back to Archives
Lifetime Achievement Award
Mike Bergauer
Mike Bergauer started playing trumpet professionally at age 13 and began privately teaching the following year. While teaching vocal and instrumental classes for the Catholic School Board from 1954 to 1989 he started the high school music program at St. Mary’s and St. Jerome’s, conducting over 600 concerts and 12 musicals. As conductor, he put on one musical after another to sell-out crowds. Meanwhile he formed six different dance bands comprised mostly of students from St. Jerome’s and St. Mary’s High Schools, performing all over Ontario in the 1970s and 1980s. Many of these students made music their career.
His largest extravaganza, Opus ’67 involving 1800 people at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, was taped live by CKCO. This tape was viewed by 55 Ambassadors around the world who praised it as the best production during the 1967 Centennial year. It depicted the story of Canada through music, artwork and many scenarios including performances by different ethnic groups.
In association with the Optimist Club, Mike also formed the first music day camp in North America, sponsored by the K-W Optimist Club from 1966 to 1970 at Bamberg and Heidelberg. Moreover, he created the K-W Jr. Symphony which still operates today as the K-W Youth Orchestra.
Many of his former students are a “who’s who” of community, national and international musicians. They describe him as tenacious, enthusiastic, humorous, energetic, supportive and a consummate showman. His retirement concert in 1989 said it all! The last selection, Rocky Suite, best expressed his feelings and energy. “I’m going out swinging,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.
Corporate Arts Supporter Award
Savvas Chamberlain and the DALSA Corporation
Dr. Savvas Chamberlain can be characterized as a scientist, academic, inventor and entrepreneur. Above all, he loves and supports the arts and culture. This passionate nature is reflected in the Waterloo-based company which he founded in 1980—DALSA. CEO from its inception until August 2007, Dr. Chamberlain is now CTO and Chairman. Under his leadership DALSA has grown worldwide from one employee to more than 1000 employees with revenues of $186 million in 2006.
DALSA Digital Cinema is a leader in the development and commercialization of 4K digital motion picture capture tools. The company’s flagship product, the DALSA Origin®, is widely acknowledged as the best cinematography camera available. In fact, the next James Bond motion picture Quantum of Solace will feature a complex visual effects shot captured with eight DALSA 4K Origin cameras. The camera captures at 4K resolution, the industry’s preferred image capture and archiving resolution format. The camera is distributed through the company’s state of the art, full service camera rental facility in Woodland Hills, California. Using CCD technology and MOSFET image sensors which it pioneered, DALSA has even successfully restored film classics.
Those at DALSA believe that both its associates and technology are the company’s strengths. This is reflected in DALSA’s corporate donations which focus on improving the community to make it a better place to live and promoting technological advancement. To promote technological advancement DALSA sponsors a research chair at the University of Waterloo. DALSA is also an active supporter of the cultural arts in the Waterloo Region, including the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and Opera. DALSA has sponsored a number of concerts including Madame Butterfly.
Jamesway Construction Group Leading Edge Award
Alex Tintinalli
Alex Tintinalli is one of Kitchener Waterloo’s brightest upcoming young virtuosos. Within a meager four years of guitar lessons, Alex has developed a truly unique and powerful voice both as a performer and composer. Last year, Alex released his first album Nothing to Lose with great success. He also has several benefit performances under his belt including ROOF (2004), the United Way (2007), and the Toronto Children’s Aid Banquette where he shared the stage with Tom Cochrane and Sophie Milman. A long and fruitful career can be clearly imagined for this talented young artist.
Pioneer Craftsman Leading Edge Award
Artery Gallery
Since its inception in 2004, the Artery Gallery has been an outlet for student creation, allowing many University of Waterloo Fine Arts students to become more involved in the workings and maintenance behind shows and the gallery itself, as well a venue for their burgeoning talents. Through volunteer and non-profit work by students in the UW SOFA, the Society of Fine Artists, there have been nearly continuous monthly exhibitions since 2004. Most recently, working with Render, the Artery has become a testing ground for maturing curatorial and directing skills for aspiring students pursuing this field. The volunteer director this year is Adam Meyer.
