The Sunshine Coast Arts Council oversees a number of Annual Awards, funded through generous donations made to various endowments managed by the Sunshine Coast Foundation. Recipients are selected by a committee, based on community recommendations.
2024 AWARDS RECIPIENTS
Sunshine Coast Arts Council is pleased to announce the recipients of four community awards for 2024, each supported by endowments held by the Sunshine Coast Foundation and awarded based on nominations from an advisory committee.
The Anne and Phillip Klein Visual Arts Award: Deb Wills
The Anne and Philip Klein Visual Arts Award recognizes an individual who began their creative endeavours later in life. Having grown up on the West Coast of B.C. for the last 60 years, Deb has been strongly influenced by its shorelines, waterways & mountain tops. Deb worked as a R.N. for 35 years before retiring to the Sunshine Coast. It was then that Deb started to paint more regularly. She uses acrylic, mixed media collage to paint abstracted landscapes & seascapes. This spring, 2024 she had a show of works entitled Dementia What Lies Beneath at Gibsons Public Market. Deb is also an active volunteer with the Food Bank, the Gibsons Public Art Gallery and other organizations on the Coast.
The Louise Baril Memorial: Cael Read
The Louise Baril Memorial Music Award is given to an individual beginning advanced studies in music, and honours Louise Baril, a revered member of the SCAC Board who ran Countryside Concerts from 1990-94. Cael Read took home three prizes in 2023 Provincial Festival of the Performing Arts, including the senior strings award. Cael reprised one of his festival performances by playing the prelude to Bach’s first cello suite with joyful dexterity. In spring 2024 he won the Ross Brougham Award for Cello from Coast Recital Society. Cael is also the 2023/24 Youth Representative for the Town of Gibsons and co-chair of Elphi’s student council and a representative for Elphi on the SD46 District Student Leadership Team. He is passionate about improving our community, which has led him to work on initiatives such as Free Student Transit and a school district-wide Spirit Week. He loves playing the cello, is a member of the Sunshine Coast Symphony Orchestra.
The Frances Wasserlein Memorial Award: Marg Penney
The Frances Wasserlein Community Leadership Award recognizes significant contributions as a volunteer in the arts and culture sector, in memory of a passionate advocate for inclusive communities through arts and culture. Marg Penney joined the Pender Harbour Music Society in 1998 and was Chair from 2010-2019. Under her leadership the Board structure was strengthened and the Society became financially stable. Marg’s grant writing skills were exceptional and lay a strong foundation for renewed and new grants today. Marg led the Concert Committee, and was instrumental in creating the Jazz and Chamber Festivals and weekends of music. She also supervised the School of Music building renovations and was the liaison with the SCRD. Marg’s sustained volunteer leadership had a focus on relationship building, listening, encouraging, and enabling others, all with grace and calm optimism.
The Gillian Lowndes Memorial Award: Varya Moysey-Rubin
The Gillian Lowndes Award is given to an individual who has demonstrated long- standing achievement, innovation, and recent growth in their discipline. The award was created in 1981 to honour the life and talent of Gillian Lowndes, a promising young Sunshine Coast dancer and vice-president of the Arts Council. Gillian died of cancer in 1981.
Varya has been immersed in music, dance and theatre since she began life as the daughter of a professional violinist Mom and a Dad who had recently been appointed head of the new Theatre Department at York University. Her journey from that point has taken her to study, create and share her vision with personal and group performance. Her most recent project was the July 2024 Summer Youth Musical Theatre Intensive, “Songs from the Underworld.” This year the brand new Mini Theatre Camps for 6 – 10 year olds was added.
For more about our Awards and the Recipients: https://sunshinecoastartscouncil.com/awards/
The Gillian Lowndes Memorial Award: Nadina Tandy
The Gillian Lowndes Memorial Award is given to an individual who has demonstrated long-standing achievement, innovation, and recent growth in their artistic discipline. The award was created in 1981 to honour the life and talent of Gillian Lowndes, a promising young Sunshine Coast dancer and vice-president of the Arts Council. Gillian died of cancer in 1981. This year’s recipient is Nadina Tandy, a visual artist living in Gibsons, BC whose breakout 2017 exhibition “Exquisite Corpse” with the late Donna Balma has expanded her work locally and internationally to include solo exhibitions, innovative public art installations, book cover commissions, and a curatorial residency at ART PAWN CO/LATERAL in New York City this past June.
Frances Wasserlein Community Leadership in Arts & Culture Award: Pat and Murray Drope
The Frances Wasserlein Community Leadership Award recognizes significant contributions as a volunteer in the arts and culture sector, in memory of a passionate advocate for inclusive communities through arts and culture. This year the award goes to a couple, Pat and Murray Drope of Gibsons, BC. The Dropes have been key volunteers at the Gibsons Public Art Gallery for 20 years, and were instrumental in transforming it from a former bank into a modern gallery and retail space.
Louise Baril Memorial Music Award: Cassidy Wieler
The Louise Baril Memorial Music Award is given to an individual beginning advanced studies in music, and honours Louise Baril, a revered member of the SCAC Board who ran Countryside Concerts from 1990-94. This year’s awardee is Cassidy Wieler, a violinist from Gibsons BC. Cassidy has been playing violin since the age of 5, and now plays with the local symphony orchestra as well as groups in Vancouver and on the Coast. She has won multiple awards at the Sunshine Coast Festival of Performing Arts.
The Anne and Philip Klein Visual Arts Award: Betty Ackroyd
The Anne and Philip Klein Visual Arts Award recognizes an individual who began their creative endeavours later in life. This year the award has been given to Betty Ackroyd, a ceramicist from Roberts Creek, BC. Betty began her practice just a few years ago when she retired, and her works are sought after at local markets and the Gibsons Public Art Gallery. She is also an active arts and culture volunteer locally.