The 24th annual Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts took place tonight at the Winspear Centre. Sharon and I attended for the fourth year in a row, and were happy to learn that this year our tickets would be supporting the Edmonton International Street Performers Festival’s Comedy Cares Program and the iHuman Youth Society. The evening always brings out an eclectic mix of Edmontonians, and features a broad range of local artists.

Mayor Mandel’s message in the event program thanked local businesses for their support of the arts:

I also offer a special thank you to the many Edmonton businesses and community organizations for their continued and unwavering support of the arts. Their generosity and encouragement have made a lasting difference to our artists, making it possible for them to achieve enormous success.

He echoed those thoughts during his time on stage, but also used the opportunity to call upon new businesses to step up in support of the arts. He noted that we see the same, few organizations year after year, and while they are absolutely appreciated, it would be nice to see some new faces join them. As he wrapped up, Mayor Mandel joked that he was done preaching for the evening, but I thought his comments were appropriate.

The Be Arthurs performed an interesting mix of songs as guests arrived, including Lady Gaga and the Ghostbusters theme!

The full list of tonight’s nominees is available at the PACE website. Here are the winners:

Mayor’s Award for Sustained Support of the Arts
Lexus of Edmonton, nominated by Alberta Ballet

Mayor’s Award for Innovative Support of the Arts by a Business
ATB Financial, nominated by Alberta Music Industry Association

John Poole Award for Promotion of the Arts
Avenue Magazine, nominated by Edmonton Opera

City of Edmonton Book Prize
Prodigal Daughter: A Journey to Byzantium by Myrna Kostash, University of Alberta Press

ATCO Gas Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement
Charles Thomas Peacocke, nominated by Catalyst Theatre

Stantec Youth Award
Cynthia Hicks, nominated by Philippine Barangay Performing Arts Society

Northlands Award for an Emerging Artist
Arlen Konopaki, nominated by Tessi Flood

The Sutton Place Hotel People’s Choice Award
Ulrike Rossier, nominated by Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts

Molson Coors Award for Excellence in Artistic Direction
Sandro Dominelli, nominated by Nathalie Tait

TELUS Courage to Innovate Award
Geri Actors & Friends, nominated by Edmonton Seniors Coordinating Council

Tonight’s performances included:

• Good Women Dance Collective
• Poet Laureate Roland Pemberton
• The Irrelevant Show
• Nathan Berg
• St. Aggies ‘84
• Kat Danser
• A Blank Canvas, by Dianne Donovan and Adolfo Ruiz, commissioned by FAVA
• Dave Babcock and his Jump Orchestra

I quite enjoyed the Good Women Dance Collective, it was an interesting way to open the show. Roland Pemberton’s poem was new, for an upcoming public art project. He won the crowd over making reference to Keillor Road and the infamous baseball bat on Alberta Avenue. Kat Danser was great, as always, and the Strathcona High School’s theatre program students did a wonderful job with St. Aggies ‘84. Dave Babcock was an excellent selection to close the show, as his upbeat tunes made it possible for the return of the big closing dance! A few people got up on stage to shake it, but unfortunately it wasn’t as big as years past.

Congratulations to all of tonight’s nominees and winners!

Save the date for next year’s event, the 25th anniversary, set to take place on April 2, 2012.

You can see more photos from the evening here. You can read my previous recaps here: 2008, 2009, 2010.

Sharon and I attended our third straight, and the 23rd annual, Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts tonight, held at the Winspear Centre. The event “celebrates some of the best artistic talents our city has to offer” and offers “sample-sized performances from some of Edmonton’s most talented artists and performers.” I’ve always enjoyed myself in the past, and tonight was no different.

Here is Mayor Mandel’s message to all Friends of the Arts, clearly inspired by the Vancouver Olympics:

Our creative culture helps make Edmonton the interesting and exciting city we are proud to call home and I’m proud to host this celebration of one of our city’s greatest assets.

Throughout the Vancouver Olympics, many of us felt inspired and proud as we watched out athletes strive for excellence. Like our Olympic athletes, Edmonton’s artists, writers and performers entertain and inspire us…stimulate and challenge us. This evening is all about Edmonton’s creative minds and their drive for excellence and achievement.

As well, during the Olympics we saw many stories of the “difference makers” – those who support our athletes as they strive to excel, and we were touched by these stories. In Edmonton, it is our businesses and community that are the difference makers to our artists – standing behind them and supporting them in their endeavours.

Tonight, we honour every member of Edmonton’s creative culture, and thank those who support it. Enjoy the show!

