Invitation to the Special Awards Ceremony on December 11 at Halifax Central Library

l-r: Curtis Botham, Julia Rivard, Claire Campbell

In 2018, visual artist Curtis Botham and Claire Campbell won the 2011 Canada Games Young Artist of Excellence Awards.

Who will it be this year?

Join us to find out!

Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 2 p.m.
at the Halifax Central Library

In a Special Awards Ceremony attended by The Honourable Arthur J. LeBlanc, ONS, QC, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia and Honorary Chair of the NSTT.

We are proud to present two new awards that honour the legacies of Susan Wood, visual artist, teacher and mentor, and Peggy Corkum, avid arts patron and supporter. Community efforts to raise money in their name reinforce our shared cultural impact.

The fifteen Special Award winners were chosen from a field of 59 scholarship recipients from across the province representing the artistic disciplines of music, literary arts, visual arts, film, dance, circus arts, and theatre.

The Special Awards Ceremony will be held at the Paul O'Regan Hall at the Halifax Central Library. The event is free and open to the public.

“We are pleased to partner again with the Halifax Central Library to host the ceremony in a space that is open to the public and to celebrate the achievements of our scholarship and award recipients with all Nova Scotians. It will be a wonderful culmination of our 75th anniversary year”, says Jacqueline Steudler, NSTT Executive Director.

For the last 75 years, we've continued to support emerging Nova Scotian artists as they pursue their studies towards the ultimate goal of establishing professional careers in the arts.

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Join Us at our 2018 Special Awards Ceremony at the Halifax Central Library, December 11

2017 Yue Lih and Marion Kuo Award winner India Yeshe Gailey (left) and Marion Kuo.

On Tuesday, December 11 we’ll recognize our 2018 scholarship and Special Award recipients with a ceremony at the Halifax Central Library.

The event begins at 1:30 p.m. (seating at 1:20 p.m.) in the Paul O'Regan Hall. 

Admission is free, open to the public, and we would be delighted if you could join us. 

The Awards Ceremony will be attended by The Honorable Arthur J. LeBlanc, ONS, QC, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia and Honorary Chair of the Talent Trust.

This year’s Special Award winners were chosen from a field of 65 scholarship recipients representing the artistic disciplines of music, literary arts, visual arts, film, new media, design, dance, and theatre.

We’ll have live performances, video greetings from Award winners, and catering by Pavia Café.

The Halifax Public Library has partnered with us and offered their beautiful event hall as an in-kind service.

“At Halifax Public Libraries, people are at the heart of all we do, and supporting the growth of every individual in our community is why we exist. These artists will shape our community story with their creativity, voices, and words. We are proud to help celebrate this very special event, honouring their achievements and those to come”, says Jennifer Fall-Clarke, Event Service Coordinator for the Halifax Central Library.

Come on out to celebrate these fantastic up-and-coming artists. We look forward to seeing you there.

Talent Trust Special Awards Ceremony

Tuesday, December 11

1:30 p.m. — seating at 1:20 p.m.

Paul O'Regan Hall, Halifax Central Library

Admission is free

Everyone welcome!

Talent Trust awards over $33,000 to the 2017 Special Award Recipients at today's Special Awards Ceremony

The Talent Trust (NSTT) recognized the 2017 Scholarship and Special Award recipients at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at Halifax Central Library in a ceremony attended by His Honour The Honourable Arthur J. LeBlanc, ONS, QC Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. Created to support the career of contralto Portia White 73 years ago, the Talent Trust 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' musical theatre performer Maya Read, who received the $1,500 Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Artistic Achievement, the NSTT’s highest honour for a student in any discipline. Read studies musical theatre at Sheridan College in Oakville, ON.  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 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. In 2017, the two $10,000 awards were received by Halifax film producer Gharrett Paon and type designer Lee Yuen-Rapati from Dartmouth.  Gharrett Paon (Halifax) is currently studying film production at the Canadian Film Centre in Toronto, ON.

