NSTT awards over $31,000 to 2016 Special Award Recipients

 

 

 

Congratulations to the 2016 Special Award Recipients!

Nova Scotia Talent Trust awards over $31,000 to 2016 Special Award Recipients at today's Special Awards Ceremony HALIFAX, NS - The Nova Scotia Talent Trust (NSTT) recognized the 2016 Scholarship and Special Award recipients at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 13, 2016 at Halifax Central Library in a ceremony attended by His Honour Brigadier-General the Honourable J.J. Grant, CMM, ONS, CD (Ret’d), Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. Created to support the career of contralto Portia White 72 years ago, the NSTT has continued to support talented Nova Scotian artists as they pursue their studies toward establishing professional careers in the arts. One such gifted artist is Halifax' contemporary dancer Gabrielle Kachan, who received the $1,500 Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Artistic Achievement, the NSTT’s highest honour for a student in any discipline. Kachan attended the Toronto Dance Theatre Pre-Professional Summer Dance Intensive this past summer. Presented for the first time in 2013, the two 2011 Canada Games Young Artist of Excellence Awards, valued at $10,000 each, will be awarded to any recipient, regardless of age, from any artistic discipline, who best exemplifies the qualities embraced by the Nova Scotia Talent Trust, that of the utmost commitment, promise, exceptional technique, talent and the highest achievement of excellence, someone who demonstrates the passion and drive to become a professional Nova Scotia artist in their field of discipline. These two awards will be awarded every December until 2022 and are the legacy of the 2011 Canada Games Young Artists of Excellence Program. The two $10,000 awards in 2016 were received by Halifax theatre director Luciana Silvestre Fernandes and textile designer Carley Mullally from New Glasgow.  Luciana Silvestre Fernandes (Halifax) is currently in her first year at the University of Victoria, BC for her MFA in Directing.

Textile designer Carley Mullally (New Glasgow), is in her first year of her MA in Woven Textiles at The Royal College of Art in London, England. The other Special Award recipients, each of whom demonstrates exceptional potential to become professional artists, are: Visual artist Lux (Katrina) Habrich (Halifax) is the recipient of the $1,000 Charlotte Wilson-Hammond/Visual Arts Nova Scotia Award. Habrich graduated with a BFA from NSCAD. She is currently working with ceramic professor Rory MacDonald at NSCAD, Halifax. (Award supported by Charlotte Wilson-Hammond and Visual Arts Nova Scotia.) Soprano Shanice Skinner (New Glasgow) is the recipient of the $1,000 Portia White Award for voice. She studied voice at the Franco-American Vocal Academy in Périgueux, France this past summer. (Award supported by the Music-in-Medicine and Humanities-HEALS Program, Dalhousie University.) Ballet dancer Ellery Jackson (Dartmouth) is the recipient of the $1,500 Robert George Jackson Award for dance. Ellery studied ballet at the National Ballet School in Toronto this past summer. (Award supported by the Jackson family.) Writer and poet Kaitlyn Boulding (Halifax) is the recipient of the $1,500 RBC Emerging Artist Award for literary arts. Boulding attended a development internship at The Paideia Institute in Rome, Italy this past summer. (Award supported by RBC Emerging Artist Program.) Musical theatre - voice, Katie Cochrane (Halifax) is the recipient of the $1,000 Theatre Nova Scotia Award for theatre. Cochrane holds a BM in Vocal Performance. She attended the Musical Theatre on the Thames this past summer and studies currently with Lucy Hayes-Davis in Halifax. (Award supported by Theatre Nova Scotia.) Classical pianist LaLa Lee (Halifax) is the recipient of the $1,000 Tietje Zonneveld Award and is studying privately with Professor Lynn Stodola in Halifax. (Award supported by Tietje Zonneveld.) Conductor Eszter Horvath (Halifax) is the recipient of the $750 Kenneth Elloway Award for classical performance. She is in her first year at the University of Toronto. (Award supported by the Elloway family.) Ballet dancer Alyssa Lopez (Stillwater Lake) is the recipient of the $1000 Janice Merritt Flemming Award and is currently in her first year at the School of Alberta Ballet in Calgary, AB. (Award supported by the Flemming family.) Jazz singer Nika Gantar (Bedford) is the recipient of the $500 Chico Berardi Award and is currently in her first year at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, USA. (Award supported by Music Nova Scotia.) Violinist Heemin Choi (Bedford) is the recipient of the $1,000 Raymond Simpson Award for music and is in the second year for his Master of Music - Violin at Rice University, Shepherd School of Music, Houston, Texas, USA. (Award supported by the Simpson family.) In addition to the Special Awards announced today, the Nova Scotia Talent Trust gave out scholarships to 46 recipients earlier this year. The NSTT’s scholarship application deadline date for Spring/Summer study is March 1, 2017 and for Fall/Winter study it is May 1, 2017. The NSTT is supported by the 2011 Canada Games Legacy Fund, RBC Foundation, Music Nova Scotia, Visual Arts Nova Scotia, Theatre Nova Scotia, Debut Atlantic, immediaC, the Creative Nova Scotia Leadership Council, Basil AV, Norex,ca, NSTT Foundation, Pavia Gallery and Cafe Bar, Dalhousie Music in Medicine HEALS Program, Support4Culture, Halifax Municipality, Business for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, and Arts Nova Scotia.  The NSTT is pleased to work in partnership with the province to develop and promote our cultural resources for all Nova Scotians. - 30 - You can find a list of the 2016 Nova Scotia Talent Trust scholarship recipients below. Media Contact: Jacqueline Steudler, Executive Director, Nova Scotia Talent Trust P. O. Box 575 Halifax  NS  B3J 2R7 (902) 492 6801   director@nstalenttrust.ns.ca     www.nstalenttrust.ns.ca