GEORGINA BEATY and SARAH PITTOELLO Are Recipients of 2016 Patrick Conner Award

The Patrick Conner Award Committee is pleased to announce that the recipients of the 2016 Patrick Conner Award are GEORGINA BEATY and SARAH PITTOELLO. The Award will be presented at a ceremony to be held at The Theatre Centre on The TD Green Roof and Streetcar Development Terrace, on Monday, September 19, 6:30pm - 8:00pm. The Award Ceremony is free and open to the public.

The Patrick Conner Award honours long-time collaborator Patrick Conner who passed away in December, 2012, and seeks to carve a space for us to acknowledge the costs of integrity, honesty, generosity and belief. Previous award winners have been James Davis, Estelle Shook, Lea Ambros, Taarini Chopra, Aviva Armour-Ostroff and Kimberly Edwards. The annual award straddles and unifies two worlds that were essential to Patrick ~ (i) theatre and (ii) sustainable living, including the sustainability of food production in our environment. It honours two extraordinary individuals from either or both of these disciplines with a cash prize of $2,500.

Georgina Beaty is the Artistic Co-Producer of Architect Theatre, creating research-based plays that engage with the human stories behind contemporary issues, including Highway 63: The Fort Mac Show, telling the story of the community at the heart of Canada's oil extraction industry, and a new work in progress about the proposed Northern Gate Pipeline. Inspired by research on climate change, she recently wrote and performed EXTREMOPHILES in the 2016 SummerWorks Festival. Georgina is a graduate of Studio 58 and the University of Alberta, and a winner of Solo Collective's Solo Flights competition (2012).

Sarah Pittoello is a counsellor, teacher, and organic farmer. A counsellor at Acadia University she also taught a course on Sustainable Food Systems and Community Development. She is a faculty member and Farmer-in-Residence at the Just Us! Centre for Small Farms, growing a market garden for the Just Us! cafes while teaching and supporting farm interns. Sarah also works as a farmer and yoga instructor at her family business, ReRooted. Sarah holds a BSc. (Hons.) in Physics from Queen's University, a MSc. Holistic science from Schumacher College, and a MEd.Counselling from Acadia.

More information on the Award, Ceremony and this year's recipients can be found at www.patrickconneraward.com.