Stars at the International Ice Hockey World Junior Championships in Halifax and Moncton next month will take home hockey sticks with Indigenous designs. Lorne Julien, from Millbrook First Nation, north of Halifax, is following family traditions by crafting sticks that display a speeding eagle with an orange heart, along with Mi'kmaq motifs, CBC News reports. The Mi'kmaw, including Julien's great-grandfather, are believed to have made early hockey sticks. Three other Indigenous artists are also designing sticks, which will be part of prize packages for each team's "player of the game." Teams from around the world will play 31 games at the championship.
Several visual artists are on the list of 20 people to receive $15,000 Artists' Trust Fund awards in Edmonton. They include Adrian (AJA) Louden, a Jamaican-Canadian street-based artist; Kevin Cardinal, a Cree painter and muralist; Michelle Campos Castillo, an El Salvador-born artist who has received several public art commissions in Edmonton; and Vikki Wiercinski, a ceramics artist. The award, which hands out a total of $300,000, is supported by proceeds from the Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund, held by the Edmonton Community Foundation. Sanjay Shahani, executive director of the Edmonton Arts Council, says the recipients show "commitment and excellence" in their disciplines.
The Vancouver Art Gallery board has two new members – Josh Vander Vies, the founder of the Canadian Disability Foundation, and Tara Poseley, the chief executive officer of Paula's Choice Skincare. Vander Vies is a lawyer focused on not-for-profit organizations, charitable status and charitable gifts. He won a bronze medal at the London 2012 Summer Paralympic Games in doubles boccia. Poseley has some 25 years of experience leading retail corporations, including a previous job as chief product officer at Lululemon Athletica.
Plug In ICA in Winnipeg has added five new board members: Aminder Kaur Mangat, a lawyer; Daniel Britton, a lawyer who works in financial planning; Jae-Sung Chon, a designer who teaches in the architecture faculty at the University of Manitoba; Leah Richardson, a business person; and Megan Lindell, an Anishinaabe-Metis artist. They join current board members C. Graham Asmundson, Jonah Corne, Pauline Thimm and Zia Hameed.
