The Town of Shelburne is the recipient of the 2018 Creative Nova Scotia Community Arts and Culture Recognition Award.
The award is presented annually at the Creative Nova Scotia Awards Gala to a community that demonstrates the value it places on the presence of arts and culture in community life.
Funded from the Nova Scotia Arts Endowment Fund, the award carries a cash value of $10,000. The recipient will be required to use the award to continue the integration of arts and culture within the community.
“The Town of Shelburne may be small, with a population of 1,743, but it is a hive of culture and arts located along Nova Scotia’s South Shore,” reads the awards citation.
A sculpture series of two-foot-high people in various poses, a bust of town mascot “Bruce the Moose,” a mindfulness wood-burned signage installation along the local trail system, a minke whale log carving, an ornamental cemetery gate and a large Mi’kmaq carving were among the art projects done by the town in 2018.
The town also hosts the Guild Hall Summer Arts Series featuring music and performing arts from local artists, community bands and touring musicians.
“The town hosts a yearly Art Day, is home to the Osprey Arts Centre, a creative local farmers/arts market and the Shelburne County Arts Council,” reads the citation.
“Shelburne also has yearly video contests, photography contests and a large community street dance. In the spring of 2019, the Town of Shelburne will install an eight-foot cement whale tale, a poetry series that will be painted on sidewalks with rain-activated paint and a painted wood carving of a mermaid.”
The town, along with other award recipients, were being recognized at the Creative Nova Scotia Awards Gala on Nov. 10 in Halifax. Presented by Arts Nova Scotia and the Creative Nova Scotia Leadership Council, the Creative Nova Scotia Awards Gala is an annual event that celebrates excellence in artistic achievement, notably in the announcements of two major awards, the Portia White Prize and the Lieutenant Governor’s Masterworks Award.
Winners of the Prix Grand Pré, the Established Artist, Emerging Artist and Indigenous Artist awards and the Community Arts and Culture Recognition Award are also honoured. Collectively, the awards are worth $95,000.
