Media Releases

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

July 24, 2013

The Siminovitch Prize in Theatre to be awarded October 21, 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