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Art & Books

Toronto Arts Foundation Awards Finalists 2012

Toronto Arts Foundation (TAF) is committed to celebrating Toronto’s artists as they build and create the cultural history of our great city.

Through TAF’s awards portfolio, we have celebrated some of Toronto’s most exciting emerging and iconic artists individuals whose artistic achievements have played an integral role in helping Toronto become the vibrant, creative city that it is.

Every year, TAF welcomes the entire spectrum of Toronto’s creative community to celebrate its artists as part of The Mayor’s Arts Awards Lunch, an elegant and outstanding event that welcomes artists of all disciplines, business and civic leaders, as well as special guests and celebrities.

This year, Toronto Arts Foundation Awards totalling $43,500 were presented on June 21st.

Here are the Finalists and Winners of the 2012 Toronto Arts Foundation Awards, photographed by Denise Grant Photography.

Read more about it here.


RBC Emerging Artist Award

RBC Emerging Artist Award - Chris Curreri, Sandy Pool and Daniel Karasik_large.jpg

From left: Chris Curreri, Sandy Pool and Daniel Karasik

Winner, Chris Curreri – “My work is premised on the idea that we constantly contend with things outside ourselves – and crucially, with other people. Considered in their entirety, these relationships create a network, a fabric within which we are enmeshed. Do we open ourselves to, or close ourselves off from this fabric? My work constructs allegories for this question.”

Sandy Pool – “The more I write, the more I realize my artistic practice is actually based around uncertainty. In approaching poetry with an uncertain disposition, my practice becomes a form of husbandry. I am acutely aware of what I don’t know, and being aware of this opens me up to the possibility of understanding. Poetry embraces this uncertainty it exists as a singularity in the universe, which teaches me how to write over and over again.”

Daniel Karasik – “I see my writing as a way of inquiring into the hidden realities of the world around me, the mysteries, the secret sources of wonder and delight. It’s a means of asking questions, a tool for intensifying my and others’ experience of being alive.”


Roy Thomson Hall Award of Recognition

Roy Thomson Hall Award - Michael Koerner, Alan Davis and Lydia Adams_large.jpg

From left: Michael M. Koerner, Alan Davis and Lydia Adams

Michael M. Koerner – “I support the arts, education and medical research. Why? Because each of the three allows us to be better people, build a better society and leave our ‘camping ground in better shape than when we found it’.”

Winner, Lydia Adams – “Singing is a wonderful way to express yourself and to find mental and physical health. To sing in a choir intensifies everything. One voice joined in harmony with others creates a powerful force of harmony in the chaos of the world. To be able to craft sound into something exquisite is remarkable.”

Alan Davis – “It’s been my privilege to work with some of the greatest musicians in the world, to share new discoveries with Toronto audiences and to play a part in community-building within the burgeoning diversity of Toronto. Being recognized for it is the cherry on top!”


William Kilbourn Award for the Celebration of Toronto’s Cultural Life

William Kilbourn Award - Patricia Fraser and Jini Stolk_large.jpg

From left: Patricia Fraser, Jini Stolk. Below: Mi Young Kim

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Patricia Fraser – “My vision is probably yours: that all people are supported to achieve their full potential through the provision of a cultural, creative existence, opening their lives to what creative endeavour does for the human condition. There is copious evidence that creative, cultural, artistic activity, in schools, in the workplace, and in our communities, makes people likelier to succeed, and to grow up rounded and fulfilled human beings.”

Winner, Jini Stolk – “I’ve been continually inspired by the many wonderful artists I’ve had the pleasure of working with, and have had great joy in joining forces with friends and colleagues in the arts community to help make Toronto a more creative, vibrant and culturally diverse city.”

Mi Young Kim – “I dance to fulfill my desire to express the rhythms of my culture. I seek to share culturally distinctive stories through creative dances, and I hope the audience experiences something unique and exciting that enriches diversity and multiculturalism of our country.”


Toronto Arts and Business Award

Toronto-Arts-and-Business-Award---Simona-Annibale,-Martin-Blake,-Linda-Mackenzie,-Caleigh-Timmons_large.jpg

From left: Simona Annibale, Martin Blake, Linda Mackenzie, Caleigh Timmons

Winner, The Daniels Corporation – “For Daniels, creating communities is a fusion of art, passion and business. As City builders, we believe it is important to support the arts in our communities, as we understand the positive impact the arts can bring to the public realm and the inspiration it can provide to our homeowners.”

TELUS – “The arts are an invaluable aspect of Toronto’s cultural life and we are honoured that our support is felt across the city from larger institutions such as The Royal Conservatory of Music, where we have built The TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, to smaller communi ty-oriented arts organizations such as Soulpepper Theatre, where we support the Youth Outreach Program. At TELUS, we understand that there’s a symbiotic relationship between the success of our company and the health of our communities, making our efforts to live up to our brand promise – the future is friendly® – essential in all that we do.”

Sun Life Financial – “Sun Life is proud to support Canada’s cultural institutions, and is committed to making the arts available for everyone.”


Arts for Youth Award

Arts for Youth Award - Art Starts and SOY_large.jpg

Art Starts – “We ask. We listen. And we create engaged and inspired communities. Together.”

Winner, Supporting Our Youth (SOY) – “In safe spaces created with SOY, LGBT youth tell powerful stories that challenge preconceptions through innovative and dynamic art forms. They write, sing, dance, paint and pound out their diverse identities they explore, entertain, advocate and educate.”

Arts for Youth Award - Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre - Pat Whittaker and Adonis Huggins_large.jpg

Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre – Pat Whittaker and Adonis Huggins

Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre – “Regent Park Focus’s model of inclusion, discussion and action has much to offer Regent Park and the rest of the City of Toronto, as it exemplifies how groups can use the arts to create collaborative spaces where residents work together to heal, dialogue and explore issues impacting on community health, defining for themselves how these issues should be addressed”.

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