One of the big highlights of the StArts Festival is the mayor’s gala, a presentation of awards that acknowledges the worthy achievements of St. Albert artists.
But for some reason the community has been slow to nominate its dedicated artists and the deadline for nomination submissions has been extended to Wednesday, June 30.
Four awards aimed at recognizing the accomplishments of individuals are: lifetime achievement, youth artist, emerging artist and excellence in teaching. Each of these recipients receives a trophy and $1,000.
There are also three additional awards that represent an acknowledgement of gratitude to non-profits and businesses for their support. The three awards are promotion of the arts, sustained support of the arts and creative partnership.
While every category is short of nominations, two groups have virtually no entries. The youth artist award has only received one nomination and the creative partnerships award has not received any says StArts Festival co-chair Nancy Watt.
“We would like to have more choices as it enables us to recognize these artists. Even if they don’t receive a monetary award, their name gets printed in the paper,” says Watt.
Guidelines and forms are available at www.startsfest.ca.
St. Albert sax player Jonny McCormack has transplanted his roots to Vancouver. The former MacEwan College “saxophone king” is now rocking full throttle with The Rude City Riot, a ska-punk-funk band that’s leaving their mark on the West Coast.
But McCormack is taking a detour back home to LB’s Pub for Ammar’s Open Stage this coming Tuesday and he’s packing his sax for a few choice rhythms.
“I think everyone that knew Jonny knew he would live out his dream. His Thursday night jam at the former Rock Pub gained a huge reputation with college jazz musicians and friends. If it was not for the bar’s closure in 2008, this jam would have been packed every night,” says host Mark Ammar.
Also on tap is keyboardist Larry Kehl of Crosstown Traffic.
“I met Larry at LB’s and was very impressed by his keyboarding and I had to introduce myself and give him a few high fives as we were playing.”
The open jam runs from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. LB’s is located at 23 Akins Drive. There is no cover charge.