Type designer Lee Yuen-Rapati(Dartmouth), is studying type design at the University of Reading in Reading, England. The other Special Award recipients, each of whom demonstrates exceptional potential to become professional artists, are: Scenographer Jodie Fox (Musquodoboit Harbour) is the recipient of the $1,500 RBC Emerging Artist Award for applied craft/design theatre. Fox studies scenography (stage design) at the Hochschule Hanover in Hanover, Germany. (Award supported by RBC Emerging Artist Program.) New Award - Given for the fist time in 2017: Cello player India Gailey (Wolfville) is the recipient of the $1000 Yue Lih and Marion Kuo Award for exceptional commitment and potential in music as an instrumentalist. Gailey is currently studying at McGill University in Montreal, QC. (Award supported by Marion Kuo and Earl Wadden.) Visual artist Curtis Botham (Bedford) is the recipient of the $1,000 Charlotte Wilson-Hammond/Visual Arts Nova Scotia Award. Botham graduated with a BFA from NSCAD. He is currently attending the NSCAD University Residency Program in New Glasgow. (Award supported by Charlotte Wilson-Hammond and Visual Arts Nova Scotia.) Opera singer Benjamin Shaw (Halifax) is the recipient of the $1,000 Portia White Awardfor voice. He studies at the University of Toronto, ON. (Award supported by the Music-in-Medicine and Humanities-HEALS Program, Dalhousie University.) Ballet dancer Maggie Oates-Johnson (Dartmouth) is the recipient of the$1,500 Robert George Jackson Award for dance. Maggie studied ballet at Canada's National Ballet School in Toronto this past summer. (Award supported by the Jackson family.) Rebecca Wolfe (Dartmouth) is the recipient of the $500 Theatre Nova Scotia Award for theatre. Wolfe is studying theatre performance at the Humber College in Toronto, ON. (Award supported by Theatre Nova Scotia.) Pianist Chantal Peng (Wolfville) is the recipient of the $1,000 Tietje Zonneveld Award and is studying privately with John Hansen in Wolfville. (Award supported by Tietje Zonneveld.) Choral conductor Thomas Burton (Wolfville) is the recipient of the $750 Kenneth Elloway Award for classical performance. He is studying choral conducting at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, USA. (Award supported by the Elloway family.) Ballet dancer Carrigan MacDonald (Hammonds Plains) is the recipient of the $1000 Janice Merritt Flemming Award and is currently studying at L'Ecole Superieure de Ballet du Québec in Montreal, QC. (Award supported by the Flemming family.) Euphonium player Ross Macintosh (Truro) is the recipient of the $1,000 Raymond Simpson Award for music and is studying at University of Toronto in Toronto, ON. (Award supported by the Simpson family.) Film Producer Gharrett Paon (Halifax) is the recipient of the $1,000 Shelagh Mackenziehe  Award and is currently studying film production at the Canadian Film Centre in Toronto, ON. In addition to the Special Awards announced today, the Nova Scotia Talent Trust gave out scholarships to 48 recipients earlier this year. You can find a list of the 2017 Nova Scotia Talent Trust scholarship recipients below. List of the 2017 NSTT Scholarship and Nova Scotia Arts Endowment Fund Scholarship Recipients Dance - Ballet               Julia Barkhouse, Dartmouth Kieron Harper, Halifax Claire Campbell, Head of St. Margaret's Bay Carrigan MacDonald, Hammonds Plains Olivia MacLean, Dartmouth Ellery Jackson, Dartmouth, NS Arts Endowment Fund Scholarship Katherine McDonald, Halifax Maggie Oates-Johnson, Dartmouth, NS Arts Endowment Fund Scholarship Mollie Oates-Johnson, Dartmouth Niamh Perrins, Wolfville - Modern/Contemporary Lucie Schmidt, Lakeview Stan Tonin, Windsor Junction Music - Keyboard - Piano Vlad Chiriac, Bedford Devin Huang, Bedford Lala Lee, Halifax Chantal Peng, Wolfville Dakota Scott-Digout, Barrington Andrew Son, Halifax Alex (Zixuan) Yang, Bedford - Strings - Cello India Gailey, Wolfville - Strings - Violin Lilith Richter-Stephenson, Dartmouth Heemin Choi, Bedford - Strings - Guitar Matthew Fraser, Inverness - Conducting Thomas Burton, Wolfville - Voice - Opera Nickolas Higgs, New Glasgow Breanna Miller, Halifax Morgan Reid, Sydney Benjamin Shaw, Vancouver,  NS Arts Endowment Fund Scholarship - Brass - French Horn Mimisu Lee, Halifax - Brass - Euphonium Ross Macintosh, Truro - Composition Adam Clarke, Antwerpen - Woodwind - Oboe Julia Millett, Lunenburg Film  - Production Gharrett Paon, Halifax Theatre  - Acting Rebecca Wolfe, Dartmouth - Music Theatre Ria Kapur, Bedford Emily Robertson, Oakville Maya Read, Dartmouth, NS Arts Endowment Fund Scholarship - Directing Luciana Silvestre Fernandes, Halifax Visual/Fine Arts  - Interdisciplinary Gabriel Soligo, Halifax, NS Arts Endowment Fund Scholarship - Design/Applied Craft Jodie Fox, Mosquadoboit Harbour Isaac Fresia, Halifax Andrew Gilmour, Halifax Lee Yuen-Rapati, Dartmouth - Painting Drawing Nat Chantel, Dartmouth Curtis Botham, Bedford Caterina Slamovits, Halifax - Printmaking Emma van Zeumeren, Dartmouth Literary Arts - Fiction Conor Martin, Dartmouth