Comcor Environmental Leading Edge Award
Eric Kennedy and Patrick Murray
Eric Kennedy and Patrick Murray have become truly exceptional figures in our musical community. Eric and Patrick are both currently seniors at Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute who have taken initiatives far beyond the scope of ordinary high school activities. Together they have co-founded the Waterloo Region Student Music Council (WRSMC) representing all public high school music departments in our region. They also spearheaded the “Music Students Unite: Save Our Symphony” Concert last year, raising over $10,000 in support of the KW Symphony. Patrick and Eric have each shown a passion and drive far exceeding their years.
Leading Edge Award
Todd Donald
Aside from being a wonderfully talented singer/ songwriter and a fixture on local stages, Todd Donald has gone to great lengths to support the community in which he resides. Since 2006, Todd has hosted a radio program now titled ‘Indie Invasion’ for a two hour block every Friday night on 88.3FM CJIQ. This show became a vehicle through which Todd has explored, promoted, and helped to create and maintain the KW Indie music scene. Starting in January 2008 Todd expanded his audience and scope when he launched the iTodd Lounge, an online audio and video broadcast with the same goals.
Gowlings Literary Award
Tamas Dobozy
Tamas Dobozy writes stories that are hard to define and difficult to forget. His book, Last Notes and Other Stories, a mix of surreal and cerebral, slapstick and bittersweet, gives readers wonderful characters in beguiling stories such as the Hungarian exile who paints blank canvases to critical acclaim and the married couple who work out their differences by boxing even as the wife is pregnant. Last Notes and Other Stories was deemed one of the top 25 books of 2005 by CBC Radio One. Professor of English and Film Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, Tamas was also a visiting Fulbright Scholar at New York University last year.
Visual Arts Award
Allan Harding Mackay
Allan Harding MacKay is an accomplished and widely-recognized artist, working in a variety of media. His diverse work appears in collections across the country, from the Canadian War Museum to the National Gallery of Canada. Through a program sponsored by the Department of National Defence, he has travelled to Somalia and Afghanistan as a "war artist", turning his creativity toward the powerful and intense images of war; he was also recently commissioned to create the Veterans' Memorial at Queens Park. Long time curator and arts administrator, he is the curatorial consultant at the K-W Art Gallery.
Performing Arts Award
Amanda Kind
Singer, actress, teacher and marketing professional, Amanda Kind is dedicated to arts in this community. She is a board member for the Waterloo Regional Gilbert & Sullivan Society and winner of the Rogers Television Woman of the Year Award in 2007. Apart from her "day job" in the marketing department of Drayton Entertainment, Amanda is an energetic volunteer, both on stage and behind the scenes with KW Musical Productions. Amanda also teaches singing at Waterloo Music and gives freely of her time and talent, performing in song at various local churches or special occasions.
Music Award
Paul Pulford
Paul Pulford has a distinguished career as a cello soloist and chamber musician. He has toured and recorded extensively throughout Europe and North America with the Galliard Ensemble from 1977-1982, the Brunswick String Quartet from 1984-1989, and the Penderecki String Quartet from 1990-2003. Pulford has worked as conductor of the Fredericton Chamber Orchestra, the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra, and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Youth Orchestra. A gifted teacher, Pulford held teaching positions at University College, Cork, the Banff Centre, and Acadia University before joining the faculty at Wilfrid Laurier University where he is now a Professor of Music and Associate Dean of the Faculty.
Wagner Livock Mentor Award
Isabel Cisterna
Isabel Cisterna’s Cafe Cabaret series began in 2001, and these interactive celebrations of the arts are now regularly attended by hundreds of people. Her non-profit production company, Neruda Productions, presents workshops that reach out to all parts of our multifaceted community. Her Arpillera workshop helps women create traditional Latin American folk quilts that tell individual and community stories to break down cultural barriers. Using arts and culture from around the world, Isabel works to build bridges in our community, celebrate our ever-changing cultural diversity, and nurture a society of growth, respect, acceptance, and tolerance.
