Smiths Falls Record News
October 30, 2017
The Smiths Falls & District Arts & Culture Council (SFDACC) is calling for nominations for the seventh annual Joyce Brennan Award for outstanding contributions to art and culture in the Smiths Falls Area.
This award is given in honour of the late Joyce Brennan, who was a founding member of the Rideau Canal Museum Board and the Heritage House Museum, a town councilor, as well as a founding member of the SFDACC board.
The award will be presented the evening of Thursday, Nov. 9 the Heritage House Museum at the opening of their 36th Annual Art Show event.
The first Joyce Brennan Award was presented posthumously to Joyce in 2011. It was accepted by her son, town councillor, Jay Brennan, at the newly-built Smiths Falls Memorial Community Centre.
Pat Foulkes won the award in 2012. Her husband Tom accepted it on her behalf at the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario. A past-president of the Canadian Federation of University Women, Pat founded the Volunteer Fair and the Friends of the Library. Friends runs the Film Night International film series running currently at the Station Theatre. She also was a stalwart supporter of the Station Theatre project and ongoing contributor of theatre productions in Smiths Falls.
Bill Hamilton and Nancy Berthiaume were handed the award in 2013 for a decade of work at the Station Theatre, Public Library and many other places. It was presented at the Kinsman Community Pavilion in Lower Reach Park.
In appreciation of her work to bring the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario into the forefront as a successful facility, and for her contributions on the local Municipal Heritage Committee, the 2014 Award went to Anne Shropshire. She also sat on the Smiths Falls Arts and Culture Task Force in 2011 which led to the establishment of our Arts Council. The presentation was made at the memorial centre.