Newcomer Artists Receive Space Awards at Akin
Congratulations are in order to a wonderful group of talented artists! Last week 20 artists took the stage at MOCA Toronto during a cheerful awards evening to highlight newcomer talent in the city. Community partners from RBC, The Artists Network, and Toronto Arts Foundation, as well as Akin Co-Director Michael Vickers, were all on hand to celebrate the winners.
Administered by Toronto Arts Foundation’s Neighbourhood Arts Network and generously sponsored by RBC, the RBC Arts Access Fund provides micro-awards of up to $1500 to professional newcomer artists to support the creation of new work. The RBC Space Award, a new partnership with arts organization Akin Collective, provides six recipients (who must be a past RBC Arts Access Award recipient) with $500 cash to support their art practice and $1,000 in studio credit to be used for shared studio or exhibition space. The initiative was spearheaded by Akin, and launched in the past year. (Akin has a similar space award with OCAD University for graduating artists in the painting and drawing faculty.)
“Akin is thrilled to partner with Neighbourhood Arts Network on the creation of this unique new award, offering space to newcomer artists to make work, sustain their artistic practice and exhibit across Toronto – a city facing an affordability crisis that we are working to address in a creative way,” said Michael Vickers, Co-Director, Akin Collective.
RECIPIENTS OF THE RBC SPACE AWARDS:
Sahar Abdallah | Award-winning illustrator originally from Egypt whose work has appeared in several children’s books, four solo exhibits and several international group shows.
Andrea Vela Alarcón | Peruvian community artist and self-taught illustrator whose work centres under-represented communities and is inspired by folk culture, femininity, and nature.
Tenzin Desel | Visual artist originally from Tibet. Born into a family of political refugees, she was invited by the Dalai Lama to study religious painting in India, spending nearly 30 years studying Buddhist paintings, philosophy, architecture and language.
Banafsheh Erfanian Painter, illustrator and educator born in Tehran, Iran, whose illustrations grace 30 books and magazines. Her work has been exhibited in 45 shows around the world and won international awards.
Tarek Ghriri Musician originally from Damascus, Syria, whose music is inspired by classical and Flamenco music, which he now blends with traditional Arabic melodies for a sound all his own. Also a founding member of local trio Diar.
Melika Saeeda Illustrator from Tehran, Iran, who has illustratedmore than 30 children’s books in Turkey and Iran. Her work, inspired by the narratives in Persian miniatures, has been exhibited at book fairs around the world.
Members and friends of Akin can look forward to seeing (and hearing!) from several of the 2019 Space Award recipients in the upcoming months at Akin’s downtown space REMOTE Gallery - Remote is available for exhibition and space rental to all Akin artists and the public at large.
Well done! Akin also salutes all the winners of the Art Access Awards:
Volodymyr 'Volo' Bedzvin | Musician originally from Ukraine whose sound is a unique combination of cello and vocals treated with sound effects pedals. Volo has performed across Europe and North America, including at the Luminato Festival.
Banafsheh Erfanian | Painter, illustrator and educator born in Tehran, Iran, whose illustrations grace 30 books and magazines. Her work has been exhibited in 45 shows around the world and won international awards.
Tarek Ghriri | Musician originally from Damascus, Syria, whose music is inspired by classical and Flamenco music, which he now blends with traditional Arabic melodies for a sound all his own. Also a founding member of local trio Diar.
Leen Hamo | Professional singer, violinist and visual artist from Aleppo, Syria, who is a violinist and choir member with the Canadian Arabic Orchestra of Mississauga and founding member of local band Diar.
Xuefei Ji | Chinese-born painter interested in capturing body language and the human figure, inspired by the pioneering Western painters of the early 19th century.
Siavash Kavehmaryan | Iranian electronic-music composer/performer who blends computer-assisted sounds with Iranian traditional music.
Nour Kaadan | Musician from Damascus, Syria, who is a core member of local Syrian-Flamenco band Diar and the collective Music from Hope, a creative outlet where children can communicate through art to overcome trauma.
Yannis Lobaina | Cuban writer, filmmaker and storyteller who explores themes of immigration, diaspora and motherhood through storytelling. She also works at the International School of Cinema, Radio, and TV as a director, script consultant and still photographer.
Ahmed Moneka | Actor and musician from Iraq who is the co-founder of Toronto bands Moskitto Bar (a harmonious blend of Celtic, Balkan and Arabic music) and Moneka Arabic Jazz (rooted in jazz and blues as well as Afro rhythms and the Iraqi maqam style of singing).
Parisa Pajoohandeh | Filmmaker and academic from Iran interested in sociopolitical issues and the struggles of human life, such as identity, migration, war, solitude and women's stories.
Melika Saeeda | Illustrator from Tehran, Iran, who has illustrated more than 30 children’s books in Turkey and Iran. Her work, inspired by the narratives in Persian miniatures, has been exhibited at book fairs around the world.
Omid Shakib | Filmmaker originally from Iran with 20 years’ experience working in the film industry in Iran, Iraq, the UK, and now in Canada. He has directed and produced over 25 documentaries, docudramas, and experimental films.
Alice Il Shin | Korean filmmaker trained at Nihon University in Japan. Since then, she has worked in Japan, Korea, the U.S., and Canada as a director, producer, and editor.
Rouvan Silogix | Pakistani-Tanzanian director, writer, actor, producer and classical pianist. Artistic Director for Theatre ARTaud and a member of the Mammalian Diving Reflex collective, he was Writer in Residence at Theatre Passe Muraille in 2018 and a finalist for the Emerging Director Residency Award from Crow's Theatre.
Megha Subramanian | Storyteller in dance, writing and film inspired by her Indian roots who aims to modernize the traditional Bharatanatyam dance form through teaching and performance. She also draws on writing and filmmaking to support this artistic vision.
Salbhi Sumaiya |Visual artist from Dhaka, Bangladesh. As a hard of hearing (HOH) individual, she was drawn to painting due to its accessibility to her as a visual art form. Her work focuses on raising awareness of contemporary issues, including animal extinction and Myanmar’s atrocities against the Rohingya population.
Namie Ueno | Painter from Arashiyama, Japan who began studying art as a teenager. Beyond their decorative beauty, her artworks look for a balance between fear and longing away from the materialist culture of today, a truce between the often duelling aspects of our own selves.
About Toronto Arts Foundation
Toronto Arts Foundation is a charitable organization that sparks creative connections, spotlights artistic excellence, and supports vibrant cultural growth throughout our diverse city through private-sector investment. To learn more or to make a donation, visit torontoartsfoundation.org.
About Neighbourhood Arts Network
Neighbourhood Arts Network, a network of over 1,900 members, is a strategic initiative of the Toronto Arts Foundation, offering accessible arts programming, awards, and partnership opportunities to local artists, arts workers, and arts organizations working throughout the City of Toronto. To learn more, visit neighbourhoodartsnetwork.org.