The awards recognize the outstanding achievements of artists and arts organizations and their contributions to arts and culture in Ontario over a significant period of time.
The 2011 ceremony took place on June 9 in Toronto and was emceed by internationally acclaimed jazz performer, Molly Johnson.
2011 Premier’s Awards Artist Award Winner
David Earle
Dance – Guelph
David Earle began dance training at the age of five. Mr. Earle co-founded Toronto Dance Theatre with Patricia Beatty and Peter Randazzo. He was appointed sole Artistic Director in 1987, taking the company to its first two triumphant seasons in New York and tours in Europe and Asia. In his 40 years as a choreographer, Mr. Earle has created over 130 works. Mr. Earle left the Toronto Dance Theatre in December 1996 to pursue an independent career. He launched Dancetheatre David Earle (DtDE) to support continuing creation, for the preservation of his repertoire, and to serve as a forum for younger artists whose concern is the expression of humanity in dance. Since launching DtDE Mr. Earle has choreographed 41 new works. As an ambassador for Canada his works have been performed in Paris, London, New York, Berlin, Brussels, Lisbon, Warsaw, Edinburgh, Mexico City, Tokyo, Bejing, Seoul and on tour in Spain, France, Poland, Germany and the USA.
2011 Premier’s Awards Arts Organization Award Winner
Vtape is a distribution and information resource centre specializing in the visibility of media artworks by artists. Born from a love of video art, and actively involved in fulfilling the needs of artists, Vtape makes its exceptional collection of over 5,000 contemporary video artworks accessible to an international community of educators, curators and diverse public audiences. Vtape is committed to establishing video art preservation standards and to the presentation of artists’ and curators’ work. Vtape provides a framework for established and emerging artists, and strives to support hybrid practices in an increasingly complex cultural milieu. Vtape is dedicated to providing training opportunities for young cultural workers to gain essential experience with contemporary media arts discourse and historical artists’ practices, and to increasing an awareness of Aboriginal media arts production worldwide.
2011 Premier’s Awards Artist Award Finalists
David Anderson
Theatre – Toronto
Founder and Artistic Director of Clay & Paper Theatre, David Anderson is a pioneer of public space performance. For over 40 years he has written, performed and directed plays across Canada, in the United States, Russia and Europe. A versatile multi-instrumentalist, he performs and composes for theatre. David is a regular volunteer with First Nations communities through ArtsCanCircle. In 2007 David received a Chalmers Arts Fellowship. In 2008, he was a finalist for the William Kilbourn Award for the Celebration of Toronto’s Cultural Life and in 2009 he received a Davenport Community Builder’s Award in recognition of his contributions to community.
Edward Burtynsky
Visual Arts – Toronto
Edward Burtynsky is known as one of Canada's most respected photographers. His remarkable photographic depictions of global industrial landscapes are included in the collections of over fifty major museums around the world.
His imagery explores the intricate link between industry and nature, combining the raw elements of mining, quarrying, manufacturing, shipping, oil production and recycling into eloquent, highly expressive visions that find beauty and humanity in the most unlikely of places. In 1985, Burtynsky also founded Toronto Image Works, a darkroom rental facility, custom photo laboratory, digital imaging and new media computer-training centre catering to all levels of Toronto's art community. Mr. Burtynsky also sits on the board of directors for Toronto’s international photography festival, Contact, and The Ryerson Gallery and Research Centre.
Dennis Lee
Literature – Toronto
Dennis Lee’s writing for children is known around the world, through books like Alligator Pie and the song lyrics for Fraggle Rock. His adult poetry has been widely honoured; collections include Civil Elegies and the recent Un and Yesno. Since co-founding the House of Anansi Press in 1967, he has mentored or edited several hundred writers and as Toronto’s first poet laureate he initiated the Legacy Project, partnering with Heritage Toronto to install plaques celebrating the city’s notable artists, scientists, and thinkers. He is married to novelist, Susan Perly, and lives in Toronto.
