32 local creators awarded $215,096 by the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund

Waterloo Region – The Region of Waterloo Arts Fund (RWAF) is awarding a total of $215,096 to 32 local artists and arts organizations for projects slated to take place between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024. The Spring 2023 round of funding received 135 eligible applications, with requests totaling $932,701 – a near-million dollar ask underscoring the soaring needs of art-makers and creatives.

A panel of peer review advisors representing a range of arts disciplines selected the winning projects. The local artists who made up the panel were Eduardo S. Falcon, Kathryn Ladano, Cole Nemeth, Eekta Trienekens, Kayla Cicman, and Sharl Smith.

The Spring 2023 winning projects introduced below include a range of emerging and established artists throughout the region. Emerging artists or collectives were eligible for up to $10,000, and $7,500 was the grant ceiling for established artists and collectives. The information in brackets indicates where a project is slated to take place. “Region of Waterloo” means a project will occur in more than one location.

Groups and Collectives:

The Cambridge Sculpture Garden – $7,500 for “Placemaking” (Cambridge): installing a new complex metal sculpture by regional artist Catherine Palenczy in the open-access Garden.

Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery – Denis Longchamps, $7,500 for “Celebrate 30 Mosaic” (Waterloo): creating a public mosaic with a local artist along the Waterloop/Laurel Trail.

Port Albert Productions –$6,000 for “Corporate Finch”(Kitchener): summer and fall touring of this new one-act thriller by Taylor Marie Graham exploring critical #metoo movement issues.

Grand River Flamenco – CaluJules, $7,500 for “Grand River Flamenco Fest’s Main Weekend & Encore Party” (Region of Waterloo): a two-pronged project featuring performances, workshops, a music clinic, Spanish cuisine, and a “mart” celebrating the art of flamenco.

The Grand Philharmonic Choir – Luisa D’Amato, $5,000 for “Annelies” (Kitchener): a vocal and instrumental performance of the Anne Frank-inspired cantata by James Whitbourn.

Grand Valley Wood Carvers, Waterloo Region – Anne Forler, $5,000 for the “Canadian National Wildfowl Carving Championship” (Waterloo): woodcarvers of all skill levels gather to showcase adeptness in this undervalued art form.

Green Light Arts – Matt White, $7,500 for “Lifespan of a Fact” (Kitchener): the Canadian premiere of this critically acclaimed play by Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell and Gordon Farrell.

John Maksym Music Group – $10,000 for “Be the Change Music Video” (Region of Waterloo): an emerging collective’s project promoting empathy, kindness and gratitude by focusing on a homeless man’s story.

Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery – Shirley Madill, $7,500 for “SOS: A Story of Survival - Part II: The Body” (Kitchener): the second installment in a three-part major exhibition that explores the meaning of survival.

Minmar Gaslight Productions – Steven Elliott Jackson, $3,430 for “Comfort Women” (Kitchener): a theatre piece to be developed with Olivia Jon (Jun, Eun-Jung) that centres the story of three Korean women confronting their World War II history as “comfort women.”

THEMUSEUM – David Marskell, $5,000 for “10 King Street West Mural” (Kitchener): commissioning an accessible, public-facing, street-level mural that brings to life THEMUSEUM’s tagline, “Art and Technology at Play.”

Track House Studio – Tait Garrett, $6,600 to produce “The Hip Hope Mixtape” (Cambridge): writing, recording, and producing a collaborative mixtape that explores hope in Hip Hop music, while showcasing local emcees in a companion documentary.

Waterloo Public Library – Janet Seally, $5,500 for the “Ellis Little Local History Room Wall Mural” (Waterloo): a community arts venture to highlight the feature wall using a commissioned, locally created showpiece mural.

Individuals:

Ellie Anglin – $3,000 for “Reproduction” (Kitchener): using collage, illustration and digital manipulation to create a zine about at-home insemination, or how queer people can make a baby at home. 

Nicole Beno – $5,000 for “Everything all at once or nothing at all” (Kitchener): a public fine art exhibition showcasing a series of large-scale digitally printed collages comprised of photography, found objects, and archival materials.

Olivia Brouwer– $7,500 for “Site Specific Series” (Cambridge): a series of tactile and audio-activated paintings inspired by Canadian landscapes that will be accessible to both non-sighted and sighted audiences.

Susan Cadell – $6,995 for “Stories in Ink: Elevating the Voices of Equity-Seeking Communities” (Region of Waterloo): equity-seeking people share stories and photos for a special issue of Textile Magazine challenging stigma around race, queerness, disability, grief and tattoos.

Cassidy Civiero – $7,500 for “Lost in My Head” (Waterloo): a short, experimental film about anxiety and one way to combat it.

Jack Cooper – $5,419 for “Jack and the Spare Hearts – live performance development and presentation” (Kitchener): a performance series introducing the band’s music to regional audiences that also serves as a model for opening new markets elsewhere. 

Tristan Deveau – $5,700 for “Through a Historical Lens” (Region of Waterloo): a photography exhibit of a subject captured by multiple cameras of various ages and formats, to show how each lens provides a unique perspective.

Angela Grasse – $2,164 for “Mandala Meditation Circuit” (Kitchener): artwork on reusable banners that are then hung at Knollwood Park as a wellness-inspiring meditation circuit for the public.

Alison Hall – $10,000 for “Fauna of the Grand River” (Region of Waterloo): a series of ten felted, life-sized art pieces that draw attention to endangered species struggling to live within the Grand River watershed.

Jacob Irish – $10,000 for “A Month of Stolen Light” (Kitchener): a series of ten 16x20 inch altered photographs framed in lightboxes with collimating lenses, depicting invasive, environment-shaping giant hogweed shot in Bechtel Park.

Coraline James – $5,875 for “Brambles” (Kitchener): a four-song EP that brings classical elements and percussive rhythms to a folk/pop aesthetic, while exploring the complex emotions of an unhealthy relationship.

Ameya Kale – $10,000 for “Homecoming” (Kitchener): a theatrical story-telling project that explores housing struggles and the challenges of belonging faced by immigrant newcomers in Waterloo Region.

Kris Langford – $9,263 for “Casting Call” (Region of Waterloo): a narrative short film (drama) shooting in Kitchener-Waterloo with an ACTRA cast of three.

John McKinley – $7,480 for “John McKinley Band Jam” (Waterloo): to provide a consistent, supportive, positive place for amateur and professional musicians to play live improvisational music of all genres.

Tatiana Nikolaeva – $8,500 for “Landmarks of the Region of Waterloo” (Kitchener): a landscape series featuring recognizable and notable local landmarks, encouraging people to discover the region for themselves.

Danielle Petti – $5,000 for “Looking Back and Looking Forward” (Waterloo): a series of paintings focused on sustainability and humanity that explores the past and future.

Lauren Prousky – $10,000 for “Heartbreak and Hardening” (Kitchener): an experimental poetry sculpture installation that will result in a new immersive solo show.

Paul Roorda – $7,500 for “Fake Meets Fiction: AI, Analogue, and Art” (Waterloo): an AI-generated alter-ego artist is contrasted to this artist’s traditional analogue art forms to explore questions around artifice in art.

Trevor Waurechen – $4,210 for “Alpha” (Other): supporting the artist’s taking his letter-shaped light boxes that illuminate a compelling single phrase to Nuit Blanche Saskatoon.

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For more information regarding the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund, contact the Arts Fund at info@artsfund.ca.