Grants for Individuals & Collectives: Stream 1 Winter 2023

Through Connections & Exchanges: A Ten-Year Plan to Transform Arts and Heritage In Edmonton, the EAC has committed to supporting a wide range of art forms and practices to foster experimentation, creative collaborations with community and public presentations, as well as activities to advance individual skills, including mentorships and professional development. 

Stream 1: Exploration & Experimentation of the Individuals & Collectives program supports an Individual artist to work on creation, experimentation, or research activities. Grant amounts are fixed at $5,000 to support subsistence and any additional costs to the individual while they take the time to pursue artistic work. 

In this sixth full cycle of the program, 43 artists were recommended for the 2023 Individuals & Collectives Stream 1 grants. Each grant is $5,000, for a total of $215,000.

Read on to learn about the successful applicants from the Winter 2023 intake and the exciting projects they are pursuing: 

• • Alex R. M. Thompson will create a print-based interactive sculptural installation that investigates the long-term effect of construction/​building toys on attitudes towards anthropocentric carbon-intensive industries between generations. 
  • Alison Hughes will explore literary forms and write a first draft of a middle grade novel in dialogue from the perspectives of two children trapped after an earthquake. 
  • Amanda Samuelson will write and continue to develop her play, A Visit, from its current 15 pages into a full-length play. 
  • Anna Marie Sewell will research Indigenous urban sites in the American southwest to learn more about Indigenous urban history pre-1492, and experience the current state of cultural continuance in present-day western USA. 
  • Asal Andarzipour will deepen their exploration of time-based media for social change while developing short animations in response to the Women, Life, Freedom movement.
  • Ashna Jacob will expand her current body of work using found photographs and printmaking to visually interpret the evolution of one’s relationships to oneself and to others. 
  • catherine owen will write Verse, a YA novel intended for middle school students. 
  • Charlie Peters will write the first draft of a play exploring queer community. 
  • Conni Massing will research and write a pitch document and series bible for a television series titled ​“1000 Conversations About the End of the World”. 
  • Cynthia Führer will create a series of daily portrait paintings, experimenting with realism and abstraction while incorporating multimedia.
  • Darren Lebeuf will create The Silence of Sound, a children’s book that explores the way sound can be communicated through language. 
  • Emily Hayes will use found photography from 8mm home videos to create projections exploring themes of normalcy, transgenerational trauma, and home. 
  • Emily Jan will work on the next phase of a large scale photographic/​sculptural project. 
  • Ereni will expand her skills in the Vihuela (mariachi guitar) by learning traditional Mexican and Latin American rhythms in the disciplines of syncopation, improvisation, and strumming techniques. 
  • Phany Peeña will create a dance performance exploring the aspects and characteristics of non-Eurocentric femininity.
  • Eva Colmers will explore different light sources and natural materials to ultimately discover the best set-up and technique for using non-digital shadow imagery in film or other artistic expressions. 
  • Frederick Kroetsch will create Indie Movie Murderer which tells the story of Edmonton’s infamous ​‘Dexter Killer,’ from the point of view of the film community that was almost destroyed. 
  • Jacob Ross Dutton will create a series of paintings that explore the historical and material context of emotions, and reflect on how our feelings are generated, influenced, and extinguished. 
  • Jana O’Connor will research and draft a new play, a full-length comedy in response to William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.
  • Jaymie Heilman will revise the manuscript of her middle grade novel, Sea Monsters Academy, to prepare it for publication.
  • Jill Allan will develop a series of patterned glass canes that will be used to produce expressive sculptural vessel forms. 
  • Jon Guenter will explore the use of polytemporality in jazz music through composition and improvisation with other musicians. 
  • Jonathan Monfries will undertake research on how our city is being influenced by climate change and what design strategies for sculptural art could be beneficial to living in a city with a climate emergency. 
  • Kerri-Lynn Reeves will focus on the exploration and creation of works in the mediums of ceramic and fibre, building off a recent body of experimental works. 
  • Laura Veeze will explore creating a complete set of videos of Eckhardt Gramatte’s caprices and will conduct research into the background of each of these caprices. 
  • Leslea Kroll will undertake the initial stages of research and creation for the first draft of a verbatim theatre piece reflecting on the concept of ​‘permacrisis’.
  • Louise Casemore will focus on post-première script revisions and research into publication opportunities with support from a dramaturg for her new play Undressed.
  • Max Hanic will explore his personal experiences with mental illness, personal growth and dance. 
  • Nauzanin Knight will write the first draft of her feature film script, The Orchard, a suspense/​psychological thriller. 
  • Nico Humby will explore the personal and historical relationships of French Albertans through an editorial series of photos, interviews and documentation of diverse community perspectives and individual stories. 
  • Patrick Lundeen will create the first draft of his full length play titled Dreaming in Dementia.
  • Paula Eve Kirman will write songs for a third full-length album project that captures different aspects of human struggle in society. 
  • Peter Midgley will conduct exploratory research for a poetry collection about language loss and reclamation and belonging. 
  • Rahma Rodaah will complete the revision of her picture book manuscript titled My accent makes me smart.
  • Rebecca Campbell​’s project Big City Wild Life will tell the story of the rehabilitation of Edmonton’s most vulnerable, injured and orphaned animals, through the eyes and tactical approach of Dale Gienow, a wildlife specialist. 
  • Riccardo Baldini will create an original song that will prompt discussions inside and outside of the disability community and showcase the unique play style and perspective of a disabled pianist.
  • Sarah J. Den Boer will overhaul her poetry manuscript, Pink Honey Boiling, through careful revision and additional content generation. 
  • Sarah Dowling will expand her original one-act stage adaptation of the movie Charade into a full two-act play. 
  • Shawn Pinchbeck will experiment with new recording, sound generation, mixing and electroacoustic music composition techniques, resulting in a 15-minute soundscape piece. 
  • Soroush Masoud will explore traditional Persian music theory, melodies, and instruments, to connect his current artistic practices to his Iranian cultural roots. 
  • Thea Bowering will go on a research trip to Quadra Island/​The Campbell River Archives to inform a work of creative nonfiction about her Finnish ancestors that weaves her sense of place with their significant history during ​“The Great Migration.”
  • Theresa Wynnyk will undertake research to write the script for her documentary about Cuban conductor Cosette Justo Valdes, a rising star in the male dominated world of classical music.
  • Tim Rechner will study the 1950s paintings of Mark Rothko and create 10 paintings based on his colour combinations.