Jennifer Dallas Awarded 5th Annual Patrick Conner Award

The Patrick Conner Award Committee has announced that the recipient of the 2017 Patrick Conner Award is JENNIFER DALLAS. The Award will be presented at a ceremony to be held at The Theatre Centre on Monday, September 18 at 7:00pm (doors at 6:30pm). The Award Ceremony is free and open to the public.

Jennifer Dallas is an award-winning contemporary artist, hailing from the Canadian Rockies. She is the founder of Toronto-based Kemi Contemporary Dance Projects and was a worker member at The West End Food Co-op in Toronto for four years. Her work as a performer, choreographer, designer and activist reflects her belief in the connective potential of the performing arts. Influenced by extended travel, Dallas has earned critical acclaim in Africa, Eastern Europe and across Canada, for her playful and insightful work. In 2017, Dallas received the Dora Mavor Moore Award for outstanding Female Performance for Kittly-Bender, which also received nominations for choreography and production.

The evening's special guest is award-winning journalist and author Alanna Mitchell (Sea Sick), who will deliver a sermon on the nature of truth, revealing an exclusive first glimpse of her new play. The evening will also feature past recipients, a tribute to late committee member Jon Kaplan, live performances, and party sandwiches!

Alanna Mitchell writes about the intersection of science and society. Her book Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis, is an international best-seller that won the prestigious U.S.-based Grantham Prize for excellence in environmental journalism. She is recognized as one of North America's most respected environmental and science journalists who has done field research with scientists on every continent, and praised for her ability to translate complex science into elegant literary non-fiction, including turning Sea Sick into an acclaimed one-woman play that she has performed across Canada and internationally.

The Patrick Conner Award honours long-time collaborator Patrick Conner who passed away in December 2012, and seeks to carve a space 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, Kimberly Edwards, Sarah Pittoello and Georgina Beaty. The annual award straddles and unifies the two worlds that were essential to Patrick: (i) theatre and (ii) sustainable living, including the sustainability of food production in our environment. It honours an extraordinary individual who works to change the world through their practice with a cash prize of $3,500. For more information visit patrickconneraward.com, or follow on Facebook: FB/PatrickConnerAward and Twitter: @pconaward | #patrickconnerawards.

2017 Patrick Conner AWARD COMMITTEE: Sarah Garton Stanley (Chair), Andrew Arnold, Franco Boni, Naomi Campbell, Michael Chipman, Derrick Chua, Allyson McMackon, and Peter Mitchell

The Patrick Conner Award is generously sponsored by The Big Carrot, supported by FLIP PUBLICITY and administered by Theatre Rusticle, a registered charity.

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