Manitoba Lieutenant Governor

Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba

The Honourable Anita R. Neville, P.C., O.M.

2024 Business/Arts Awards

Remarks by

The Honourable Anita Neville, P.C., O.M.

Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba

2024 BUSINESS/ARTS AWARDS – 50th ANNIVERSARY

Theme: “Celebrate Manitoba”

Art Gallery of Ontario

Tuesday, October 28, 2024, 5:00 p.m.

(please check against delivery)

 

Friends of the arts, and friends of friends of the arts, it’s a pleasure to join you in your wonderful city and within this beautiful gallery to celebrate leadership and philanthropy.

As Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, I am so proud that this awards ceremony shines a light on my home province and its patrons of the arts.

If you know many Manitobans, I suspect you have heard about our large, varied and highly successful arts community.

Perhaps you’ve heard about the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre – institutions with long histories, international reputations and enthusiastic subscribers.

Perhaps you’ve heard about the Winnipeg Art Gallery and Quamajug (KOW-ma-yourk), home to the world’s largest public collection of Inuit art.

Or perhaps you’ve heard of our filmmakers, receiving accolades for innovative work at film festivals in Cannes, Berlin, Venice and just down the street from here.

I could go on in this vein at length. And if you know many proud Manitobans, you’ll know that’s not much of an exaggeration.

But today we’re focusing on people and organizations that enable that kind of artistic achievement.

We have been fortunate in Manitoba to be home to generous and visionary patrons of the arts – like Arni Thorsteinson and Susan Glass, like Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries, and like the many past honorees at this event: Gail Asper, the late Israel Asper, Stephen Borys, Kiki Delaney, the late Peter Herrndorf and more.

Whether providing financial support and sponsorship or providing guidance at the board level, these patrons have offered stability and encouragement to arts organizations and artists so that they can inspire, challenge and entertain us.

And while Manitobans are particularly grateful for the support these patrons have provided to our province’s arts community, we also celebrate the fact that leaders from our province are playing an important role with arts institutions across Canada.

I join you this evening in thanking this year’s honorees – and all Canadians who support the arts and encourage greater understanding and creativity in our country.

And finally, I want to congratulate the Business/Arts on their 50 years of providing support and advocacy of the arts across Canada. As it is an integral part of our country’s diverse culture, thank you for your passion and for your dedication ensuring that the relationship between the business and arts communities continues to thrive for generations to come.

Thank you. Merci. Meegwich. Shalom