Open Award
Lawrence McNaught
For more than 30 years Lawrence McNaught has been at the heart of this region’s cultural and artistic life as a producer, director and manager. Founder of the Waterloo Regional Arts Council and a pioneer of community access radio and television in the 1980s he is currently the director of programming for the Registry Theatre, president of NUMUS, music programmer for the annual festivals Tapestry and Word on the Street—and the list goes on. Above all, he has always been a promoter of others’ talents. As one of his supporters wrote, “If anybody around here makes it happen, it’s Lawrence.”
Festival or Event Award
The Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area
Attracting national and global recognition to the community through a celebration of innovative arts, the mission of The Contemporary Arts Forum Kitchener and Area is to bring art out of galleries and into public spaces. While Artists worldwide compete to participate in the Forum, CAFKA makes local artists a priority, welcoming interactive programming and encouraging both emerging and established artists. Beginning as an annual event in Kitchener City Hall a dozen years ago, CAFKA is now biennial and includes events in Cambridge and Waterloo. CAFKA.07 HAPTIC signaled the convergence of arts and technology in the heart of Waterloo Region with Christie high-definition digital projectors beaming dramatic visuals through the night sky onto the City Hall beacon tower.
Festival or Event Volunteer Program Award
The Jury did not award in this category this year.
Festival or Event Community Achievement Award
The Kitchener Blues Festival
Since Mississippi bluesman Mel Brown became an adopted son of the city of Kitchener, performing at such historic local clubs as Pop the Gator, the blues has stirred the soul of local music lovers. In 2001, that love was taken to the streets of Kitchener. Seven years later the Kitchener Blues Festival has become one of the biggest blues festivals in Canada. Last year it drew an estimated 65,000 people to three stages and organizers are predicting larger crowds for the festival this August 6th to the 10th. The Festival was recently recognized as one of the Top 100 Festivals in the province by Festival and Events Ontario’s annual conference in February.
New Festival or Event Award
The K-W Hip Hop Expo
The K-W Hip Hop Expo is all about breaking down barriers. By challenging its audience to embrace an emerging genre of music that is often misunderstood and, just as often dismissed, as being something enjoyed only by misdirected youth. The Expo showcased local talent and presented hip hop as a culture as diverse as our community itself. During this cultural exchange, both the artists and the audience left the Expo having learned something from each other. As the first annual event, the K-W Hip Hop Expo promises to continue promoting the positive aspects of the genre and allowing artists the opportunity to showcase their skills and collaborate with one another.
Special Jury Award
Rae Crossman
Throughout his life Rae Crossman has worn many hats: educator, poet, editor and performer. He has taught at the both the high school and post-secondary levels. One of the editors of The New Quarterly—our region’s literary magazine—for the past eight years, his poems have been published in magazines, read over the CBC and set to music. For almost 20 years he has performed in And Wolf Shall Inherit the Moon, the final segment in R. Murray Schafer’s vast musical cycle Patria, every summer in Haliburton Forest where a group of musicians, singers, drummers and dancers enact old myths and create new ones. Rae plays the Wolf!
Special Jury Award
Nicole Lee Quesnel
Nicole Lee Quesnel brings together a wide range of talents and contributes to our artistic community as a producer, production manager, director, actor, teacher, administrator, marketer, and perhaps most notably as a stage manager. While the majority of her work tends to take place behind the scenes, her organization, efficiency, and dedication foster the positive and focused environment that provides the support for many diverse artistic endeavours. Former ensemble member of Theatre & Company, a founding member of Lost & Found Theatre, and continually involved with many other theatre companies in the region, Nicole is also active in theatre education, and provides guidance and mentorship to many emerging young artists.
