Congratulations! 2016 Windsor Mayor’s Arts Awards Recipients
The 2016 Windsor Mayor’s Arts Awards were presented this week in a ceremony held at the Chimczuk Museum. The awards program, provided in partnership by the City of Windsor and the Windsor Endowment for the Arts aims to recognize those who support locally developed arts—providing exciting, surprising, and meaningful opportunities to strengthen our creative community.
“The arts, in all of its forms, is not a luxury, it is a necessity and is an important contributor to our quality of life. We are surrounded by it, and sometimes we don’t even realize it and we take it for granted. That’s why the Mayor’s Arts Awards were created. To acknowledge and celebrate the arts and artists, and those in the community who support them.” – Mayor Drew Dilkens
Volunteer Award – Elissa Abboud
At only twenty years of age, Elissa Abboud won the 2015 National Fresh Voices Activism Award—recognizing how her artistic work helps new Canadians adjust to life in Canada. An immigrant herself, Elissa is a percussion musician who uses dance, drumming, drama, media technology and film to express herself and give a voice to those who work with her. As a volunteer, she has worked with many artists and organizations in Windsor. She began volunteering with Windsor Women Working With Immigrant Women (W5) as facilitator for a drumming workshop to those learning English as a Second Language. Her confidence and passion inspired many newcomers to the community and led to the development of From Africa to the Middle East – an ongoing drum workshop. As the Youth Initiatives Mobilizer for the W5 Youth Program, Elissa is described as possessing an enthusiasm for sharing music with young adults that is “remarkable effective and emotionally healing.”
Artist Award – Erin Armstrong
Erin Armstrong is a talented young artist, well known for her work in the performing arts in Windsor and throughout our region. As the Creator and Director of Music Moves Kids, Erin is an exuberant teacher, producer, director and performer. She is described as having a “creative energy that lights up every room she enters, every stage she performs on and every production she is involved in.” As a mentor, Erin inspires children to be involved in the arts and facilitates numerous opportunities for them to engage with the public and with professionals from the broader arts community. As a performer, she gives everything she has to audiences, whether she is acting alongside community theatre groups or taking centre stage as a soloist with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. In the words of her nominator, Erin “focuses so much of her boundless vitality on strengthening the opera scene and the arts community of this area.”
Arts Organization Award – Literary Arts Windsor – BookFest Windsor
Literary Arts Windsor is well known in our community as a not-for-profit organization led by hard-working and dedicated volunteers, which has been responsible for putting together international-quality literary events in our city for over fourteen years. The organization’s annual BookFest Windsor event is recognized as one of Canada’s Top Literary Festivals by Canadian Geographic Magazine. Through this festival, the organization showcases up and coming authors (including local writers) and partners with the municipality, community organizations, school boards, libraries and educational institutions to bring the literary arts to life through readings, discussions and workshops for audiences of all ages, year after year. In 2016, BookFest Windsor will celebrate its 15th annual event highlighting the very best of the literary arts.
