It takes courage to get up on a stage. This month, the Town of Huntsville will be encouraging, supporting—and in some cases rewarding—those who are willing to put themselves out there with two different competitions.
The Bill Award continues for its third year. This performing arts award is open to residents of Huntsville of any age and in any performance art. “They could be just starting their career or they could be retired and love to make music. They could be an actor, a musician, a singer, or a dancer,” notes Teri Souter, Manager of Arts, Culture and Heritage for the Town of Huntsville.
The Bill is a juried award, judged by teacher and director Ian McTavish, Huntsville Festival of the Arts president Carol Gibson, and local dance instructor Jennifer Johns-Main.
The award was created in memory of Bill Waterhouse. Bill’s grandfather Charles started Deerhurst Resort in 1896, and Bill was “one of the people who put the Town of Huntsville on the map with his vision,” says Souter. “He started doing concerts at the ski chalet at Hidden Valley in the late ’60s. He always supported live entertainment. And he always had big, big dreams. We have watched a lot of people that worked in his live shows go on to have success as professional musicians and as creative sector business owners in this community. Today we are blessed to have a vibrant performing arts sector, and Bill was a big part of that.”
Briar Summers (right with Mayor Scott Aitchison) received The Bill Award in 2018 (Photo: Teri Souter)
The competition is for individual performers only, but you can enter your group work as part of your application and jurors will consider your performance within the group. For the 2019 award, an artist’s 2018 work will be considered.
The prize is $500; the winner also receives a trophy and bragging rights, of course.
Applications for the third annual The Bill Award are open until May 31, 2019. You can self-nominate using a simple online application.
The Algonquin Theatre stage is a beautiful venue for performers of all kinds (Photo: Kate Hood)
The Town has also launched a brand new contest this year: the Mayor’s Public Speaking Contest. It follows the successful ‘Decorate the Mayor’s Office’ art contest, and will be open to students in grades six through eight. Their topic: “Why I Love Huntsville”.
“It’s a fun theme and this particular age group has a lot to say. They’re very enthusiastic,” says Souter. “We’re not really capturing what they have to say, so I think this is a great forum to do that.”
Each Huntsville-area school can send up to three finalists to the contest (pre-register to Souter at [email protected]). Speeches must be a minimum of two minutes to a maximum of four minutes in duration. All of the finalists will speak on the Algonquin Theatre stage on Wednesday, May 29 between 10 a.m. and noon. The speaking order will be determined by a random drawing. It’s a free public event, accessible and open to parents, grandparents, and anybody who wants to watch these young speakers. “The more the merrier!” Souter says. The speeches will also be videotaped.
And there are three cash prizes: $285 for first place, which is the age of Canada plus the age of Huntsville; second place will receive $152, Canada’s age this year; and third place gets $133, the age of Huntsville.
Speakers will be juried by Mayor Scott Aitchison, Deputy Mayor Karin Terziano, and Councillor Jonathan Wiebe who is chair of the Community Services Committee, and winners will be announced at the Town of Huntsville Council meeting on June 24.
“Schools can also request that the Mayor or Deputy Mayor come and speak to their classes about public speaking and the importance of personal one-on-one communication,” notes Souter. Contact Brenda Jones, the executive assistant, at [email protected] to make arrangements.
“We’re very hopeful that whoever the winner is will also speak at the Canada Day celebration at Muskoka Heritage Place on July 1 at 10 a.m.,” says Souter.
Stay tuned for more details about that celebration, as well as Juno award-winning Digging Roots performing a free concert on National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21 starting at 6:30 pm with The Little Spirit Singers in River Mill Park!
Digging Roots—Raven Kanatakta and ShoShona Kish—will play in Huntsville for National Indigenous Peoples Day (supplied)
For more information on any of these events, please check www.huntsville.ca or contact [email protected].
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