Everything’s new for Arts Awards Waterloo Region
For almost three decades, the Arts Awards Waterloo Region have been honouring artists, musicians, writers, event organizers, volunteers, supporters – in fact, dozens of people across the entire spectrum of the arts. But in 2017, the long-term board members realized that some major revamping was necessary. That launched an intensive project to re-create Arts Awards Waterloo Region.
In 2019 and onwards, we implemented a new process. A key change has to do with the method of nominating and choosing arts awards winners. In the past, nominations were sought from the public, but over the years, the number of nominations declined annually. That led to the appointment of a nominating committee, whose mandate was to “top up” the list of nominees. The nominees were then presented to a jury (with a new membership every year), who were responsible for choosing arts awards winners in up to 18 categories. The awards were presented at an annual event, in the form of a gala.
With the findings of our 2017 strategic plan and a series of public consultations, all of this changed, although there continues to be an annual event honouring the best in the arts in the region.
The Arts Awards Academy is now the body responsible for nominating people from the arts community to receive an Arts Award, and for ultimately choosing the annual winners. Members of the Academy come both urban and rural areas of the Region, and from many arts disciplines.
Today, the Academy comprises over 80 members. It was formed in 2018 on the basis of invitations from the Awards’ Board of Directors. In particular, the Board strove to achieve a balance of people who are practitioners and participants/attenders in cultural activities in the Region, with members being drawn from a very wide range of cultural sectors and also covering the whole geography of the Region. The diverse people who accepted the invitation are listed on the Arts Awards Waterloo Region website here; they form the Academy for this Awards year. There is a Charter for the Academy which governs the recruitment and working methods of the group.
There are other changes – the plethora of awards has been reduced to just seven across-the-spectrum arts awards, as well as one for lifetime achievement, and one that will honour philanthropic efforts in the arts.
Our nomination period takes place annually; voting for the winners is held in September. Nominations and voting is completed by Academy members. Each year, winners are honoured at an event in November.
To contact Arts Awards Waterloo Region, please reach out to us at admin@artsawardswaterlooregion.ca.