The full list of tonight’s nominees is available at the PACE website. Here are the winners:

The Mayor’s Award for Sustained Support of the Arts
Players de Novo, nominated by Concrete Theatre

The Mayor’s Award for Innovative Support by a Business for the Arts
Maclab Enterprises, Bruce Bentley, President & CEO, nominated by Edmonton Symphony Orchestra

John Poole Award for Promotion of the Arts
Allan E. Scott, nominated by Art Gallery of Alberta

City of Edmonton Book Prize
Waiting for Columbus, Thomas Trofimuk, McClelland & Stewart

Stantec Youth Artist Award ($2500 cash prize)
Matthew Jonah, nominated by Greg Dowler-Coltman

TELUS Courage to Innovate Award ($2500 cash prize)
Trevor Anderson, nominated by City of Edmonton, Office of the Environment

Northlands Award for an Emerging Artist ($2500 cash prize)
Raymond Biesinger, nominated by David Berry

Molson Award for Excellence in Artistic Direction ($2500 cash prize)
Greg Dowler-Coltman, nominated by Edmonton Opera

Sutton Place People’s Choice Award
Jeff Holmwood, glassworks

ATCO Gas Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement ($2500 cash prize)
Alice Major, nominated by John Mahon

Performers included:

• Yellow Ribbon Dancers, who opened the show
• Good Spirit Trio, classical musicians
• Jeremy Baumung & Kenneth Brown, who performed Homeless, a really moving story about working in one of Edmonton’s toughest homeless shelters
• Allez Ouest, the face of Franco-Albertan music
• 3rd Street Beat, Edmonton’s first hip hop studio, who wowed the crowd after the intermission
• Andrew Grose, a very funny comedian who made everyone laugh with his “bed in a bag” bit
• The Wheat Pool, who performed two songs from their new album – I definitely need to check these guys out
• Vinok Worldance, who closed the show

My favorite performance was easily 3rd Street Beat, they really stole the show for a few minutes! I also really enjoyed The Wheat Pool, Andrew Grose, and Jeremy Baumung’s performance, which was top notch. The diversity of performances seemed to be back this year, though the second half of the night definitely had the most energy.

Sharon and I were kind of looking forward to the big dance at the end – where everyone, including the Mayor, gets up on stage as part of the final performance – but for whatever reason it didn’t happen this year. I guess the High School Musical-inspired foyer dance at the beginning made up for it though!

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!

You can read my previous recaps here: 2008, 2009

Last night Sharon and I attended the 22nd annual Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts at the Winspear Centre. The annual awards ceremony recognizes members of the local arts community, and features a number of performances. As I said last year, it’s a good way to sample the variety offered by Edmonton’s arts scene.

We were fortunate enough to get tickets to the pre-ceremony reception from Bryan Cox of Molson, one of the event’s sponsors and long-time supporter of the arts community. It was great to meet Bryan and his colleague Ferg Devins. You can read about all of the things they are doing at the Molson in the Community blog.

The reception was held at The Citadel, in an area we’ve never been to (upstairs with the waterfall). It was a really great venue! We had some wine, sampled the food, and took in the sights and sounds. There were lots of recognizable faces in the crowd, including the Mayor himself, a number of City Councillors, and many of the people that keep Edmonton’s arts community interesting and growing.

The main event was held in the wonderful Enmax Hall at the Winspear Centre. Once again we purchased tickets for the Upper Circle and sat in the middle of the front row, which gave us a great view of the entire venue. It seemed as though there were less people in attendance than there were last year, but it was still a fairly big crowd (and the foyer was packed at intermission). CBC’s Peter Brown and CTV’s Carrie Doll once again emceed the event, and they did a great job.

You can view the full list of nominees in this PDF file. Here are the winners:

The Mayor’s Award for Sustained Support of the Arts
See Magazine, nominated by Latitude 53 Contemporary Visual Culture

The Mayor’s Award for Innovative Support by a Business for the Arts
CIBC, nominated by the Citadel Theatre

The John Poole Award for Promotion of the Arts
Ellis Brother’s Photography, nominated by the Arts Touring Alliance

The City of Edmonton Book Prize
Jack W. Brink, Athabasca University Press

The Stantec Youth Artist Award
Roydon Tse, nominated by Ross Sheppard School

TELUS Courage to Innovate Award
Rising Sun Theatre, nominated by Gerry Potter

The Molson Award for Excellence in Artistic Direction
Shelley Switzer, nominated by Bottom Line Productions

The Northlands Award for an Emerging Artist
Kristy Trinier, nominated by the Art Gallery of Alberta

The Sutton Place Hotel People’s Choice Award
Jonathan Kaiser

ATCO Gas Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement
Timothy Ryan, nominated by MacEwan Centre for the Arts

Performers included:

• Jeremy Spurgeon, who opened the show on the Winspear’s massive organ.
• The Be Arthurs, who performed covers of Toxic by Britney Spears and Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.
• The Raving Poets, who shared three poems set to music.
• Chris Craddock & Nathan Cuckow, who performed a piece from their gay rap opera, Bash’d.
• Ann Vriend, who sang three songs at the piano, including a cover of Queen’s We Are The Champions.
• John Cameron, who encouraged the audience to sing along to a cover of Niel Diamond’s Sweet Caroline.
• KO Dance Project, who performed an interesting interpretive dance.
• Bomba!, a latin-jazz group who closed out the show.

My favorite performances were The Be Arthurs and Chris Craddock & Nathan Cuckow – very entertaining! I’m very glad I had the opportunity to see them perform, and wouldn’t hesitate to attend one of their shows in the future. Ann Vriend is definitely talented, but I think I liked Samantha Schultz better last year. I also thought the performances weren’t as varied as last year, which featured theatre in addition to musical numbers.

We were surprised that the event ran past 10pm, especially considering they seemed to be running at a decent pace before the intermission. Still, it was entertaining and enjoyable. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!

You can see my tweets from the event here, and my photoset is here.