Darin Hagen among winners as Edmonton music, film, books and visual arts awarded $100,000
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The $100,000 annual Edmonton Arts Prizes have been awarded, showcasing an impressive range of local talent and vision!
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Longtime playwright, queer advocate and drag legend Darin Hagen has taken the City of Edmonton Film Prize for his documentary Pride vs. Prejudice: The Delwin Vriend Story, it was announced at a ceremony at Roxy Theatre Wednesday night, while alternative electro-pop artist margø has grabbed its Music Prize cousin for her debut album, who are you when you're alone?
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Novelist, bookseller and Afghanistan veteran Benjamin Hertwig, meanwhile, won the Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize for his tender, battlefront debut novel Juiceboxers.
Raneece Buddan's Art Gallery of St. Albert show Adorned in our Thread led to her Eldon and Anne Foote Visual Arts Prize win.
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Besides the honour of recognition by peers, each category winner is awarded $15,000, with $5,000 apiece going to everyone else on the short list.
The runners up in each category are Don Depoe/Dept. 9 Studios for Dark Match and Scott Portingale for Emergence for the film prize — the three movies playing NorthwestFilmFest Monday night at Metro Cinema starting at 7 p.m. with Q and As to follow.
Celeigh Cardinal's Boundless Possibilities and King Thief's self titled album scored the music prize's runners-up spots, meanwhile, while Gail Fraser's By Strength, We Are Still Here: Indigenous Peoples and Indian Residential Schooling in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, and Marilyn Dumont's South Side of a Kinless River rounded up the books list.
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Finally, for visual arts, the runners up were Cheyenne Rain LeGrande for mi^kisak and Heather Shillinglaw's MNIDOONS GIIZIS OONHG – LITTLE SPIRIT MOON (NOVEMBER).
Last year's winners were HAIDEE's album This Shouldn't Be Typical, Cody Lightning's film HEY, VIKTOR!, Kelsey Stepehnson for Currents — also at Art Gallery of St. Albert, PS — and essayist Jennifer Bowering Delisle for Micrographia.
The annual awards honouring 12 of our finest is shepherded by Edmonton Arts Council, in partnership with the City of Edmonton and community partners Alberta Media Production Industries Association, Alberta Music, Audreys Books, CARFAC Alberta, Edmonton Community Foundation and Writers' Guild of Alberta.
Deadlines for the 2026 awards are early December for books, late January for the other three prizes.
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Calgary Herald
08-05-2025
- Calgary Herald
Darin Hagen among winners as Edmonton music, film, books and visual arts awarded $100,000
Article content The $100,000 annual Edmonton Arts Prizes have been awarded, showcasing an impressive range of local talent and vision! Article content Article content Longtime playwright, queer advocate and drag legend Darin Hagen has taken the City of Edmonton Film Prize for his documentary Pride vs. Prejudice: The Delwin Vriend Story, it was announced at a ceremony at Roxy Theatre Wednesday night, while alternative electro-pop artist margø has grabbed its Music Prize cousin for her debut album, who are you when you're alone? Article content Article content Novelist, bookseller and Afghanistan veteran Benjamin Hertwig, meanwhile, won the Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize for his tender, battlefront debut novel Juiceboxers. Article content Article content Besides the honour of recognition by peers, each category winner is awarded $15,000, with $5,000 apiece going to everyone else on the short list. Article content The runners up in each category are Don Depoe/Dept. 9 Studios for Dark Match and Scott Portingale for Emergence for the film prize — the three movies playing NorthwestFilmFest Monday night at Metro Cinema starting at 7 p.m. with Q and As to follow. Article content Celeigh Cardinal's Boundless Possibilities and King Thief's self titled album scored the music prize's runners-up spots, meanwhile, while Gail Fraser's By Strength, We Are Still Here: Indigenous Peoples and Indian Residential Schooling in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, and Marilyn Dumont's South Side of a Kinless River rounded up the books list. Article content Article content Finally, for visual arts, the runners up were Cheyenne Rain LeGrande for mi^kisak and Heather Shillinglaw's MNIDOONS GIIZIS OONHG – LITTLE SPIRIT MOON (NOVEMBER). Article content Article content Last year's winners were HAIDEE's album This Shouldn't Be Typical, Cody Lightning's film HEY, VIKTOR!, Kelsey Stepehnson for Currents — also at Art Gallery of St. Albert, PS — and essayist Jennifer Bowering Delisle for Micrographia. Article content The annual awards honouring 12 of our finest is shepherded by Edmonton Arts Council, in partnership with the City of Edmonton and community partners Alberta Media Production Industries Association, Alberta Music, Audreys Books, CARFAC Alberta, Edmonton Community Foundation and Writers' Guild of Alberta. Article content Deadlines for the 2026 awards are early December for books, late January for the other three prizes.
