Island artists receive grants 

Reequal Smith says receiving an arts grant has given her confidence in her work, allowing her to pursue future goals.

Smith is among 16 Island artists who recently received a total of $50,220 through the provincial Arts Grants program.  

“I am very thankful for this opportunity,” said Smith. “With this grant, I can continue to be the curator I envision myself as. It also allows me to express and challenge my artistic practice by providing a platform to present my choreography and showcase other talented emerging artists.”

The successful applicants were selected by a six-member jury of their arts community peers and follows the same model used by the Canada Council of Arts.

“We recognize and appreciate the huge contribution Island artists make to our provincial economy and society. We know these arts grants have a meaningful impact on Island artists’ development and achievements, and we are always happy to support that.”

- Economic Growth, Tourism and Culture Minister Matthew MacKay

Media contact:
Hillary MacDonald
Department of Economic Growth, Tourism and Culture
902-394-6368
hpsmacdonald@gov.pe.ca (link sends e-mail) 

Backgrounder 

Successful Applicants

Gerard Clarkes
Visual, $2,000
To frame paintings to be included in a solo retrospective exhibit at The Confederation Centre Art Gallery, opening January 2021.

Vishten
Music, $4,000
To be used for research and creation of original works to be performed during a series of shows in February 2021.

Reequal Smith
Dance, $2,000
Oshun’s showcase will bring forth voices that will be demonstrated through dance and sound, while incorporating a Bahamian Twist of culture and diversity.

Melissa Peter Paul
Visual, $4,500
Visit Mi’kmaq quillwork collections in four communities, meet with the elders, harvest from a live porcupine and create eight pieces of works based on the pieces that the artist viewed and interpreted.

Deborah Montgomery 
Music, $1,950
Fine-tune and push Montgomery’s ability as a violinist by working one-on-one with a concert soloist.

Jay Gallant
Theatre, $2,000
A dramatic play reading of Gallant’s one-act play, “What’s Eating You?” The play is an educational piece on gender diversity and this project is the first step in a larger project to tour the play at schools and community centers across PEI (when COVID-19 restrictions allow). 

Julie Pellissier Lush 
Film, $8,000
Take the theatre group Mi’kmaq Heritage Actors and move them into multimedia content creation.

Dave Stewart
Film, $2,070
To edit a six-part online documentary video project called “Before Grindr: The Secret Social History of Gay & Lesbian PEI” that explores the undocumented history of gay and lesbian people in Prince Edward Island. 

Rebecca Griffin
Interdisciplinary, $4,000
Workshopping the creation and build of two major puppet characters and a table-top puppet stage for a production idea called "Catching Fish."

Damien Worth
Visual, $2,500
Creating no less than eight large-scale paintings that examine uncertainty as it relates to location, logic, and navigation.

Julie Bull
Interdisciplinary, $2,000
Bring their multi-disciplinary spoken-word performance piece, Land Back, to the stage at The Guild in spring 2021.

Renee Laprise 
Visual, $2,600
The creation of four large scale paintings exploring the theme of interaction/intersection of the physical and non-physical planes. These will be part of a series of new work to be exhibited in a solo show in 2021.

Richard Lush
Writing, $4,000
The creation of the first book of a three book series for children about being Indigenous, but having light skin with light colored hair. The hope is to help provide other Youth with the authors’ stories of pride and growth in becoming a proud Indigenous person through the adversity of being light skinned. 

Meghan Blanchard 
Writing, $4,000
"Hello Sweet Boy..." is a collection of autobiographical letters that shine a light on the most intimate experiences of a young farm family in rural Prince Edward Island during the global pandemic, the challenges of living as a new mother with postpartum anxiety and the healing power of coming together as a family to play music around the kitchen table.

Somnia Lucent 
Interdisciplinary, $1,600
To build a uniquely beautiful musical instrument made out of sea glass and plastics collected from the shores of Epekwitk/PEI to capture the melody of the wind. Inspired by Anemophilia “wind-loving”, and Anemophily “the pollination of plants through the action of winds.”

Sarah Hagen
Interdisciplinary, $3,000
The creation of 32 pieces of visual art to accompany the 32 movements of Bach's Goldberg Variations, with the goal of translating a pianist's imagination to canvas. The artist will record the Variations "live" (unedited) so that people can listen to the music on their phones and tablets while they walk through a gallery viewing the corresponding artwork, the overall result being an exploration of a different version of a physically distanced performance.