Mayworks 2015 Labour
arts awards
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS OF THE 2015 MIN SOOK LEE LABOUR ARTS AWARDS!
The 4th annual Min Sook Lee Labour Arts Awards were presented at Mayworks fundraising gala on Saturday, February 27th, 2016 at the United Steelworkers Hall. The Min Sook Lee Labour Arts Awards recognizes significant contributions to the arts and labour movement.
The Labour Activist Award was presented to Farid C. Partovi, a leading activist behind organizing front- line workers at four different agencies in Jane Finch community and president of CUPE Local 4772. Farid has supported the labour and social justice movements in Canada and internationally in outstanding ways for over two decades. Farid is a selfless and humble labour activist and community organizer who goes above and beyond in supporting fellow working people, particularly young workers and artists crucial to social and economic justice work.
Truth Is ..., a public speaker, arts educator and spoken word artist, was presented with the Artist Award, for capturing the values of the labour and social justice movements in her art. In addition to over 200 slams and a long list of feature performances across Canada and the U.S., Truth Is ... has headlined in several conferences focused on social equity, gender equality, labour safety and youth motivation. She has also opened up for Canadian Hip-Hop idol K-OS & legendary activist Angela Davis.
Injured Workers’ Consultants Community Legal Clinic received the Labour Union Award for their use of the arts to engage their membership in creative ways. With a mandate to provide “public legal education” and “access to justice” to injured workers, the community legal clinic taps into the power of art to educate, inspire, and give voice to the injured & isolated. Some of their art projects include inventive stunts Golden Toilet and Golden Plunger, satire play Easy Money, and performances by their choir, the Justice Singers.
The award for Outstanding Contribution to Labour Arts was presented to Deborah Barndt, who has for four decades integrated her activist, academic and artistic commitments – each feeding the other in her work for equity and social justice. Deborah found the first Canadian certificate in Community Arts Practice at York University’s Faculty of Environmental Studies, mentoring hundreds of activist/artist students, grounding their studies in arts-based and hands-on experience in social justice. Her strong documentary photographs figure prominently in her ten publications on women workers, food movements, popular education for social change and activist art.
Mayworks Festival wishes to send a special thank you to individuals and organizations that contributed to the success of the Min Sook Lee Awards Gala including Mayworks staff and board, United Steelworkers (venue), East African Community Association (caterer), Maureen Wall (silent auction organizer), Olivia Chow (host), Kevin Barrett and The Special Interest Group (performers), Conny Nowe (sound technician), Errol Young (photographer), and the amazing volunteers, Jackie Buckley, Nick Day, Charlie Huisken, Morag Humphrey, May Lui, Robert McKee, Elaine Munro, Hadiyya Mwapachu, Vincent Poulain and John Rick.
We would also like to thank all the generous silent auction donors including individuals, Marcos Arriaga, Deborah Barndt, Gini Dickie, Joan Featherston, Alexandra Fox, May Ann Kainola, Ruth Kazdan, Maureen Hynes, Ken McAuliffe for the Rectory Café, Joe Mihevc, Julia Scalzo, David Smiley & Ellen Vera Allen for Smiley’s B&B, Maureen Wall; and organizations, Allazo Skin Care, Beit Zatoun House, Between the Lines Press, Bondy House Bed & Breakfast, Esther Myers Yoga Studio, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative, Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto, Nightwood Theatre, Radical Design School, Steam Whistle Brewery, Tarragon Theatre, Toronto Masque Theatre, UFCW Canada, University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies.