| Veteran dramatist John Murrell, who was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2003, took home the inaugural $2,500 Epcor Established Artist Award at the 11th annual Mayor’s Luncheon for Business and the Arts on April 27.
"I am thrilled," says Murrell of the honour, presented during the Calgary Professional Arts Alliance-sponsored event, which was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. "I think it’s a sign of my endurance and survival. In a career as long as mine, you go out of fashion and hopefully come back into fashion."
Murrell is currently the artistic director-executive producer of Theatre Arts at The Banff Centre. His career in theatre spans 35 years and includes work as an actor, teacher, director and one of Canada’s best-known playwrights. His plays have been produced in more than 30 countries and translated into more than 15 languages. Most recently, he wrote the libretto for the new opera Filumena, which had a triumphant première at Calgary Opera in 2003.
One Yellow Rabbit grabbed the $2,500 Telus Innovative Arts Award. OYR, now in its 21st year, has become one of Canada’s leading creation theatres through a winning combination of showmanship, avant-garde artistry and self-promotion. The company continues to seek new creative liaisons, in part through its staging of the High Performance Rodeo, its annual experimental theatre festival which attracts performers from around the world.
Despite an international reputation, OYR remains a relatively unknown entity to many Calgarians; a fact not lost on Steve Schroeder, the company’s managing producer.
"The award is totally refreshing," he says. "This gives us the opportunity to stand up amongst Calgary’s corporate community and toot our own horn."
The creator of a performance festival included within OYR’s Rodeo was also awarded $2,500. Eric Moschopedis, founder of the Mutton Busting event for burgeoning young performers, took home the Enbridge Emerging Artist Award.
"This award is an incentive to keep going forward with our work," says Moschopedis, a University of Calgary drama alumnus who is also co-founder of the Birds and Stone alternative performance space.
Two Rozsa Awards were also given out at this year’s luncheon. Andrew Raeburn, departing artistic director of the Honens International Piano Competition, took the Special Achievement Award, including a $2,500 cash prize. It’s given to recognize someone who has "taken a lead role in recognizing outstanding achievement in a specific area of arts management."
"I think I was recognized because they were intrigued by the idea of the complete artist," says Raeburn, referring to the Honens competition’s philosophy of choosing winners based on their ability to play in a variety of formats.
The second Rozsa went to Anne Green, producer of the WordFest: Banff-Calgary International Writers Festival. She received her award for excellence in arts management. The $46,000 prize is divided, with $10,000 given to Green and another $10,000 awarded to WordFest. In addition to the monetary prize, the recipient is given a scholarship. Green or a member of her staff will be able to attend a 13-week management program from the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary.
"This is a unique award and a huge privilege when I consider what an incredible talent pool we have in Calgary," says Green.
Winners of this year’s Patron Awards included Canadian Tire in the Innovative Support category. The retailer was nominated by Theatre Calgary for its support of the theatre’s Toonies for Turkeys program during the run of A Christmas Carol, which helped raise $25,000 for the Calgary Inter-faith Food Bank Society.
ConocoPhillips Canada, meanwhile, picked up the award in the Sustained Support category. It was nominated by the DAREarts Foundation Inc. for Children, which has received continued support from ConocoPhillips in its efforts to provide arts programs to Calgary children. |
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