THEATRE NEWS: Shatner to receive GG arts honour
3 MAR/11

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency

William Shatner, the Canadian-born star of three current television series, is amongst the list of artists to be honoured in the 2011 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, to be held in Ottawa May 14.

Joining Shatner in the winner's circle will be Quebecois monologuist Yvon Deschamp, dancer/choreographer Margie Gillis, composer Howard Shore (who earned three Academy Awards for his music for The Lord of the Rings trilogy) and two major players on the Canadian stage -- Leslee Silverman, long-time artistic director of the Manitoba Theatre for Young People, and Paul Thompson, founding artistic director of Toronto's Theatre Passe Muraille and one-time director general of the National Theatre School.

Also slated to be honoured at the ceremony are Jean-André Elie, a longtime supporter of the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal, who will receive the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts and Academy Award-nominated movie director Denis Villeneuve will be honoured with the National Arts Centre Award for exceptional achievement in the past year.

Each of the six winners will receive a cash award in the amount of $25,000 from the Canada Council, as well as a commemorative medallion struck by the Royal Canadian Mint. Elie, for his part, will receive a medallion and an original art work by glass artist Naoko Takenouchi, while Villeneuve will receive a medallion, a $25,000 cash purse from the National Arts Centre and an original work from ceramic artist Paula Murray.