Peterborough Arts Awards 2024 Nomination Workshop

Wednesday, November 27 (Please note: new date)
7:00pm
Artspace Peterborough (378 Aylmer St N)
FREE to attend

Want to learn more about the PETERBOROUGH ARTS AWARDS? Do you have questions about putting together a nomination?

Come to EC3's FREE Peterborough Arts Awards Nomination Workshop to hear all about the program from EC3 staff and past Arts Awards winners. Learn tips and tricks from the experts, and ask any questions you may have about the program or putting together a nomination.

Speakers at the workshop will include EC3 staff and past Arts Awards winners, Beau Dixon (Outstanding Mid-Career Artist, Peterborough Arts Awards 2019) and Melody Thomas (Outstanding Emerging Artist, Peterborough Arts Awards 2018).

The PETERBOROUGH ARTS AWARDS honour the excellence and outstanding achievement of professional artists, arts organizations, and arts supporters in Peterborough, with $2,000 cash awards in six categories, presented at the Mayor's Luncheon for the Arts. Following a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Arts Awards and Mayor's Luncheon make a triumphant return in 2024-25.

Beau Dixon (Outstanding Mid-Career Artist, Peterborough Arts Awards 2019) is a self-taught, multi award-winning actor, composer, playwright and Sound designer, who has performed across Ontario and Alberta, including at Crow's Theatre, Coalmine Theatre, Neptune Theatre, Tarragon Theatre, Soulpepper Theatre, NSTF/Factory, Thousand Islands/WCT/ Gateway, Vertigo Theatre/Arts Club Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects, Canstage/Shakespeare In High Park, Mysterious Entity, and 4th Line Theatre. Selected writing credits include: Bloom: A Rock 'n' Roll Fable (4th Line Theatre) Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story (Lunchbox Theatre/ Festival Playhouse/ Thousand Islands), From Here To Africville, Once A Flame (Factory Theatre), Other People’s Heaven, Freedom Bells (Heritage Pavilion Stage). Beau has received multiple accolades, including two Dora Mavor Moore Awards (Best New Play, Best Individual Performance) and two Toronto Critic's Awards (Best Ensemble, Male Lead in a Musical). In 2011, Beau was inducted into Peterborough's Pathway of Fame for his leadership in the arts. He is also a KM Hunter Award Finalist for 2016. He has three recorded solo albums under his name.

At the tender age of 12, Melody Thomas (Outstanding Emerging Artist, Peterborough Arts Awards 2018) decided she wanted to become a professional flautist. That is, until she joined a multitude of choirs in high school and discovered that her true love is actually singing.

Melody received her Honours Bachelor of Music at the University of Toronto followed by an Opera Diploma at Wilfrid Laurier. As a performer, Melody’s opera debut was singing the role of Nora from Vaughan Williams’ Riders to the Sea with the Halifax Summer Opera Workshop, and her performance was praised by Opera Canada Magazine. Favourite roles since include Susanna in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, and the titular role in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah. (She clearly found a passion for being Susanna[h]!) For over a decade, Melody has collaborated with choirs and orchestras across Canada and delighted audiences with her performances of Bach, Handel, Mozart, Mendelssohn, and more.

Melody also runs a teaching studio that is highly-sought after throughout the Kawarthas and beyond, and hardly a musical event goes by where her students cannot be found. She has held music educator positions with Stagecoach Theatre Arts, Lakefield College School, and the Peterborough Children’s Chorus, as well as collaborating with countless school, church, and community groups, and adjudicating music festivals in person and virtually across North America. Melody has also become passionate about mentoring other teachers, and her voice studio expanded into a multi-teacher, multi-instrumental studio in 2021. She is proud of having built a community of knowledgeable, progressive, dedicated, and fun teachers who provide support, learning, and growth opportunities to eager musicians of all ages.

When she isn’t performing or wearing her Studio Queen Bee hat, Melody can be found caring for her needy dog and cat and jungle of plants, playing board games, running, frolicking in nature, rock climbing, or painting her fingernails, and continually lamenting that those last two hobbies cannot co-exist.

See the full Program Guidelines and Nomination Form.