Lac La Biche County will be the backdrop for one of Alberta’s most prestigious annual awards celebrations, recognizing distinguished and upcoming members of the fine arts world.
The 2021 Lieutenant of Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artists Awards is taking place on June 10 and 11 with two event recognizing long-standing artists and emerging talents.
Lac La Biche County and Portage College are co-hosting the two-day event that is expected to paint a bright picture for the community, bringing in hundreds of individuals and highly accredited people from the art world, said Alex Fuller, the county’s Economic Development Coordinator.
“This is really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for residents of this area. It’s very rare to have so many important members of the art world in one community and it’s even more rare to have them in a rural one,” said Fuller, explaining it as an impressive feat to host the gala events in a community the size of Lac La Biche County. “Events as prestigious as this don’t often come to communities of our size, but we know that this is an amazing region, with an incredible heritage, and incredible potential and that’s why we were selected to host them.”
Awards
To kick-off the weekend, the 2022 Emerging Artist Awards that will recognize 11 Alberta artists from all categories of fine arts who are in the early stages of their careers. Each of the recipients will be awarded $10,000. The names of the recipients have yet to be publicly announced.
Alberta’s Lieutenant Governor, Her Honour Salma Lakhani will present the awards.
The event and the visit from Lakhani is a huge honour for not only the recipients but for community members who will have a chance to meet her throughout the weekend, said Carrie Froehler, Portage College’s vice president of People, Planning and Public Relations.
“Most people never get to meet her…that in itself is very unique and we are very privileged that her honour will spend the weekend with us in Lac La Biche.”
The following night, Lakhani will present the awards to honour three distinguished artists.
Both events will take place on the McGrane Theatre stage at Portage College.
Delayed event
Originally, the gala celebrations were scheduled to be hosted in the community in the spring of 2021, but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s distinguished awards will honour three recipients from the fine arts industry. Along with the award, each recipient will recieve a $30,000 cash prize, a two-week residency at the Banff Centre’s Leighton Artists’ Studios and a handmade medal and pin commending their years of creative work.
Froehler said artists from architecture, dance, film, literacy, music, theatre and visual arts fields are all considered for the awards that are selected by a distinguished panel.
Two of the 2021 distinguished artists have connections to the region, with recipient writer and filmmaker Cheryl Foggo connected to the Amber Valley area located 20 kilometres east of Athabasca, and visual artist Faye Heavyshield who’s has family ties to the local college, said Jaime Davies, the college's corporate communications officer.
Weekend theme
Over the 17 year history of the awards, there have been other local connections, including 2016 Emerging Artist recipient Amy Malbeuf, a Lac La Biche artist recognized for her work in visual arts. Malbeuf is one of only 63 previous recipients of the Emerging Artist awards since they began.
Cold Lake-based Indigenous artist Alex Janvier, a Distinguished Artis recipient from 2017 and artist Jane Ash Poitras, a Distinguished Artist recipient in 2011 both have strong ties to the northeast and both have long connections to Portage College. A piece by Janvier called Art by Nature will be displayed at the Lac La Biche Portage College campus to represent the theme of this year’s awards, says Froehler.
“We have taken a piece of his watercolour from his collection and we’re showcasing it as our showcase piece for these award shows,” alongside renowned painter Jane Ash Poitras who will be attending and talking about her work during the weekend, she added.
Tickets for presentations over the weekend are available on the Portage College website and the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards site.
Community events to celebrate
Even though the weekend will be recognizing artists, many events will be held for community members and for local artists to sell and showcase their work through the community for all ages, added Froehler. Explaining that local musicians and entertainment will also be on full display through the weekend — and all week around it.
“Local artisans from around the province will showcase and sell their artwork, including live entertainment at the Gazebo at McArthur Park from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, so a full range of live music and children’s entertainers.”
Included in the art-themed community events, students from Native Arts and Fine Arts programs at Portage College will be running watercolour paint classes to get attendees involved alongside the Lac La Biche Art Club which will be running a live painting session, she added.
“There is just a lot of activities at Mcarthur Place,” she said leading up to the final Distinguished Artist Awards on Saturday evening.
All events, including attendance to both awards, are free to the public with the exception of the scheduled gala dinner prior to Saturday’s final award show which will cost $125 per person.
Big opportunity
Originally, the joint, approved application in 2019 to host the awards in the community between the county and Portage College was only supposed to be the 2021 Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Awards, but after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the event to be postponed, a handful of organizers decide to bid for both shows since both events would fall on the same year this spring.
“While we’ve been meeting for a couple of years…we’ve been madly planning behind the scenes, said Froehler. “This is the first time they’ve ever been combined so that was an honour for us to be able to do that” with the added responsibility they hope to organize a memorable weekend, she said. “Hopefully, we’ll produce something that we’re very proud of.”
Volunteers needed
While all the events are planned and guests from across the province will be attending the weekend celebrations, organizers are looking for volunteers to help run community events and vendors alongside sponsorship opportunities to support the important art weekend said the county’s economic development coordinator.
“We really want the community to see this as their event. The county and the college are putting it on but this event belongs to everyone in the Lac La Biche region. Everyone has an opportunity to participate and an opportunity to benefit…this is a wonderful chance for local artists to network and showcase themselves and their talents,” said Fuller.
For details on the weekend events or to support, visit Portage College’s website.
