lic artist Susan Taylor.

The Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts is the national forum for the arts and cul­tural com­mu­nity in Canada . The old­est and largest coali­tion within the cul­tural sec­tor the CCA rep­re­sents over 250 thou­sand indi­vid­u­als. The CCA serves as a leader, an author­ity and a cat­a­lyst to ensure a clear headed debate on cul­tural pol­icy issues in Canada . The CCA’s mis­sion is to ensure that artists and cul­tural insti­tu­tions and indus­tries can con­tribute freely and fully to a cre­ative, dynamic, and civil Cana­dian society.

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