Ottawa Inuit Children's Centre, Propeller Dance Named Finalists for 2012 Great Grants Awards

News provided by

Ontario Trillium Foundation

Feb 22, 2012, 19:38 ET

Ontario Trillium Foundation recognizes project's outstanding impact 

TORONTO, Feb. 22, 2012 /CNW/ -

NEWS

The Ontario Trillium Foundation today announced that Ottawa Inuit Children's Centre and Propeller Dance are finalists for the prestigious 2012 Great Grants Awards. The awards recognize Ontario organizations that have demonstrated exceptional results, innovation and a lasting impact on the communities they serve.

Ottawa Inuit Children's Centre and Propeller Dance have been selected as finalists in the human and social services and arts and culture categories respectively. A total of eight 2012 Great Grants Awards recipients will be recognized in the presence of Hon. Michael Chan, Ontario Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, at a ceremony in Toronto on March 23.

FINALIST PROFILES

Ottawa Inuit Children's Centre
Improved family literacy for Inuit communities

Recognizing the need to address family literacy challenges among children who migrated from the North or were adopted by non-native families, the Ottawa Inuit Children's Centre has developed an innovative early childhood literacy program that integrates Inuit learnings and traditions into each component of the program. Although the group's primary goal was to encourage families to start literacy training at an early age, the cultural awareness activities - developed in partnership with local Elders - have sparked such interest that new initiatives like the Uqausivut language training program and Inuit Cultural Online Resource have been launched, allowing all family members to participate and engaging the entire community.

Ottawa Inuit Children's Centre was awarded a Community grant of $126,000 over two years in 2007.

Propeller Dance 
Propelling integrated dance to centre stage

Ottawa's Propeller Dance is breaking ground in the area of modern dance. It brings together the able-bodied and the disabled on the same stage, making the company unique in Ontario. Since its creation in 2007, Propeller Dance has grown to encourage dancers, with and without physical and intellectual disabilities, to increase awareness and understanding. Dancers - and would-be dancers - can take part in workshops, youth and adult dance classes, school programs and public performance opportunities. The Foundation provided funding to establish and operate a program that provides inclusive, integrated and accessible dance training, education and public-performances for people of all abilities. The company is committed to propelling integrated dance onto centre stage, and to exploring new principles of movement with dancers previously excluded from dance and performance.

Propeller Dance was awarded a Community grant of $100,000 over two years in 2007.

QUOTES

"We are very proud of Ottawa Inuit Children's Centre and Propeller Dance and are excited that, with these nominations, their work in the community will now be acknowledged across Ontario. Their efforts go to the heart of the Foundation's own work: to support good ideas and help foster community connections that improve people's quality of life."

  • Sandra Lalonde, Chair of the Champlain Grant Review Team, OTF

"Our funding grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation has meant that all our children and families are able to celebrate literacy in the context of our Inuit Culture and for that we are all grateful. Our children experienced their culture through reading stories, participating in photo journalism, singing songs and by listening to stories from our Elders. These are wonderful opportunities for the growing Inuit community living in Ottawa."

  • Karen Baker-Anderson, Executive Director, The Ottawa Inuit Children`s Centre

"Propeller Dance is a national leader in mixed-ability dance, and thanks to the Ontario Trillium Foundation's support, in five short years we have built an organization for people with and without disability that is truly unique in all of Ontario. Propeller Dance offers new creative possibilities traversing the illusion of limitation and embracing the reality of infinite human potential."

  • Renata Soutter & Shara Weaver, Co-Artistic Directors, Propeller Dance

QUICK FACTS

  • Ontario Trillium Foundation Great Grants Award finalists were selected from among some 4,500 groups that received OTF support between April 2006 and December 2010.
  • Eight Great Grants Awards will be presented on March 23 in Toronto:
    • One award for each of OTF's four funded sectors: arts and culture, sports and recreation, environment, and human and social services
    • The Minister's Award
    • The Chair's Award
    • The CEO's Award
    • The People's Choice Award
  • OTF grants funding to approximately 1,500 organizations each year.

MORE

 

For further information:

Renée Ouellet
Ontario Trillium Foundation
1.800.263.2887 ext. 265
[email protected]

Karen Baker-Anderson, Executive Director
The Ottawa Inuit Children`s Centre
[email protected] 

Renata Soutter & Shara Weaver
Propeller Dance
[email protected]
[email protected]

Organization Profile

Ontario Trillium Foundation