The EAR award nominees for 2009 are:

Brad Goddard - resident cowboy, Beerman, and actor. Brad is one half of Steam Whistle Brewing’s ‘Goddards’, the other half being his identical twin brother and MarketingMan, Chris. In 2006, Brad, the actor from Ontario, joined TRUCK’s board of directors as a way of expanding his understanding of other art communities. He also sits on the board of the Calgary Underground Film Festival and is Lead Documentary Programmer for the Calgary International Film Festival and is an avid indie music fan and supporter.

The next three nominees are artists and writers who have ventured beyond their own art practices to make bold contributions to the worlds of organizing, curating, and publishing. They are advocates for, and promoters of Calgarian, Albertan, and Western Canadian artists:

Kait Kucy is a writer and creative visionary from Calgary, Alberta. From 2006 until 2009 she was the founder and editor of Kitschykoo! Subcultural Lifestyle Magazine. Her new project is a New Canadian Modern Dot Org which features daily Cdn culture shock: interviews and articles about inspiring creative individuals, music, artist features, exciting architure and design, and young entrepreneurs.

Mariko Paterson is a ceramic artist who teaches at the Alberta College of Art and design. She has been instrumental in reviving the Calgary Artists Market and is the co-founder of boxsocial.ca, a website that proudly showcases contributions made to the art and design world by Western Canadian artists. The boxsocial labor of love also extends a hand to new and emerging artists.

Janine Vangool opened UPPERCASE gallery in 2005. Since then it has been an outlet for creative expression, product development, and entrepreneurial adventure. The scope of UPPERCASE has grown by leaps and bounds and in the past year and a half she has released three books and launched UPPERCASE magazine which features illunstrators, designers, photographers, filmmakers, and musicians.

Cori Stent - Trained in theatre and art history, working in the film industry, and engaged in community, Cori naturally gravitates to collective enterprises. On her move to Calgary in 1992, she became part of the artist group The SKEP(tic)Ks and their side project, the curatorial collective ART Catalyst. Since 2002 she has been a member of the performance collaboration, L.A. Bridge Party aka the Quints. She has continuously contributed to Calgary’s non-profit arts organizations: New University Television (NUTV), Green Fools Physical Theatre Society, Footprints Dance Projects, Alberta Media Arts Alliance, and EMMedia. She also served on the board of the Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association where she helped form the Comminuty Development Team and Bridgeland Artist Pub Nite.

Cindy Tuer is a writer and tireless advocate for environmental responsibility. She was recently involved in lobbying successfully for the phase-out of carcenogenic pesticides in Calgary Parks. She and her husband Bill, a businessman and musician, have been long-standing patrons of the arts in Calgary. The Tuers have supported street-level art by subsidizing the 17th Avenue window gallery’s rent to maintain it at a token amount, through its incarnations from the United Congress One Minute Happiness Gallery to Museo Poco, and that is so rare in Calgary. We hope others will step up because of their example.

The first annual EAR award was presented October 3rd at our fundraiser, Spawn. The recipients were Brad Goddard and Cori Stent. EAR congratulates all the nominees!

A little more about Brad and Cori:

About Brad Goddard: Brad, an actor and self-described “resident cowboy & BeerMan”, has worked tirelessly to promote the arts in Alberta since moving to Calgary to run Steamwhistle Brewery’s western office.

Since arriving in Calgary Brad has taken a shine to the arts community, and by way of an active interest in supporting both arts organizations and individuals, dove right into the local arts scene at many levels. From organizing events such as Steamwhistle’s Unsigned Music Series that showcases indie bands while raising money for various arts organizations, to spearheading the Steamwhistle’s Design-a-Deck competition. Brad’s enthusiasm for all he does cannot be matched; making him somewhat of a “caped crusader” for the arts in Calgary, and we are lucky to have him.

About Cori Stent: The call for nominations for this year’s inaugural Award from the Elephant Artist Relief Society asked people in the community to nominate ” a person or group within the city of Calgary who has gone above and beyond in support of those in our visual arts community.  Let’s take this opportunity to thank the people who have been helping us along the way.”