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Ottawa, 5 June 2001 - The Canada Council for the Arts Fund for Future Generations Millennium Prize was awarded jointly to Olivier Choinière (theatre, Montreal), Liu Fang (music, Montreal) and Julie Hivon (media arts, Montreal). This prize is a Canada Council initiative in celebration of young creators at the dawn of the new millennium.

The Fund for Future Generations Millennium Prize is a one-time award created to recognize outstanding artists under 30 years of age from any discipline funded by the Canada Council. The $15,000 total prize amount is the result of contributions made to the fund by artists and private citizens across Canada and has been divided among the three artists.

"In awarding this Future Generations Millennium Prize, the Canada Council wants to pay tribute to the exceptional talent of Canadian youth at a highly symbolic moment," said Council Chairman Jean-Louis Roux. "I extend my warm congratulations to Olivier Choinière, Liu Fang and Julie Hivon for the wonderful promise they have shown so early in their careers. They represent the future generations who will continue to enrich our culture with their vitality and openness toward the rest of the world."

The co-laureates were chosen by a selection committee from among 30 candidates put forward by the peer assessment committees of the various disciplines between September 1, 1999 and August 31, 2000. The committees studied applications for Grants to Professional Artists in each discipline during that period.

The selection committee also awarded five honourable mentions to the following artists: Lara Barclay (dance, Toronto), Karin Bubas (visual arts, North Vancouver), Tyler Duncan (music, Vancouver), Rémi Lacoste (media arts, Montreal) and Evie Mark (media arts, Ivujivik).

Assessment

Candidates were assessed on the basis of the artistic excellence and outstanding promise of their work.

The selection committee was made up of Russell Kelley (cultural affairs administrator, Nova Scotia), Catherine Martin (media artist, Nova Scotia), Franck Michel (director of the Est-Nord-Est sculpture centre, Québec), Bradley Moss (artistic director of Theatre Network, Alberta), Francine Périnet (director of Oakville Galleries, Ontario), Garry Semeniuk (dance and media arts specialist, British Columbia) and Patricia Smart (professor of Quebec literature at Carleton University, Ontario).

The Laureates

Olivier Choinière (theatre, Montreal)

A graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada with a degree in play writing in 1996, Olivier Choinière is one of the most promising young playwrights of his generation. At the age of 29, he has already written 15 works for the stage, including Le Bain des Raines, which was staged in a public bathhouse and nominated for a Governor General's Literary Award in 1998. Olivier Choinière writes radio plays as well; in 1995, he won a Société Radio-Canada prize for a 15-minute drama. His first play, Autodafé (1997) was directed by André Brassard in 1999 and Le Soldat de bois, conte réaliste, directed by Jean-Claude Côté, was selected the same year for the Theatre Festival of the Americas.

Olivier Choinière describes his artistic process in the following terms: "If I write, then it's so that I can write what I don't yet know, even though with words we're on familiar ground. This process is even more contradictory within a tradition like the theatre. Between the conventions of language and its perpetual invention, practicing an ancient art that is still evolving, I find that writing for the stage gives me a place that lends itself to pluralist expression, contained in declarations that are as esthetic as they are political or historical, carried by language that redefines itself and that, from one play to the next, constitutes my vision of the world."

Liu Fang (music, Montreal)

A native of Yunnan Province in China, Liu Fang is a 27-year-old virtuoso of the pipa, a traditional Chinese stringed instrument. She has lived in Canada since 1996. A graduate of the Shanghai Music Conservatory, Liu Fang began studying the pipa at age six and began her career as a soloist in 1985. In 1988, she won first prize in a national competition in Sichuan, as well as winning several other prizes in provincial competitions.

Liu Fang gives regular concert performances in Canada, the United States, Germany, France and the Czech Republic as a soloist or with ensembles or symphony orchestras. In September 1999, she performed two concerti for pipa and orchestra with the Moravia Symphony Orchestra in Prague. She also performs regularly for radio and television and has recorded the music for several films. Apart from her great interest in traditional Chinese music, Liu Fang likes to create new musical forms and explore new avenues. She works frequently on transcultural music collaborations with other musicians, including Vietnamese music master Dr. Tran Van Khê in Paris, world-renowned Hindustani slide guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya, Arab lute virtuoso Fahran Sabbagh, the Japanese ensemble Nishikawa and the western classical music cellists Yegor Dyachkov and Peter Mann.

Julie Hivon (media arts, Montreal)

At age 31, Julie Hivon is an author, scriptwriter, producer and director - a versatile and prolific artist who is definitely one to watch. She is currently wrapping up her long-awaited first feature-length film, which received Canada Council support from script through production. Hivon graduated in film studies from the Université du Québec à Montréal and directed and produced her first short film, Baiser d'enfant, in 1995, to great acclaim : the production won several awards and has been shown in 20 festivals around the world, including those in Montreal, Paris, Clermont-Ferrand, Valence and Sydney. Her second short, Dans le Parc avec toi, was also a success (special mention from the Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma at the last Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois) and was recently bought by the CBC. She has also written and produced several projects for television, video and animated film.

Julie Hivon is equally successful in the worlds of theatre and literature. She writes and directs theatre for young audience. Her play Le livre de Grand-mère won the Audience Award at the Festival amateur de Victoriaville and has been staged in Quebec, Ontario and Nice, in France. She published her first novel, Ce qu'il en reste, in 1999, winning the Prix Jacqueline Déry-Mochon.

Candidates for the Future Generations Millennium Prize

The Canada Council for the Arts wishes to congratulate all of the candidates for the Future Generations Millennium Prize. The other candidates were : Tally Abecassis (media arts, Montreal), Christopher Abraham (theatre, Toronto), Daniel Bitton (media arts, Hampstead, Qc), Jocelyn Boisvert (Writing and Publishing, Sherbrooke), Jennifer Budney (visual arts, Ottawa), Karma Clarke-Davis (media arts, Toronto), Esi Edugyan (writing and publishing, Calgary), Katie Ewald (dance, Granton), Luis Jacob (visual arts, Toronto), Fabienne Lasserre (visual arts, Montreal), Emanuel Licha (interdisciplinary, Montreal), Christine Oleary (dance, Ottawa), Frank Shebageget (visual arts, Ottawa), Susan Sinclair (writing and publishing, Toronto), Nickolaos Stagias (media arts, Vancouver), Jennifer Stillwell (interdisciplinary, Winnipeg), Sarah Stoker (dance, St. John's), Yasuko Nguyen Thanh (writing and publishing, Mayne, BC), Emmanuelle Turgeon (writing and publishing, Montreal), Guillaume Vigneault (writing and publishing, Montreal), Ya-Wen Vivienne Wang (music, Vancouver) and Priscilla Yeung (visual arts, Vancouver).

General information

The Canada Council for the Arts, in addition to its principal role of promoting and fostering the arts in Canada, administers and awards nearly 100 prizes and fellowships in the arts, humanities, natural and health sciences, engineering and communication technologies. Among these are the Killam Prizes, the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prizes, the Bell Canada Award in Video Art, the Petro-Canada Award in New Technologies, the Governor General's Literary Awards and the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts and the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts.

For more information about these awards, including nomination procedures, contact Janet Riedel, Endowments and Prizes Officer, at (613) 566-4414, or 1 800 263-5588, ext. 4116. E-mail: janet.riedel@canadacouncil.ca.

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