Media Releases

The Siminovitch Prize in Theatre announces new partnerships with University of Toronto and RBC Foundation

July 24, 2013

TORONTO, ON – Today the Simi­novitch Prize in The­atre announced new part­ner­ships with the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to and the RBC Foun­da­tion to sup­port Canada’s largest the­atre award, the 2013 Simi­novitch Prize in The­atre. The Simi­novitch Prize will be award­ed Octo­ber 21, 2013 at Hart House The­atre at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to, orga­niz­ers announced today.

“Over the last few months, many indi­vid­u­als and orga­ni­za­tions have ral­lied togeth­er to sup­port the Simi­novitch Prize and help ensure that its lega­cy and impact on Cana­di­an the­atre con­tin­ues,” said Dr. Lou Simi­novitch. “We are delight­ed to part­ner with Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to and RBC Foun­da­tion and proud to announce that we are accept­ing nom­i­na­tions for this year’s prize which will be award­ed in the fall.”

The dead­line for nom­i­na­tions is Mon­day, Sep­tem­ber 16, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. EST.  For nom­i­na­tion guide­lines and to down­load the nom­i­na­tion form vis­it www.siminovitchprize.com.

Cre­at­ed in 2001, the Simi­novitch Prize in The­atre rec­og­nizes excel­lence in direc­tion, play­writ­ing and design on a three-year cycle and goes to an artist who is deemed to be in mid-career. Accord­ing­ly, the 2013 Simi­novitch Prize will be award­ed to a pro­fes­sion­al direc­tor. The $100,000 award allows the recip­i­ent to take his/her craft to the next lev­el of accom­plish­ment, while encour­ag­ing a next gen­er­a­tion artist by allo­cat­ing $25,000 of the prize mon­ey to a pro­tégé of the recipient’s choice. This year’s Pro­tégé Prize is gen­er­ous­ly sup­port­ed by the RBC Emerg­ing Artist Project.

“The RBC Emerg­ing Artist Project is com­mit­ted to help­ing iden­ti­fy and sup­port artists in the ear­ly stages of their careers,” said Shari Austin, vice-pres­i­dent, Cor­po­rate Cit­i­zen­ship, RBC and exec­u­tive direc­tor, RBC Foun­da­tion. “We are excit­ed to part­ner with the Simi­novitch Prize to rec­og­nize the next gen­er­a­tion of Cana­di­an artists who have demon­strat­ed poten­tial but need some assis­tance.”

Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to will host the prize announce­ment cer­e­mo­ny at his­toric Hart House on Mon­day, Octo­ber 21, 2013.

About the Simi­novitch Prize in The­atre
The Simi­novitch Prize in The­atre hon­ours pro­fes­sion­al direc­tors, play­wrights and design­ers by acknowl­edg­ing excel­lence while encour­ag­ing even greater explo­ration and orig­i­nal­i­ty in Cana­di­an the­atre.  The Simi­novitch Prize was cre­at­ed in 2001 and is ded­i­cat­ed to dis­tin­guished sci­en­tist Lou Simi­novitch and his late wife Eli­nore, a play­wright. A jury awards the $100,000 prize annu­al­ly. Pre­vi­ous recip­i­ents include direc­tor Daniel Brooks (2001), play­wright Car­ole Fréchette (2002), direc­tor Jil­lian Kei­ley (2004), play­wright Daniel MacIvor (2008), design­er Ron­nie Bur­kett (2009) and direc­tor Kim Col­lier (2010). For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it www.siminovitchprize.com

About RBC and the Arts
RBC sup­ports a wide-range of grass­roots and local ini­tia­tives that con­tribute to the cul­tur­al fab­ric of our com­mu­ni­ties. Through the RBC Emerg­ing Artist Project, RBC pro­vides oppor­tu­ni­ties for up-and-com­ing artists through pro­grams such as the RBC Cana­di­an Paint­ing Com­pe­ti­tion and the RBC Emerg­ing Film­mak­ers Com­pe­ti­tion. In 2012, RBC con­tributed more than $95 mil­lion to caus­es world­wide, includ­ing dona­tions and com­mu­ni­ty invest­ments of more than $64 mil­lion and $31 mil­lion in spon­sor­ships. For more infor­ma­tion, please vis­it rbc.com.

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For more infor­ma­tion, please con­tact:

Kather­ine Simi­novitch
416–586-8723
media@siminovitchprize.com