Awards & Tributes
Arts Awards Short List
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City of Hamilton Arts Awards
2023 Arts Awards Recipients Announcement & Celebration
Join us for a celebration featuring art installations, exhibitions, live performances and local food at the Art Gallery of Hamilton.
The City Hamilton is pleased to announce the 2023 Arts Awards Short List.
These remarkable local artists, arts collectives, arts community leaders and volunteers have been named to the 2023 City of Hamilton Arts Awards Short List in three categories:
Lifetime Achievement Award (5 shortlisted)
Recognizes those who have contributed substantially to the artistic vitality of the city over the course of a career.
Sponsored by IPC Next Steps Planning
Creator Award (30 shortlisted)
Conferred to individual artists and artistic collectives (including bands) working in any artistic discipline and at any career level.
Sponsored by BLR, LLP & The Personal Mortgage Group
Arts Champion Award (6 shortlisted)
Honours the work of arts sector volunteers, advocates, or board members who are essential in supporting success in the arts community.
Sponsored by Incite Foundation
Arts Awards
2023 Arts Award Short List
A panel of arts sector experts have reviewed public nominations and selected the 2023 Short List. Award recipients will be announced and celebrated at the Art Gallery of Hamilton on June 8, 2023 as part of Hamilton Arts Week.
One Lifetime Achievement Award is conferred annually to recognize living artists or arts managers who have contributed substantially to the artistic vitality of the city over the course of a career, and have inspired others through their leadership, creativity and artistic excellence. These individuals’ experience and impact may be local, national or international in scope.
Al Croxall
Al Croxall is a successful music theatre director, producer and educator. He spearheaded the founding of Theatre Ancaster, serving as its first president in 1997. Twenty-five years later the community theatre is now performing at the new Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre, where they mount eleven productions annually and offer educational programs for all ages.
John Terpstra
John Terpstra has written and published almost twenty works of poetry and non-fiction over a career that has stretched for decades. One of his best-known poems is emblazoned on a plaque in Sam Lawrence Park, overlooking downtown Hamilton. Like much of his work, it speaks to the landscape of the city.
Judith Sandiford and Ron Weihs
Judith Sandiford, artist and theatre designer, and Ronald Weihs, playwright and director, have been creating original theatre and promoting the arts for thirty years. Their projects include Artword Magazine, Artword Theatre, Artword Gallery, Artword Press, and Artword Artbar, a welcoming environment for theatre, music, dance and visual art in Hamilton.
Lorraine Segato
Lorraine Segato is a multi-disciplinary Artist, Musician, Producer & Activist. For 45 years, she has built a reputation as an innovator & icon, creating major artistic and socially relevant projects. Segato has worked extensively with diverse grassroots communities and organizations in collaborative projects that showcase both emerging and established talent.
Robert 'Bob' Daniels
Robert ‘Bob’ Daniels is the owner of Earls Court Gallery, a staple arts exhibition venue in Hamilton. For fifty years, Daniels has been giving, serving and contributing by way of specialty projects, community involvement, the placement of public artworks, picture framing, and assisting artists to ensure their success.
2win Dunx (Duo Warren Duncan & Spencer Duncan)
2win Dunx (pronounced Twin Dunx) are twin brothers based in Hamilton who compose, produce and perform their own hip-hop, pop, R&B, and reggae music. 2win Dunx have always been very passionate about two things that are helping those in need, and making music.
Alexander Notarangelo
Alexander Notarangelo is an emerging figurative artist based in Hamilton. Alexander’s oil paintings focus on capturing the individual through the lens of realism and portraiture. A self-taught artist who began during the covid lockdowns, Alexander Looks to forge a name for himself in the Canadian art scene.
André Bisson
As the sole songwriter and arranger for a group that spans from 6-20 musicians, André Bisson has created his own musical brand infused with soul, roots, blues, and R&B. Using an eclectic combination of instruments, he creates a musical story that becomes the soundtrack for his lyrics.
Angela DeMontigny
Angela DeMontigny is an award-winning designer, artist, and entrepreneur of Cree/Métis heritage based in Hamilton, ON. A pioneer of Indigenous fashion for over two decades, her sustainable, luxury fashion collections, lifestyle, Indigenous wellness products and now public art are an example of reclaiming her identity as an Indigenous woman.
Anuja Varghese
Anuja Varghese is a Pushcart-nominated writer and editor based in Hamilton. Her work appears in several literary magazines and anthologies, including Queer Little Nightmares, Hobart, The Fiddlehead, and Plenitude Magazine. Her 2023 debut short story collection, titled Chrysalis, explores South Asian diaspora experience through a feminist, speculative lens.
Chasing Shadows Productions
Chasing Shadows Productions is an award-winning local, independent Theatre company from Hamilton. It is the creative partnership of Visual Artist and Producer Susan Robinson and Singer-Songwriter and Playwright Will Gillespie. Exclusively creating new, original works from a uniquely Canadian perspective, with a focus on musical theatre.