R. Murray Schafer
Music – Indian River
Multi-talented R. Murray Schafer has won international acclaim for his achievement as a composer, educator, environmentalist, literary scholar, visual artist and provocateur. A prolific composer, he has written works ranging from orchestral compositions to choral music as well as musical theatre and multi-media ritual. Schafer is actively involved in integrating his artistic works into the communities near his home in rural Ontario.
Menaka Thakkar
Dance – Thornhill
Menaka Thakkar is a renowned dancer, choreographer, and teacher working in three classical forms of Indian dance. Originally from Bombay and now living in Toronto, she has received performance and choreography awards in both countries. Described as “a rare jewel in the richly encrusted crown of Toronto’s dance community”, Menaka and her dance have been the subjects of many documentary films. Globe and Mail’s dance critic, Paula Citron, has identified Menaka as the “one who has practically single-handedly brought Bharatanatyam into the (Canadian) mainstream.”
2011 Premier’s Awards Arts Organization Award Finalists
Blyth Festival
Theatre – Blyth
The Blyth Festival is a professional repertory company, producing exclusively Canadian theatre, with an emphasis on new work that pertains to rural life. Since 1975, the festival has premiered 113 new Canadian plays, the vast majority of which were commissioned and/or developed in Blyth. In addition to recent Governor General’s Award nominations, Blyth plays have enjoyed success in the publishing world. Since 2003, eight new scripts developed by the festival have been published and three more will be printed this year. Outside of its repertory theatre, the festival supports a Young Company, music and visual arts in the community.
Definitely Superior Art Gallery
Visual Arts - Thunder Bay
Definitely Superior Art Gallery, located in Thunder Bay, is Northwestern Ontario's leading edge and nationally recognized, not-for-profit, multidisciplinary artist-run centre for the contemporary arts. Incorporated in 1988, Definitely Superior has been progressively successful in generating a dynamic visual and interdisciplinary expansion - an interweaving infusion of the "new" in contemporary arts and culture that stimulates both artists and audiences. Our mandate goes beyond presenting visual art exhibitions and extends into multi-disciplinary activities that exist to identify, encourage and support regional, national and international artists. In its 23 year history, Definitely Superior has presented over 700 exhibitions, events and activities, both on- and off-site, supporting as many as 11,000 multi-disciplinary artists.
Dusk Dances
Dance -Toronto
Dusk Dances is a curated dance event that brings high quality contemporary and traditional dance to urban public parks. The festival features an array of choreographic works presented every night at sunset. As dusk descends, a theatrical host leads the audience to five eclectic dance pieces that unfold in different areas of the park. Choreographers from various backgrounds are commissioned to create a ten-minute piece inspired by the park's natural environment. Audiences are invited on a pay-what-you-can basis to an innovative site-specific festival, which is not only an artistic event but a social and cultural one as well.
Hot Docs
Media Arts – Toronto
Hot Docs is a national, charitable organization with a mandate to advance and celebrate the art of documentary film and video, and to create production opportunities for documentary filmmakers.
Hot Docs started off with no full-time staff, one computer, one phone, and a calling - to find, screen, develop, launch, and support the best docs and their makers. Hot Docs has grown exponentially, increasing its audience to 150,000 and its filmmaker participation to over 2,000. In addition, over 70 per cent of attending Canadian filmmakers are from Ontario and over 97 per cent of the festival’s audience base are Ontario residents. Hot Doc also draws more than 450 accredited media.
The Mariposa Folk Festival
Music – Orillia
The Mariposa Folk Festival was founded in 1961 and ever since has set as its mission the promotion and preservation of folk art in Canada through song, story, dance and craft. Over that half-century, Mariposa has lived a life of ups and downs, profit and loss. But remarkable through all its travels and tribulations is the fact that the “Grand Dame” of folk festivals remains and thrives. Mariposa has showcased most of the major musical acts of the last 50 years. This is an important event for Orillia, for Ontario and is recognized nationally as a significant cultural icon.
