2024: An Exciting Year for The Hnatyshyn Foundation!
February 12, 2024
As we enter 2024, we are excited to announce new projects that will expand our support to Canadian artists.
Increasing the value of our awards
As artists face limited funding and increasingly high costs of living and of making and sharing their art, our Program Committee has been busy thinking of creative solutions to respond to the needs of artists today.
We are delighted to announce that we will be increasing the cash value of almost all of our prizes in 2024, in some cases doubling the value of our awards!
Our keystone program, the Developing Artist Grants, will see an increase of $2,500 per grant, thus providing $12,500 each to students in the performing arts.
The Hnatyshyn Foundation - Christa and Franz-Paul Decker Fellowship in conducting, formerly $15,000, is increasing to $18,000 thanks to an additional contribution on our part and by an anonymous donor.
The William and Meredith Saunderson Prizes for Emerging Artists, formerly $5,000, are doubling: three emerging visual artists will be awarded $10,000 each to bolster their development at a pivotal stage of their career.
The Hnatyshyn Foundation Mid-Career Award for Excellence in Visual Arts and The Hnatyshyn Foundation Mid-Career Award for Curatorial Excellence are both seeing a $5,000 increase, providing a Canadian mid-career artist and curator with a grand sum of $30,000 and $20,000, respectively.
Julianna Bryson, laureate of the 2023 Developing Artist Grant for Contemporary Dance.
Photo: Naomi Caulfield Photography.
New awards coming soon
We are working on a series of new awards that will help to launch emerging artists’ careers by providing grants that will support the development of new projects or assist with training costs. Some will be announced as early as this winter, so stay tuned!
Updates from 2023 laureates
We are delighted to announce the final recipients of our 2023 awards, as well as exciting updates from some laureates.
The Hnatyshyn Foundation - Christa and Franz-Paul Decker Fellowship for Young Conductors
Jeremy Ho receives the $15,000 fellowship.
Jeremy Ho has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Violin from the University of British Columbia (UBC). He was a member of the UBC Symphony Orchestra for six years, including as a principal player and concertmaster. As a soloist, he was a finalist in UBC’s concerto competition and in 2019, he participated in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestral Institute and UBC Chamber Orchestra Festival. In 2021 and 2022, he participated in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestral Institute as a conductor, under the instruction of Jonathan Girard and Otto Tausk. In 2022, he was appointed as a substitute conductor for the Brock House Orchestra. He has also conducted for the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra. In the summer of 2023, he participated in the “And Other Duties” conducting program in Manchester, UK. At McGill, he has conducted the Beethoven Orchestra and renowned conductor and professor Alexis Hauser’s Graduate Conductor’s Concert.
The Hnatyshyn Foundation - University of Saskatchewan Scholarship for Indigenous Students in Drama
Darius Kiskotagan receives the $10,000 scholarship
This is the second year of our partnership with the University of Saskatchewan’s wîcêhtowin Theatre program, a certificate program in performance and theatre design for emerging First Nations, Métis, and Inuit actors, playwrights and designers, as well as students interested in an Indigenous perspective.
Darius enjoys the collaborative nature of theatre and hopes to establish an independent company where emerging artists like him can showcase their work.
“I know a number of creative, hard working artists that have yet to be fully recognized. I hope this venture could serve as a stepping off point into larger opportunities.”
Recipient of 2023 Fogo Island Arts residency opening a show at Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery
Katie Lawson, who attended The Hnatyshyn Foundation - Fogo Island Arts Young Curator Residency in 2023, just opened an exhibition at the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery. Erratic Behaviour (January 27-April 21, 2024) is the culmination of five years of research, some of which was conducted on Fogo Island.
Erratic Behaviour“brings together contemporary artworks that centre human entanglements with geologic events, processes or entities, acknowledging rocks as vibrant matter that shape our understanding of time and place. While some artworks playfully evoke the animacy of boulders and rocks, others point to a world that is increasingly shaped by the climate crisis and faced with dwindling resources. The dual meaning of the exhibition’s title suggests that humans themselves are exhibiting the most ‘erratic behaviour’ of all—the industrial extraction, processing, consumption and disposal of natural resources has produced turbulent and unstable conditions.”
The exhibition includes works from Catherine Telford Keogh, Diane Borsato, Kelly Jazvac, Laura Moore, Meghan Price, Robert Hengeveld, Tahir Carl Karmali, and Tsēmā Igharas.
Meghan Price, Every Body is Moving, 2015-ongoing. Postcards from the collection of the Artist. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the Artist and United Contemporary. © Meghan Price. In Erratic Behaviour, curated by Katie Lawson.
Laureate of 2023 Developing Artist Grant in Piano goes on to win first prize at the 2nd Chopin Competition on Period Instruments in Vienna
Eric Guo, who received the Hnatyshyn Foundation Developing Artist Grant for Classical Music (Piano) in 2023, went on to compete and win at the 2nd International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments in Vienna this Fall. In addition to a €25,000 cash prize, as winner, Eric embarked on a three-month concert tour of Europe and Asia.
YouTube: Eric Guo’s Chopin Competition performances
Photo: Michael Yao.
At the offices of Yamaha Canada Music, Toronto
Laureate of 2023 Developing Artist Grant in Classical Music (Orchestral Instrument) wins the Royal Conservatory Corcoran Concerto Competition
Isabella d’Éloïze Perron, who received the Hnatyshyn Foundation Developing Artist Grant for Classical Music (Orchestral Instrument) in 2023, won the Grand Prize of $5,000 at the Corcoran Concerto Competition. This victory has earned her the opportunity to perform as a soloist with the Royal Conservatory Orchestra during the 2024-25 season.
Royal Conservatory of Music News
Perron Performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at the Palais Montcalm in Quebec City.
Photo: Tam Luong.
Other news
Check out our new website!
The new site contains up-to-date information including calls for applicants, laureates past and present, and more. We are especially grateful to some of our former laureates, including Kent Monkman, Dana Claxton, Meryl McMaster and Tau Lewis, who authorized us to use images of their recent works.
Welcome Molly Vanderburgh!
We are pleased to welcome Molly as our Administrative Assistant over the course of the winter 2024 semester. Molly is currently completing her MFA in Directing for the Theatre at the University of Ottawa. She has been providing administrative assistance and participating in the development of our new programs.
Welcome to new board members!
In 2023, we were incredibly fortunate to welcome new members to our Board of Directors.
Acclaimed Canadian playwright, novelist, and musician Tomson Highway has graced us with his good humour and vast knowledge. Thanks to his lived experience as an artist, he contributes greatly to our program development.
Photo: Sean Howard
We are also thrilled to welcome back Victoria Henry. As former Chair of the Foundation, she accepted to rejoin our Board as Vice-Chair as we navigate operations without the leadership of Mrs. Hnatyshyn. As an avid collector, historian of Indigenous art and former gallerist, she brings a wealth of experience to this role.
2023 Annual Report
Our 2023 Annual Report is available for download on our website! In it, you will find information about all of our 2023 laureates and programs.
On behalf of the Hnatyshyn Foundation’s Board of Directors and staff, thank you for your continued support. The work we do to assist and reward exceptional Canadian artists would not be possible without the generosity of our donors and the guidance of artists and art experts!
