2008 Premier's Awards for Excellence in the Arts

The Ontario government held the 2008 Premier#&39s Awards for Excellence in the Arts on Monday, June 23, 2008 at the Carlu in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. These awards are administered by the Ontario Arts Council.

the Finalists

Arts Organization Award Category: Toronto-based small press Coach House Books, the Guelph Jazz Festival, the Hot Docs documentary festival, based in Toronto, the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation in M'Chigeeng, Manitoulin Island and Ottawa-based Réseau Ontario, an organization that showcases Francophone culture across Ontario, and the Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People, based in Toronto.

Individual Artist Award Category: sculptor and installation artist Ron Noganosh of Ottawa, choreographer David Earle of Guelph, contemporary furniture master Michael Fortune of Lakefield, writer Afua Cooper and conductor and composer Alex Pauk, both from Toronto and visual artist Tim Whiten, also of Toronto.

the Winners:

Arts Organization Award Category:

Publishing house Coach House Books received the 2008 Premier's Awards for Excellence and was hence awarded $50,000 as the winner in the Arts Organization category. Coach House is one of only three Canadian publishers to print its books in-house and has nurtured the careers of some of Canada's best-known writers such as Michael Ondaatje, bpNichol, Nicole Brossard, Christian Bök, Jonathan Goldstein, Linda Griffiths, Anne Michaels, Michael Redhill>

Individual Artist Award Category:

Visual artist and sculptor Ron Noganosh received the award for individual artist and received a cheque for $35,000. He will also be asked to identify an emerging artist of the year, who will receive $15,000. Noganosh is best known for using junk material such as beer caps, auto parts and old toys to create imaginative, humorous and thought-provoking art works.

TorontoArtsandEvents extends congratulations to the winners and the finalists in the 2008 Premier's Awards for Excellence in the Arts - check back here for details on the 2008 Awards!

Ron Noganosh

Coach House Books VIP's