Edmonton Journal
08-05-2025
- Edmonton Journal
Darin Hagen among winners as Edmonton music, film, books and visual arts awarded $100,000
Article content The $100,000 annual Edmonton Arts Prizes have been awarded, showcasing an impressive range of local talent and vision! Article content Longtime playwright, queer advocate and drag legend Darin Hagen has taken the City of Edmonton Film Prize for his documentary Pride vs. Prejudice: The Delwin Vriend Story, it was announced at a ceremony at Roxy Theatre Wednesday night, while alternative electro-pop artist margø has grabbed its Music Prize cousin for her debut album, who are you when you're alone? Article content Novelist, bookseller and Afghanistan veteran Benjamin Hertwig, meanwhile, won the Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize for his tender, battlefront debut novel Juiceboxers. Raneece Buddan's Art Gallery of St. Albert show Adorned in our Thread led to her Eldon and Anne Foote Visual Arts Prize win. Article content Besides the honour of recognition by peers, each category winner is awarded $15,000, with $5,000 apiece going to everyone else on the short list. The runners up in each category are Don Depoe/Dept. 9 Studios for Dark Match and Scott Portingale for Emergence for the film prize — the three movies playing NorthwestFilmFest Monday night at Metro Cinema starting at 7 p.m. with Q and As to follow. Celeigh Cardinal's Boundless Possibilities and King Thief's self titled album scored the music prize's runners-up spots, meanwhile, while Gail Fraser's By Strength, We Are Still Here: Indigenous Peoples and Indian Residential Schooling in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, and Marilyn Dumont's South Side of a Kinless River rounded up the books list. Article content Finally, for visual arts, the runners up were Cheyenne Rain LeGrande for mi^kisak and Heather Shillinglaw's MNIDOONS GIIZIS OONHG – LITTLE SPIRIT MOON (NOVEMBER). Last year's winners were HAIDEE's album This Shouldn't Be Typical, Cody Lightning's film HEY, VIKTOR!, Kelsey Stepehnson for Currents — also at Art Gallery of St. Albert, PS — and essayist Jennifer Bowering Delisle for Micrographia. The annual awards honouring 12 of our finest is shepherded by Edmonton Arts Council, in partnership with the City of Edmonton and community partners Alberta Media Production Industries Association, Alberta Music, Audreys Books, CARFAC Alberta, Edmonton Community Foundation and Writers' Guild of Alberta. Deadlines for the 2026 awards are early December for books, late January for the other three prizes. fgriwkowsky@ @ Latest National Stories
CBC
01-12-2024
- CBC
Work underway in Alberta town to restore one of last remaining Quonset-style theatres
The historic Roxy Theatre in southwestern Alberta's Crowsnest Pass has seen better days. Its neon sign is in need of repair, the inside is bone-chillingly cold, and the heating, flooring, original 275 seats and insulation have been ripped out. What does remain is the two-storey entrance and lobby, complete with an art deco ticket booth and a coal chute connected to the bones of the Quonset hut-style theatre made of galvanized corrugated steel panels. It hasn't been open for 20 years, but there is hope the theatre in downtown Coleman, Alta., that was built in 1948 can be restored to its original glory. In the theatre's main auditorium, Fred Bradley describes how everything, including the old insulation, had to be taken out last year. "This is the guts of the building. This is where the performance stage will be," says Bradley, a former Alberta cabinet minister who sits on the Revive the Roxy Theatre building committee. "This place has incredible acoustics. You can whisper here and hear it in the very back." Bradley and fellow committee members began planning in 2021 to restore the theatre. "After the Second World War, the U.S. army had all these surplus Quonsets — 140 of them were converted into what they say is a Quonset-style theatre. This is one of them," Bradley says. He adds there are 20 such theatres remaining in North America, with three in Canada. In addition to the Roxy, there is one in Wainwright, Alta., and one in Victoria that just closed. The Roxy, which was facing possible demolition five years ago, was designated an Alberta provincial historic resource in 2022. Don Budgen, treasurer and engineer for the Crowsnest Historical Society and the Crowsnest Cultural and Recreation Society, says Quonset-style theatres were easy to erect and quite popular in the U.S. for a time. "The reason why there's hardly any left is because as easy as they were to build, they were really easy to tear down and the land would probably become more valuable than the historical value at the time," he says. Howard Vandenhoef, the communications director for the historical and cultural societies, added, "As the numbers have diminished, the more valuable they became from a historical context." The Roxy has had a number of owners over the years and last operated as a live theatre in 2003, when the Lost Creek wildfire burned for 26 days and resulted in the evacuation of about 2,000 people. The community also began to see an economic decline with the closing of the coal mines in the area. $4 million price tag Work has already begun on fixing the foundation and the roof. Federal and provincial grants, along with fundraising efforts, are paying the bills. The final price tag at this point is $4 million and the goal is to turn the Roxy into a performing arts centre set to open in December 2027. "It's an airplane hangar style is what it is. We've excavated. The foundation has been restored. The interior has been removed and is ready for restoration," Bradley says. "It will all come back." The Roxy Theatre was one of 12 heritage sites in the running for the Canada's Next Great Save contest, which comes with a $50,000 prize for the winner. It finished fourth in the national competition. Crowsnest Pass Mayor Blair Painter remembers going to movies at the Roxy as a child and he's grateful for the effort to restore it. "Absolutely, it would be a boost," he says.