Cine-Psych Film-Making Team
The Cine-Psych film team is led by Dr. Nadeem Akhtar and is comprised of Resident Physicians and Medical Students. The team produces metaphorical short films about the experience of mental illness on a zero budget, for the purpose of anti-stigma education and advocacy, with scripts informed by those with lived experience.
Darren Stewart-Jones
Darren Stewart-Jones is a performer/writer/producer based out of Hamilton. Darren has a firm belief that everyone's stories deserve to be told so his scripts often detail the lives of characters from within the LGBTQ+ community. Darren believes that everyone deserves to see themselves represented on stage and screen.
David Collier
David Collier is an established comics artist based in Hamilton, Ontario. His artistic process involves writing and drawing long and short comic narratives. He also keeps volumes of sketchbooks, reflecting life on the City's streets.
Deepti Gupta
Dancer/choreographer Deepti Gupta is the artistic director of Arzoo Dance Theatre and performs Kathak, a classical dance from India. Her unique choreography bridges ancient traditions and contemporary art. A Master’s in Dance from York University, she has presented at the National Arts Centre, the Canada Dance Festival and the Banff Centre.
Diana Panton
Diana Panton is recognized nationally and internationally as one of the finest jazz vocalists. She is the winner of two JUNOs and eight nominations in Canada, as well as three Silver Disc Awards in Japan. The Ottawa Citizen listed her latest release as one of the Top 10 Albums of 2022.
Goddess
Goddess is a Hamilton-based glam-punk cabaret-pop rock band consisting of larger-than-life, magnetic, Sri Lankan twins; Pramuk and Praveen, along with their classically trained pianist/drummer, Eric and backed by the enigmatic skillful bassist, Nicky G. Goddess will take you on a path that breaks through the pains and struggles of the mundane into escapism.
Hamilton Youth Steel Orchestra (HYSO)
The Hamilton Youth Steel Orchestra (HYSO – pronounced hi-so) was founded in May 2004 by Karen Nelson & Cathy Ferreira, both of whom continue to co-manage the program, on a volunteer basis. HYSO is a grass-roots music program with a mission to use music to influence the social development of our children and youth.
Jojo Chooi-Harley
JoJo Chooi-Harley is a first-generation Canadian Chinese-Malay artist and social worker. Her artistic process weaves storytelling and silkscreen printmaking to promote dialogue that decolonizes singular narratives of marginalized communities. Her work has been supported by the Ontario Arts Council, and has been shown at Centre3, the AGH, and WAHC.
Kaime Sherman
Kaime Sherman is an arts innovator, artist, mentor, author, Acting, Public Speaking and Life Coach, YWCA Woman of Distinction, thought leader and proud Hamiltonian. As Founder of the Academy of Imagination & Dramatic Arts, AiDa provides mission-driven arts education for all ages, inspires creativity, confidence, community, fosters diversity, inclusion, social change and champions arts excellence and appreciation.
Kareem–Anthony Ferreira
Kareem–Anthony Ferreira creates richly layered paintings that trace patterns of personal, familial and social identity within the genre of black portraiture. His work has been exhibited internationally, and in 2022, he was the subject (alongside his father) of a major exhibition at the Art Gallery of Hamilton titled “Gatherings”.
Katherine MacDonald
Katherine MacDonald is a figurative painter who has worked out of her Hamilton studio for over forty-five years. Committed to the practice of drawing from life, her work deals with relationships and the intimate nature of seeing. She uses a wide range of media including oil, watercolour, chalk and pencil.
Lyla Miklos
Lyla Miklos is a Broadcast Journalist, Community Organizer, Union Negotiator, Education Worker, Publicist, Theatre Artist and Writer. Lyla’s queer, feminist, sex-positive, labour activism informs her work. Lyla uses her powerful voice, evocative language, creative talents and organizational skills to connect communities, educate citizens, celebrate artists and liberate humanity.
Myke Hutchings
Myke Hutchings is a musician, vocalist and eccentric performer with over thirty years of experience. The current tenor section lead at St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Myke is also co-director of the Academy of Clown Arts and Christmas Artists where he teaches eccentric performance, music and clown to performers from around the world.
Nathan Eugene Carson
Nathan Eugene Carson received a BFA from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 2005. His drawings and paintings have since been shown at Verso Gallery, Lennox Contemporary, Gallery One, and the Drake Hotel in Toronto. Carson’s work was also featured during the AGO First Thursdays in partnership with the RBC Emerging Artists Projects and StreetARToronto. His most recent solo exhibition is an Art Residency at The Art Gallery of Hamilton titled Black Carnival (2023).
Open Heart Arts Theatre
Open Heart produces site-specific performance with a conscience. Our practice is centred around community-engaged collaboration, creating performances through storytelling, music and movement, by and about the amazing people in our city. Our work encourages the heart to remain open and inspires action in our community and the world.
Piper & Carson
Piper & Carson’s songwriting is free and fiercely personal; like running in the woods, washing in cold water and howling with wolves. The couple's undeniable chemistry onstage draws the audience in, bringing their music to life. This duo will make you believe folk music can change the world.
