ABOUT THE SLAIGHT MUSIC UNSUNG HERO AWARD
The Unsung Hero Award is presented annually in recognition of the exceptional contribution of an individual, active in any aspect of the Canadian folk music scene (production, promotion, presentation, etc). It is meant to recognize someone who works tirelessly behind the scenes for the love of the music and who has not been recognized for their contributions by national or international music entities. It includes volunteers in all their diversity who, year after year, lend support to folk clubs, festivals, house concerts, etc. Posthumous nominations are not accepted.
Nominees must be from, or reside in, the province in which the award is being presented that year. This is to help foster national recognition for local recipients at home, amongst their peers.
To nominate your Unsung Hero, please fill out the nomination form at the bottom of this page. Once submitted, you will receive an email confirming that your submission has been received. Please send any questions to info@folkawards.ca.
All submissions are adjudicated by members of the CFMA Board of Directors, who will select a recipient from the eligible submitted candidates. There is no fee for this nomination.
GHISLAINE CORMIER Is the Recipient of the 2023 CFMA Slaight Music Unsung Hero Award!
Ghislaine Cormier is 2023’s recipient of the CFMAs annual Slaight Music Unsung Hero Award, recognizing the contributions of people working behind the scenes, often without recognition or adequate recompense, to foster, promote, and encourage Canada’s music and cultural scenes.
In selecting Ghislaine for this prestigious award, numerous recommendations from her colleagues were considered, attesting to her dedication to the arts, and to the personal qualities she brings to her work. This includes her capacity for building – certainly to build budgets and partnerships, but even more so to building teams, and building the consensus and excitement needed to make things happen. She is masterful at empowering those around her, finding the resources to bring ideas to life and stepping back to allow light to shine where it must. She has an amazing resume of experience and accomplishments and we can’t think of a better recipient of this year’s award than Ghislaine Cormier.
Ghislaine Cormier has been a consultant, then later, director of organizations and companies totalling more than 15 years of experience in development of the Francophone and Acadian communities of Prince Edward Island. She has a unique perspective of the cultural industry having worked in the private and public sectors of development.
On the community side, Ghislaine has been the Executive Director of the Culturel Federation of PEI (Fédération culturelle de l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard ) since 2009. She has created and managed several large-scale cultural and tourism projects, such as Carnaval en Promenade, ArtSmarts / GéniArt, Rendez-vous de la francophonie, Faiseux de tounes – Tunesmiths in 2014, production of ManiFest Jeunesse in 2015, Éloizes 2008 (French-speaking component of the 2006, 2012 and 2014 conferences) and showcases of the East Coast Music Association (ECMA/ECMW), festivals like the Atlantic Jamboree of fiddler, Francofolies de Charlottetown and Art in the Open/Art à ciel Ouvert. Ghislaine started her career journey as a community development officer at the Carrefour de l’Isle-Saint- John for several years.
Ghislaine has an entrepreneurial side inherited from her parents; she is co-owner of Kaneshii Vinyl Press, the only vinyl record manufacturer east of Toronto and the new crowdfunding platform RecordFUND/DiskFUNCTIONAL. Her work was highlighted by the Business Personality award at the Gala des entrepreneurs of the Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI and she is named winner of the 2017 Dragon Contest.
Her expertise is specific to the development of the cultural and entrepreneurial sector. Her training includes a certificate in project management from the École des Hautes Etudes Commerciales of the University of Montreal (HEC) Montreal). She has represented the Francophone community for more than 15 years on several boards
such as Folk Music Canada, Music PEI, Home Routes / Chemin chez nous, the Réseau Atlantic Broadcasting of the Performing Arts RADARTS, the National Council of the Cultural Federation French-Canadian FCCF and, since June 2019, within the RDÉE IPÉ.
Past Recipients
Previous recipients include Toronto Publicist Jane Harbury (2011); New Brunswick Journalist Gerry Taylor (2012); Winnipeg Folk Festival Founder Mitch Podolak (2013); Ottawa Impresario and Philanthropist Harvey Glatt (2014); Ottawa Folklore Centre Founder Arthur McGregor (2015); Vancouver’s Rogue Folk Club Founder Steve Edge (2016); Co-Founder of The Carbonear Folk Festival Gerry Strong (2017); Edmonton Folk Music Festival Artistic Director and producer and event sponsor Terry Wickham (2018), Nova Scotian performer, promoter and historian of Canadian Folk music Donnie Campbell (2020), Winnipeg Home Routes General Manager Ava Kobrinsky (2021), and manager, director and producer of trad music and song in Quebec, Geneviève Nadeau (2022), Executive Director of the Culturel Federation of PEI, Ghislaine Cormier (2023).
If you know someone who deserves this award, please fill out the nomination form below. Once submitted, you will receive an email confirming that your submission has been received. Please send any questions to info@folkawards.ca.
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