Playwright and Screenwriter Celeste Yim Receives 2019 Canadian Women Artists' Award

The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) has announced playwright and screenwriter Celeste Yim as its 2019 Canadian Women Artists' Award recipient. The $5,000 award is supported by funding granted to NYFA by the Canadian Women's Club (CWC) of New York as a way to continue its philanthropic work when it disbanded. It is designed to provide financial support to an emerging or early career artist working in any discipline, and can be used in any manner the recipient deems necessary to further their artistic goals.

"We're grateful to the Canadian Women's Club for helping us to recognize Celeste Yim's promise as an emerging playwright and screenwriter," said Michael L. Royce, Executive Director, NYFA. "Yim has an impressive list of accomplishments, and we hope that this award provides further encouragement and support," he added.

Yim, who was born in Toronto, Ontario, is currently on a scholarship to pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, with an anticipated graduation date of 2020. In May 2019, Yim's Not Only Is Everyone As Wonderful was produced by Theater Masters in the National MFA Playwrights Festival at Theater Row in New York City; it will be published by Samuel French in 2020. Yim was a Bob Curry Fellow at The Second City Toronto, and was named one of "Canada's Top 100 Notable Women" by Flare, a Canadian fashion magazine. Yim has written professionally in San Francisco, CA for Instagram and in Toronto for VICE and Sunday Night Live.

"It is an immense honor to be the 2019 recipient of the Canadian Women Artists' Award," said Yim. "I am so grateful to NYFA and the Canadian Women's Club of New York for the support of my work in the United States, and I am especially moved that this award envisions THE CROSSING of national borders as a valuable artistic act. I will be using the award to develop new theatre and film scripts in New York City and to eat a few more vegetables," she added.

Lorraine Bell, Board Director, Brookfield RES, IBI Group, HotDocs USA, University of Toronto Associates, Inc., and former Canadian Women's Club member said of the award: "We are thrilled that another young Canadian female artist is receiving financial support from NYFA in the form of an award from our endowment. We cannot wait to see Yim's theater and film scripts come to life!"

Photo Credit: Donna Santos

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