By Candice O’Grady
Local artists packed the SAW Gallery in the Arts Court building last week to celebrate the Golden Cherry Awards, a ceremony spearheaded by the gallery’s co-artistic directors.
Among the hopefuls in the audience was Juliana Pulford, co-owner of the Dance Mosaic studio on Bank Street.
Nominated for three categories, including best choreographer and best production, she walked away with the Cherry for best dancer proudly pinned on her shoulder.
A flamenco dancer who studied in Toronto and Madrid, Pulford says that the awards are important because they bring the artists of the city together under one roof.
“It brings a sense of community. If I go somewhere I know that I’m going to see a lot of video artists, or if I go somewhere else I know that I’m going to see a lot of visual artists or graffiti artists, but to see everyone represented
. . . is a really nice feeling and I think the Golden Cherry awards foster that.”
Community rather than competition was the goal of the awards according to organizer and SAW gallery co-artistic director Stefan St-Laurent. He says the awards were created to recognize the broad scope of the arts in Ottawa.
“Even though we’re in a mid-sized city we’re still a bit dispersed from each other even in different disciplines,” he says. “With [the Golden Cherry Awards] it’s exciting to be nominated and people are obliged to come together and they get to meet.”
St-Laurent says he cannot take credit for the format of the night, which he and his brother Jason borrowed from a Vancouver gallery and then tailored it to fit the Ottawa scene.
Winners of the Golden Cherry do not receive a plaque, a certificate or a trophy.
Instead, they are presented with a pair of cherries – a red satin ribbon with a gold wooden bead hanging from each end and a safety pin in the center. Recipients are encouraged to don the Cherry throughout the night.
The fate of the nominees is quite literally written on the gallery’s stark white walls in intricate black script. There is no panel of judges. Rather, attendees vote by putting stickers on the wall beside the names of the nominees.
Sandra Abi-Aad, a member of the SAW Gallery board of directors was nominated for the best volunteer award. She fittingly helped organize the event, set-up, bartend and even present the awards.
A self-proclaimed volunteer-addict she says the awards were created because there was no occasion that recognized artists in the region.
Planning the event also involved a certain amount of risk because it relied so heavily on participation from the community.
“Usually, when you go to awards nights it’s already determined, you’re not there to vote for someone, only to see them receive the award,” she says. “So this is much more interactive.”
Over the course of the night, around 450 people passed through the gallery to vote, or listen to the selection of local DJs and bands, says St- Laurent. He plans to make the awards an annual mainstay at the SAW Gallery.
“The plurality of the event is really important. Some of the nominees have never even heard of each other before and this night bridges all those different disciplines in art.”
Although the awards were planned before the city’s budget review was announced, the coincidental timing has also made the Golden Cherry awards a protest against the possible cuts to arts funding.
Art is essential to a community according to Pulford, who says Ottawa has a responsibility to support the artists who make it a liveable city.
“There’s going to be a portion that does [art] out of necessity, because we need it as a society,” she says. “You need us not just on a municipal level or an economic level . . . but as far as a healthy society is concerned. It’s part of the supreme balance, you can’t just cut off a leg and expect it to keep walking.”