CANADA, July 5 - Jeana MacIsaac says receiving an arts grant allows her to make theatre accessible to everyone.

MacIsaac is among 16 Island artists who recently received a total of $50,000 through the provincial Arts Grants program. She will use her grant to offer Pay-What-You-Can admission at performances and to have a sign language interpreter at one of the shows. 

“I strongly believe in giving back to the community,” said MacIsaac. “It has been a very difficult couple of years for many folks, and I want to spread some love.”

The successful applicants were selected by a six-member jury of their arts community peers and follows the same model used by the Canada Council of Arts.

“The Arts Grants program creates a ripple effect that positively impacts Islanders and our communities. We recognize and appreciate Island artists for the contributions their work makes to our society and economy.”

 - Economic Growth, Tourism and Culture Minister Matthew MacKay

Media contact:
Hillary MacDonald
Department of Economic Growth, Tourism and Culture
902-394-6368
hpsmacdonald@gov.pe.ca 

Backgrounder 

Here are the successful arts grants recipients.

Monica Lacey
Visual Arts - $2,500
Monica Lacey will participate in an Artist Residency and mentorship with Arts Letters & Numbers in Averill Park, New York, USA, during which she will develop a project involving site-responsive research and creation on the theme of Collaboration with Water.

Reequal Smith 
Dance - $2,000
Reequal Smith will be presenting her third full-length dance production “Journei to Paradise” featuring original choreography and live music with an amazing diverse ensemble. This is a one-night only, live indoor admission-by-donation performance debuting September 2022 in Charlottetown, PE. Journei to Paradise discovers and explores the misinterpretation of dark magic that breaks down the inner truth of soul searching, leading to embodying a spiritual journey empowered by depths of exonerating white magic.

Dave Stewart
Film and Media Arts - $1,500
“POSITIVE: WHEN HIV/AIDS HIT PEI” is a digital record of the experiences of two Islanders living with HIV/AIDS. This online piece documents an essential part of Queer, human, and Island history before it is forgotten.

Millefiore Clarkes
Film and Media Arts - $7,000
The Web, a poem penned by Tanya Davis, is a call to humanity to raise our consciousness by the profound yet simple acknowledgement that we are all interconnected through a web of existence: plant, animal, mineral, dream, reality, future, past. The Web video poem will translate the stirring poetry into a lyrical dance video that visually expresses the message of the words. Choreographed and performed by Reequal Smith, Devon Ross, and Tanya Davis. Music and soundscape by Tanya Davis and Daniel Ledwell.

Dotun Adedoyin
Film and Media Arts - $5,000
Dotun Adedoyin will direct and film a feature length narrative style film, Rebirth, the story about redefining the black narrative, and the celebration of black culture, drawing on where we came from, where we are, and shaping a beautiful future ahead. Rebirth stands as a tribute to our ancestors, ourselves, and our future.

Kirstie McCallum
Visual Arts - $2,500
Kirstie will develop a series of carefully researched botanical illustrations of local PEI wildflowers linked to their 2021-22 installation of a pollinator garden at Tea Hill provincial park. The new project, Entanglements, documents the care and research that went into the Pollinator Clock while expanding Kirstie's artistic practice in a new direction, with a focus on making mixed-media images that combine line art, photographs, water-based pigments, and detailed expressive drawing.

Yanan Liu
Music - $4,000
Yanan Liu will record an album of Chinese folk songs. In this album, the artists will play the traditional music from their hometown with a new perception, which is given by the six years of experience on Prince Edward Island. It is anticipated that the album will be ready for release in the winter of 2022.

Shane Pendergast
Music - $1,500
Shane Pendergast will curate and host two "Jack Pine Folk Club" shows. Inspired by the folk coffeehouses of the 1960's, the events will feature performances from singer-songwriters, poets, and traditional musicians.

Jordan Gallant 
Crafts - $2,500
This project is a development-based study on contemporary quilting in Prince Edward Island. It will investigate the Island's current quilting practices and work to contribute a collection of new generational works. A focus will be given to expanding the traditional craft's outreach and interest through the accessibility of smaller-scale works.

Tanya MacCallum 
Theatre - $2,000
Tanya Nicolle MacCallum will produce a series of stand-up comedy shows, showcasing a variety of comedians from across Eastern Canada. These shows will take place at Upstreet Craft Brewing, under the name Patio Laughs. This will be an inclusive, 'Safer Space' series, which will feature comedians of various backgrounds and walks of life. 19+ event.

Adam Hill
Music - $2,500
Adam Hill will compose a concert length chamber suite and produce a performance of the work. The piece, entitled Hard Times Come Again, will consist of songs with lyrics constructed from Great Depression oral history and electro-acoustic interludes that feature recent interviews with young Island artists. Performed by two vocalists, acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin, piano, and string quintet, the piece will blend elements of classical and folk music to create a hybridized musical language.  

Donnalee Downe
Visual Arts - $2,000
Funds will be used for the construction of curio cabinets and frames for a recently completed body of work. Selected works from the new collection will be exhibited as part of "Yield" (Eptek, July/Aug. 2022) with a solo exhibition to follow.

Trevor Corkum
Writing and Publishing - $3,500
Told from alternating points of view between two Island men, Blooming Point is a novel set in 1990s PEI that explores issues of consent, power, class, and sexual identity. In particular, the novel shines a light on how shame and secrecy among queer teens on the Island during this era contribute to vulnerability, alienation, and risk-taking.

Jeana MacIsaac
Theatre - $3,500
She Has The Tools Productions will be producing Lobster in my Pocket, the well-loved children's book written by PEI author Deirdre Kessler, who has lovingly adapted the story into a children's play. This grant will allow all the performances to be Pay-What-You-Can and have an ASL interpreter at one of the shows. Theatre for Young Audiences is where children can experience their first live performances. These productions foster a love of the arts, reading, and creativity that will last a lifetime.

Tessa Rankin
Visual Arts - $2,000
Tessa Rose Rankin is creating 10-15 pieces of artwork that focus on the emotions that accompany the experience of female infertility. The pieces will also explore the solace that nature may bring to one throughout this difficult experience. The artist uses pen and watercolour and employs a monoscenic narrative style. She hopes that the artwork will create a greater sense of empathy among audiences for those experiencing infertility, as well as foster a more open dialogue to shed light on a condition that can be both isolating and stigmatizing.

Sion Irwin-Childs
Interdisciplinary - $6,000
A Home in My Heart: The purpose of this project is to generate, explore and document a body of photographic and movement-based work in response to explorations at a specific site between July 5, 2022 and February 27, 2023.