Windsor's art community is celebrating accomplishments of 13 local artists and art organizations through the Mayor's Arts Awards and the Windsor Endowment for the Arts awards.
“Art changes lives, and it does not exist without the artists, arts organizations, volunteers and teams of people working every day. The awards and grants presented today all provide an opportunity to recognize our local artists and arts supporters by showing how much we appreciate, value and respect them," said Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens. "Windsor has a proud history of investment in our arts, culture and heritage. I’m grateful to the teams at both WEA and the Capitol Theatre for their partnership. The arts are vital to our quality of life, our sense of identity, and our understanding of our stories and of the people and places that make our community come alive.”
The awards ceremony, originally scheduled to take place at the Capitol Theatre was held virtually with all the recipients. Each award recipient received a grant to help support their artistic endeavours.
“We at WEA are honoured and grateful that the 2020 WEAs and Windsor Mayor’s Arts Awards were able to be presented - 'with adjustments'. The Windsor Endowment for the Arts was created for the sole purpose of safeguarding arts and culture in Windsor-Essex. In our 20-year history, financial support for our fellow artists and arts organizations has never been as crucial as it is right now. We hope all members of our community were inspired by what they heard from these talented creatives to support local artists and businesses when shops, galleries and theatres are able to re-open.”
Recipients include Christy Lister for the mayor's individual artist award, ACT – Arts Collective Theatre for the mayor's arts organization award and Rod Turton for the mayor's volunteer award. A full list of the 2020 WEA Awards can be found here.