Join us to celebrate the 2017 Special Award Recipients on December 12, 2017 at 2 p.m. at the Halifax Central Library

The Talent Trust will recognize the 2017 Scholarship and Special Award recipients at 

2:00 p.m. on 

Tuesday, December 12 

at Halifax Central Library 

We are looking forward to host the ceremony in a space that is open to the public and to celebrate the recipients' achievements with all Nova Scotians. 

We hope to see you there too. (smile)

This year’s Special Award winners were chosen from a field of 48 scholarship recipients representing the artistic disciplines of music, literary arts, visual arts, film, new media, design, dance, and theatre.

Come on out and meet these wonderful emerging artists. 

The Yue Lih "Lee" and Marion Kuo Award will be presented for the first time at the 2017 Special Awards Ceremony on Dec 12 in Halifax

The Talent Trust is proud to announce the creation of the Yue Lih “Lee” and Marion Kuo Award. The award will be given to a Talent Trust scholarship recipient who shows exceptional commitment and potential in music as an instrumentalist. The award is $1,000 and is made possible by Marion Kuo and Earl Wadden.

“This award will celebrate my father's life and his love for music. My husband and I are happy to help young musicians succeed in their formative years”, states Marion Kuo.

Marion Kuo has been a member of the Sackville Community Band Society for over ten years. She performs on a regular basis with the Sackville Concert Band at the Portia White Gala Concert. She has been an accompanist/band player for several choirs, orchestras and a community theatre; she volunteers with Seniors Groups regularly.

Marion Kuo’s father Lih Kuo was born in Swatow, China on January 6th, 1916 (as China became a Republic following the Last Emperor). He went to England n 1938 under a student exchange program as part of Britain’s reparation for the Opium Wars. However, when the 2nd World War broke out, he was unable to return home and stayed in England as a “Friendly Alien”. Although he was not a musician, he was interested in music and encouraged his daughter Marion in musical studies - mainly piano, but also cello and church organ. He died in 2011.

The Yue Lih and Marion Kuo award will be presented for the first time at the Special Awards Ceremony on December 12, 2017 from 2- 4 p.m. at the Halifax Central Library. The event is open to the public.

For more information about the special awards go to http://nstalenttrust.ns.ca/Awards/Special-Awards/

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