Piper Hayes
Piper Hayes reminds us of why we need live music; a breath of fresh air, raising our vibrations and helping us remember who we are. A somatic practitioner, professor, mentor and choir co-director, she helps uncover the full power of our voices. Full of uncharted charisma, compassion, empathy, playfulness and wonder.
Sarah Sproule
Sarah Sproule is an emerging artist and cultural worker with a BFA from McMaster University. Her work explores the relationship between marginalization, the domestic, and the abstracted body while drawing on the rich visual history of the ghost story. Sarah works primarily in sculpture, utilizing plaster, ceramics, and found objects.
Sean Procyk
Sean Procyk is a bricoleur and playground designer. His practice focuses on creating immersive and interactive site-specific installations in non-traditional art settings. Recent projects have explored the transformative potential of play-based interaction, considering it a tool for promoting connection, creativity and, resilience among viewers or users.
Selena Middleton
Selena Middleton is a writer, educator and small press publisher. At Stelliform Press, she champions speculative stories about our collective climate-changed futures, focusing on social and cultural impacts on marginalized people. Under the name Eileen Gunnell Lee, her own work has appeared in Friends Journal, Nightmare Magazine, Reckoning, and more.
Sid Ryan Eilers
Sid Ryan Eilers (they/them) is a dance artist: director, choreographer, mentor, dramaturg, curator, jury member, producer and performer. Their career spans 22 years; having performed across Canada, Europe and in New York. In February 2014 Eilers founded Aeris Körper Contemporary Dance, through which they have choreographed a number of performances.
Sonali Menezes
Sonali Menezes is an artist and writer based in Hamilton, ON. While her work spans many mediums, she has been most recently focused on video, printmaking, and zines. Sonali’s cookbook zine Depression Cooking won Broken Pencil Magazine's Zine Award for best info zine in 2022.
Steacy Easton
Steacy Easton is a writer and visual artist, originally from Edmonton, who has lived in Hamilton for more than seven years. They have written on gender, sexuality, and country music for publications including Slate, NPR, and the Atlantic Online. Upcoming books include Why Tammy Wynette Matters for University of Texas, a 33 ⅓ Volume for Bloomsbury on Dolly’s White Limozeen, and a queer antimemoir of the west for Coach House. They were the 2022 Martha Street Artist Residence in Winnipeg.
Vick Naresh
Vick Naresh is a Hamilton-based contemporary artist whose paintings explore figurative abstraction and address themes around displacement, belonging, and identity. His artworks use a unique language of imagery and geometric configurations, combined with vivid colour harmonies to create a complex visual tapestry of imagined environments.
Chris Pannell
Chris Pannell has published seven books of poetry and has been involved in Hamilton literary events and initiatives since he came to Hamilton in 1989. Chris is part of a core group of volunteers that run Lit Live, a literary reading series featuring a diverse and exciting range of writers from across Canada. Pannell has also been a board member for the gritLIT Writing Festival and Hamilton Artists Inc.
Helen Graham
Helen Graham promotes Hamilton music, theatre and arts events through her Helen Graham Presents Event Calendar and personal social media accounts. Helen’s primary focus is the support and promotion of local musicians. She attends multiple live music performances each week and shares live video clips of the shows as they are happening to encourage her followers to come out to show their support.
Jessica Vinluan
Jessica Vinluan is the co-founder of Filipinas of HamOnt, a community-engaged initiative by Filipinas for Filipinas, committed to supporting women, girls, and femme-identified Hamiltonians of Philippine-ancestry. She is currently working at the Student Success Centre at McMaster University. She is also an English and Visual Arts high school teacher and was the Project Coordinator for Hamilton Art Council's The Arty Crowd project.
Luis Pereira
Luis Pereira created the Hamilton Blues Lovers (HBL) in 2008. HBL started out as a local music fan support group dedicated to attending and advocating live music in Hamilton. It quickly evolved into both in-person and online support, covering all
genres of music, venues and events. Throughout the years, thousands of artists have been featured and promoted. Luis also volunteers for a variety of organizations, fundraisers, venues and performers.
Matt Moreland
Matt Moreland is the co-founder of Monday Press, a not-for-profit collective that supports and engages Hamilton’s literary community. Born from a weekly public book club, Monday Press now hosts ‘Dirty Laundry,’ a series of free poetry events that provide a space for local writers with diverse experience levels and backgrounds to share their work. Matt has volunteered an immeasurable amount of his time organizing, managing, advertising, hosting, and editing content for these events.
Natasha Jones
Natasha Jones spent more than five years teaching and recruiting teachers for remote, northern Ontario First Nation communities. After returning to Hamilton in 2020, Natasha launched Wiij’iwe Collective in partnership with the Indigenous artists with whom she formed close relationships during her time up north. Natasha purchases their artwork upfront and sells it through Instagram, Facebook and art fairs. Natasha does this work as a volunteer without accepting any payment for the many hours she invests in Wiij’iwe Collective.
Date modified
May 23, 2023