Written by GAC Staff
Guelph Arts Council is excited to announce the Award Recipients for this year’s Jane Graham Memorial Award and Youth Opportunities Award.
Youth Opportunities Award, formerly The Guelph Arts Council’s Youth Fund, was established in the 1980s and awarded scholarships to graduating high school students for their excellence in the arts until 2005, when the program was discontinued. Since 2009, the fund, now managed by The Guelph Community Foundation, has been used to support initiatives that enhance opportunities for children and youth to engage in the arts.
Nina De Vuono-Fraser is an art student at George Brown college. She has been around theatre her whole life and is excited that theatre unmade is the next step in that journey. While in high school she worked on both school musicals and directed the school play her senior year. She graduated high school with honours and the Canadian Tooling and Machining Association Award. After high school, Nina took a gap year during which she helped co-create theatre unmade and co-direct Incredibly Amature Dracula which surpassed every expectation. Now Nina lives in Toronto and attends George Brown College for Art and Design Foundation. In her spare time, she likes to read, make crafts and paint. Nina is incredibly excited to take on the next challenge with Theatre Unmade
Finley Janleigh (she/they) is an award winning Canadian filmmaker and theatre creator. Finley has written, directed, acted in, and run tech for a wide variety of local theatre productions. From the silly, to the magical, to the serious, she loves to create unexpected stories and push the edge of what is possible. Finley is the director behind the award-winning short film In Which A Lonely Kid Accidentally Accesses Another Dimension and a 2023 CBC music class challenge winning music video. Finley Is currently studying for her Bachelor’s Degree in Film and Media Production at Humber College. You can find her @fin_janleigh on Instagram
Theatre Unmade is a performing arts production company based in Guelph, Ontario. Formed by alumni of the MADE: Urban Arts Program, the goal of Theatre Unmade is to tell stories and create opportunities that are overlooked or neglected by other companies. Fun, collaboration, and the magic of theatre are also key elements in the work of this company.
Nina and Finn plan to use the award to expand upon Theatre Unmades’d successful production from last year. Specifically they plan to bring on more youth writers and directors as well as focusing on queer creatives.
Jane Graham was a much-loved and respected visual artist living and working in the Guelph area for many years prior to her death in 2005. Donations in her memory made possible the creation of the GAC Jane Graham Memorial Fund at The Guelph Community Foundation. Through the fund, GAC offers an annual award for a visual artist(s) to pursue professional development opportunities.
Ahmri Vandeborne (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist and curious-hearted community facilitator. Using collaboration as an essential tool, her practice explores spacemaking through public installations, live visuals, and immersive community experiences. Ahmri believes in the power of art as a vessel for community care and in the importance of accessibility in the arts sector. Her passion for community extends into her work as owner of Otherwise Studios, an arts hub offering opportunities for teaching, innovating, and mess-making. Ahmri holds a BAH with Distinction in Studio Art from the University of Guelph, where she also completed minors in French and Art History.
Ahmri plans to use the award by taking introductory ASL classes to enhance inclusive facilitation that is integral to her artistic practice.
