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Ottawa, 24 September 2001 - Choreographer, director and dancer Brian Macdonald is the first recipient of the prestigious Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts. The $50,000 Prize, administered and presented by the Canada Council for the Arts, recognizes the highest level of artistic excellence and distinguished career achievement by Canadian artists who are actively performing or who have spent the major part of their career in Canada in dance, theatre and music, as creative and/or interpretive artists.

The Prize will be presented officially to Brian Macdonald by Jean-Louis Roux, Chairman of the Canada Council, and by businessman and philanthropist Walter Carsen at a reception in Toronto on October 16, 2001 at 5:30 pm at the Walter Carsen Centre for the National Ballet of Canada, 470 Queen's Quay West. Numerous artists and representatives of the dance, theatre and music community of Canada will be on hand for the occasion.

Walter Carsen established the endowment fund for the Prize in February 2001 through a generous donation of $1.1 million to the Canada Council for the Arts. The Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts will be annually awarded on a four-year cycle - dance, theatre, dance, music.

"My warmest congratulations to Brian Macdonald on being selected as the first winner of this Prize," said Walter Carsen. "This brilliant artist has made a significant contribution to the development of dance and the performing arts in Canada. His talent has also left its mark around the world, and he has been an active proponent of Canadian artistic influence around the world."

"The performing arts community of Canada can be proud today, as one of its most distinguished members is honoured with the inaugural Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts," said Jean-Louis Roux, Chairman of the Canada Council for the Arts. "Congratulations and thank you to Brian Macdonald for his passionate energy and commitment to the performing arts. Congratulations as well for the work he has accomplished in the Dance Program at the Banff Centre, which has made possible the emergence of several generations of talented young artists."

Peer assessment committee comments

"Brian Macdonald is a renaissance man in the performing arts. Over his impressive 50-year career as a dancer and choreographer, as a director of opera, theatre and musical theatre, and as a mentor and educator, he has shown an extraordinary commitment to and been an important champion of Canadian performers and creators. The selection of Brian Macdonald as the first laureate of the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts recognizes the breadth, stature and maturity of contemporary dance in Canada and celebrates the exceptional accomplishments of an outstanding Canadian artist."

The selection committee was made up of Vincent Warren (École supérieure de danse du Québec, Montreal); Rachel Browne (Contemporary Dancers, Winnipeg); and Danny Grossman (Danny Grossman Dance Company, Toronto).

Walter Carsen

Walter Carsen is completely self-made. He started his business in the importation of photographic and optical goods from the basement of his home, gradually growing and eventually becoming the largest Canadian independent distributor of these items. A respected philanthropist with a well-known love of the arts, he has provided major support to the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Shaw Festival and, of course, the National Ballet of Canada, as its most important and faithful benefactor. Because of his passion for dance and the National Ballet he provided the financial backing for four productions, most recently The Firebird (2000) by choreographer James Kudelka. A man of culture and compassion, he also established the Walter Carsen Fund for the Homeless a few years ago. On November 4, 2000, at the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards, Mr. Carsen received the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts. He is a Member of the Order of Canada.

Eligibility and assessment process

Candidates working in Canada in the following forms of dance, music and theatre are eligible:

• Classical or contemporary dance;

• Opera, music theatre, classical music, classical contemporary Canadian music, new music, or jazz;

• Repertory or contemporary Canadian theatre.

Candidates for the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts may not apply for the prize; they must be nominated by a member of the Canadian professional performing arts community. A peer assessment committee, composed of experienced professionals selected by the Canada Council for their expertise in dance, theatre or music, assesses the nominations and chooses the laureate. The principal criteria is the artistic excellence of the artist's body of work and the significance of the artist's achievements over the course of his or her career.

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 over 100 prizes and fellowships in the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural and health sciences and engineering. These include: for dance, the Jacqueline Lemieux Prize; for music, the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music, the Sylva Gelber Foundation Prize, the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Awards, the Virginia Parker Award and loans of fine stringed instruments from the Musical Instrument Bank; and for theatre, the John Hirsch Prize and the Theatre for Young Audiences Prizes. Other major prizes administered by the Council include the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prizes, the Saidye Bronfman Award, the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts, the Governor General's Literary Awards and the Killam Prizes and Research Fellowships.

For more information about these awards, including nomination procedures, contact Carol Bream, Director of Endowments and Prizes, at (613) 566-4414, or 1-800-263-5588, ext. 5041. E-mail: carol.bream@canadacouncil.ca; or 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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Biography of Brian Macdonald, O.C.

Brian Macdonald was born in Montreal in 1928. He is one of the most important creators in contemporary Canadian dance and has been instrumental in ensuring Canada's place on the international dance stage. He is equally adept as a choreographer and director of ballet, opera and more popular entertainment and has won the respect of his peers and the public for the integrity of his work and his ability to continually renew the dance vocabulary.

Brian Macdonald studied dance in Montreal, Toronto and New York and was an original member of the National Ballet of Canada. In 1953, he turned to choreography after a severe arm injury ended his dancing career. He came to national prominence with My Fur Lady, which he codirected and choreographed with his first wife, Olivia Wyatt, as well as singing and dancing a leading role. He began his collaboration with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in the late 1950s. In 1963, his choreographic career blossomed with the success of Pointe Counterpoint, later renamed Aimez-vous Bach?, which was mounted for six companies in Europe. He became the artistic director for several foreign companies; first the Royal Swedish Ballet (1964-67), during which time he met and married dancer Annette av Paul; the Harkness Ballet of New York (1967-68); the Batsheva Company of Israel (1971-72), all the while continuing to create for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, as its first resident choreographer. In 1966, he choreographed for the RWB the full-length Rose Latulippe, which became CBC's first colour special.

With his return to Canada he became artistic director of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens (1974-77) and was involved as resident choreographer, with the company until 1990. During this period he created works like Tam ti Delam and Fête Carignan/Hangman's Reel inspired by the rich tradition of Quebec folklore. Since the early 1980s, he has been director of the Professional Dance Program at the Banff Centre.

While continuing to be internationally renowned as a choreographer and director of ballet, Brian Macdonald has also acquired an international reputation as a director of opera and musical theatre. He became especially popular with his direction of a series of Gilbert and Sullivan productions at the Stratford Festival that was aired on television. He was nominated for Tony Awards in both direction and choreography in New York for The Mikado and for Helen Hayes Awards in Washington for H.M.S. Pinafore. He has won numerous Dora Awards in Toronto.

Since 1987, he has mounted new productions for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the New York City Opera, the Edinburgh Festival, the Kennedy Center in Washington, La Scala, the Sydney Opera, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, the Edmonton and Manitoba Operas and the Canadian Opera Company. He mounted Petrushka for Sweden's Gothenburg Ballet and revived his Firebird at the Malmo Opera House. He directed Madame Butterfly for the Opera de Quebec, Calgary Opera and Victoria Opera; set his latest ballet, Lost Gods, for the Banff Festival Ballet and the Alberta Ballet before taping it for Bravo!; and directed Tosca for Opera Lyra at the National Arts Centre where he also narrated Peter and the Wolf. In 2000, he directed the new Applebaum/Moore opera, Erewhon, in Victoria and in 2001 staged a Balanchine Celebration for the professional program in Banff.

Brian Macdonald was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1967, received the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize in 1983 and the Dance Canada Prize and Banff Centre National Arts Award in 1988. He has directed and mentored design programs at the National Theatre School, was an associate director at Stratford Festival and senior artistic advisor at the National Arts Centre.