NLIS 2
December 28, 2005
(Tourism, Culture and Recreation)
 

Cultural highlights of 2005 year-end review

Although the most significant cultural event of 2005 was undoubtedly the opening of The Rooms, the entire cultural sector enjoyed an exciting and successful year, Tom Hedderson, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation said today.

"Since becoming the minister responsible for culture, I have had the opportunity to meet with members of our various cultural industries and I am very impressed by the incredible talent, passion and accomplishments of our artists in Newfoundland and Labrador," he said. "From literature to film, many of our own were recognized on a national and global level. This government recognizes the importance of supporting the growth of our cultural industries and we made a substantial financial investment in our creative communities this year. I am very proud to be able to say that it is literally impossible to list all the cultural events and individual achievements."

Some of the highlights of 2005 include:

Literature

  • Newfoundland remained firmly on the literary map this year with new novels garnering national acclaim, including Joan Clark's An Audience of Chairs, Michael Crummey's The Wreckage, and Alison Pick's The Sweet Edge.
  • The novel Alligator by Lisa Moore was shortlisted for the 2005 Giller Prize, Canada�s most prestigious literary honour.
  • Ed Riche's novel The Nine Planets won the Winterset Award as well as the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. Mr. Riche was also named Artist of the Year by the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council.
  • Down to the Dirt by first-time novelist Joel Hynes and The Big Why by Michael Winter have both been nominated for the 2006 International Impac Dublin Literary Award.
  • Media Arts

  • With almost $25 million in production activity, 2005 was the best year to date for the film industry. Major projects include the Above and Beyond miniseries, the comedy Young Triffie's Been Made Away With and the pilot television show Rabbittown.
  • Mary Walsh received a Gemini Award for her role in the miniseries Hatching, Matching and Dispatching (nominated for three Gemini Awards in total).
  • Battery Radio, a St. John's based production company that specializes in radio documentary features, won several major awards this year, including the esteemed 2005 Prix Italia in Milan, Italy for the music documentary The Wire. As well, the Battery Radio documentary feature The Man who Sang Goodbye was named top Radio News/Current Affairs program by the Canadian Association of Journalists.
  • George Street TV, a half- hour comedy variety show, was picked up by The Comedy Network.
  • Music

  • In November, Music NL, the province's music industry association, awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award to Dick Nolan for his contribution to the music community in November. Sadly, Mr. Nolan passed away in December.
  • Shallaway, formerly the Newfoundland Symphony Youth Choir, was awarded the top honour for youth choirs at the prestigious 37th Annual Tolosa International Choral Festival in Spain.
  • Promising newcomers such as Rex Goudie, who was a finalist in the CTV Canadian Idol competition, and The Novaks hit the scene this year.
  • Kevin Collins won Songwriter of the Year at the Irish and Country Music Magazine Awards in Kildare, Ireland.
  • Theatre

  • Theatre Newfoundland and Labrador's production of Robert Chafe's play Tempting Providence successfully completed an international tour with performances in Australia and Tasmania.
  • Two local playwrights were nominated for the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre: Robert Chafe for Tempting Providence and Berni Stapleton for The Pope and Princess Di.
  • The Rooms

  • The official opening of The Rooms on June 29 drew a crowd of about 4,000 people for the grand occasion. The Rooms, a state-of-art facility built to preserve and promote the province�s arts and heritage, was very successful in its first summer season. There were over 80,000 visitors from the opening to the end of September.
  • Visual Arts

  • There have been several major exhibits since the opening of the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador in The Rooms, including The Shepherds: Two Lives in Art, featuring the work of two of Newfoundland's most significant artists, Reg and Helen Parsons Shepherd.
  • Lori Doody received the award for Emerging Artist of the Year from the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Awards.
  • The National Gallery of Canada marked the 70th birthday of Christopher Pratt, one of Canada's most celebrated painters, with an exhibition representing his achievements over the last four decades.
  • Also of note, five of the eight people inducted into the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador in November 2005 were from the cultural community: Tim Borlase for his contribution to the arts and culture of Labrador for the past thirty years; Tom Cahill for his work on stage, television and radio; Susan Knight through her work as a musician, choral director particularly with Shallaway, and Festival 500; Ingeborg Marshall for her work on the history, ethnography and archaeology of the Beothuk Indians of Newfoundland; and Shane O'Dea for his work in researching, documenting and maintaining our architectural heritage.

    This year marked the 100th anniversary of Mina Hubbard's trek across Labrador from North West River to Ungava Bay. A series of events in North West River, Labrador commemorated this adventure.

    Media contact:

    Susanne Hiller, Communications, (709) 729-0928, 728-7762
    Carolyn Chaplin, Communications, (709) 682-5093

    2005 12 28        11:10 a.m.

     

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