Province awards Arts Grants 

Creating jobs for Islanders

The River Clyde Pageant, a spectacular outdoor community theatre project occurring each summer in New Glasgow, was recently awarded a PEI Arts Grant for the 2019 edition of the event.

“Support from the Arts Grant program helps us develop The River Clyde Pageant further every year,” Pageant producer and co-director Megan Stewart said. “The funding is crucial for engaging new and returning artists on the project, and building a performance that inspires awe and wonder amongst our audiences and participants.”

Stewart is among 14 Island artists who recently received a total of $50,000 through the provincial government’s Arts Grants program. Sixty-six artists applied for grants this past fall. The successful applicants were selected by a six-member jury of their arts community peers which follows the same model used by the Canada Council of the Arts.  

“These grants are vital for artists who are at various stages of the creative process,” Economic Development and Tourism Minister Chris Palmer said. “They allow artists to create, to more widely disseminate their work, or to develop their professional skills. These grants have helped elevate the careers of countless Island artists.”

“Government is pleased to provide direct funding to artists and to support the creation of new work,” Education, Early Learning and Culture Minister Jordan Brown said. “The $250,000 invested in arts grants since 2016 is developing the capacity of Island artists and arts organizations.”

To learn more about the Arts Grant program and see a full list of 2018 Arts Grants recipients in the Artist Grants program report - Fall 2018, visit Arts Grants program. 

Media contact:
Andrew Sprague
Department of Economic Development and Tourism
902-368-5535
asgsprague@gov.pe.ca 

Background

Successful applicants

Megan Stewart
Creation, Theatre, $8,000
To create the 2019 River Clyde Pageant, an outdoor, community-created theatre project led by producer and co-director Megan Stewart in collaboration with co-director Ker Wells.

Ariel Sharrat
Professional Development, Music, $2,000
To undertake an apprenticeship as an audio engineer in Ramsgate, UK.

Mark Sandiford
Professional Development, Arts Admin, $2,500
The project is to participate in the five-day Contextual Intelligence Leadership Intensive program at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Alberta from April 28 to May 2, 2019 and deliver a lunch and learn session on PEI immediately following.

Melissa Peter Paul
Creation, Visual Arts, $7,000
Explore 8 of the traditional and non-traditional art forms that are mainly used in the Mi'kmaq Arts to create eight pieces of art, in eight different mediums.

Kelly Casely
Creation, Interdisciplinary, $2,300
To create site specific theatre event that will explore the relationship early Island settlers had with both the land and the Mi'kmaq people.

Oakar Myint (Shed Sessions)
Dissemination, Film/Media, $2,000
To create series of live music performances in a small Charlottetown shed that result in a series of videos and audio recordings.

Jim O’Leary
Dissemination, Music, $1,100
To attend rehearsals and the Atlantic Canadian concert premiere of the artist’s music for Saxophone Quartet in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Margot Rejskind
Professional Development, Music, $2,000
Develop professional skills in the area of the business of choral music.

Evan Furness
Creation, Visual Arts, $4,000
"Movements in a room" is a mixed media installation that combines painting, sculpture, and audio to document a series of private performances and explore the idea of a venue.

Lenny Gallant 
Creation, Visual Arts, $4,000
To create a visual representation of worth and value through art pieces and graphs, using material from a collapsed community ice rink.

Colin Buchanan
Creation, Music, $5,000
To create a debut album that will search the far corners of the artist’s craft to fully express their individual voice.

Rob Macdonald
Dissemination, Theatre, $2,000
To produce and direct four presentations of one-act plays written by the artist.

Emilee Sorrey (Sorrey)
Creation, Music $3,600
To create a debut full-length album that will be written, produced, and recorded in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, to be released by the artist in spring of 2019.

Deirdre Kessler
Creation, Writing/Publishing, $4,500
Winnowed, Revised, and Ready for the World: Three years of poems created during the artist’s poet laureateship, 2016-2018, with a section of County-Kerry-inspired poems to be completed during a return trip to Ireland.