Anita Binnie Award for the Performing Arts

This bursary aims to support and encourage students who demonstrate exceptional talent and dedication in the performing arts. It is awarded to individuals who have shown outstanding promise and commitment to their craft, embodying the spirit and passion that Anita Binnie herself exemplified. One (1) $2,000 bursary is available.

About the Award

The Anita Binnie Award for Performing Arts was created in 2023 by Shawn Newman and supported by friends and family to honour Anita, who was his long-time dance teacher and mentor throughout his youth growing up in Belleville. Whether pursuing dance, theatre, circus arts, or other types of performance, this award recognizes an individual who embodies the same enthusiasm for performance and deeply values the same principles of respect, inclusion, and kindness as Anita.

About Anita

Anita Binnie started dancing in Brooklin, Ontario at a very young age. Particularly fond of tap dance, and a self-professed “hoofer,” from the early 1970’s Anita crafted and performed in comedy skits and dance routines for the Lions Club and various local shows, always to support local charities of which the Quinte Humane Society was her favourite. In [year?] she opened her first recreational dance studio, the Self Centre. Over the years, Anita ran five different studios (often alongside her daughter, Angela) where dance was for everyone. It didn’t matter what your skill level was, your size or shape. Anita always had a welcoming and comforting embrace that made everyone who walked into the studio feel included. Anita worked during the day and taught dance—without ever collected a paycheque—at night. As her daughter Angela says, “if I wasn’t a studio rat, I would have never seen her.” She sewed, choreographed, directed, produced—you name it, she did it. Guiding a voracious team of dance moms and dance dads, Anita’s classes and performances were proof that anyone can perform at any age. And while she did not have any formal training or degrees behind her name, Anita was a dynamic performer that belonged on every stage she ever set foot on. Her enthusiasm and work ethic were infectious, and her students of all ages continue to carry her influence with them.

Now 87 years old and living in a home in Napanee, her caregivers frequently show her videos of their own children dancing, which she loves to watch—and critique! Her daughter Angela says that “Mum would want this award to go to the younger generation that have the same passion that she had and will continue to inspire and support the arts and humanities in our beloved community.”

Eligibility

• Applicants must demonstrate financial need
• Training activity must build upon previous training (broadly defined) and/or performance history.
• Activities must be related to training in a performing arts discipline. These could include mentorship, internship, apprenticeship, specialized training, or workshop series

Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the Quinte Arts Council to determine eligibility prior to applying.

Eligible Expenses:

• Tuition or other professional development fees
• Travel
• Accommodations
• Subsistence/per diem

Ineligible Activities and Expenses:

• Travel, accommodations, and subsistence for people other than the applicant (e.g., parents, teachers, chaperones)
• Activities that are carried out to satisfy the course requirements of an educational institution
• Contests and competitions (including prizes and awards)
• Costumes/wardrobe
• Hair or makeup

 

Application Requirements

• Two letters of recommendation. One letter should be from an instructor/mentor with whom the applicant has previously worked. The second letter should be from the training opportunity the applicant is pursuing (this could be a formal acceptance letter to a summer program, a letter written by a mentor the applicant will be working with, etc.).
• A 300-word double-spaced essay explaining the potential of the training to contribute to your artistic development and generate future opportunities for professional growth

The essay should also speak to the artistic rationale, including timeliness and suitability of the endeavour, the suitability of the partners or host organizations involved, if any.

You will also need to include:

Information about the program or opportunity (e.g., brochure, link to website, collection of biographies of instructors/mentors).
Confirmation from your mentor, training institution or host organization (if confirmed). If confirmation is not yet available by the time of the application deadline, confirmation should be sent as soon as possible. Quinte Arts Council must have confirmation before funds are released to the recipient.

If the activities are for summer training programs, or other short-term intensives, applicants must submit a budget. Include all expenses (travel, accommodations, tuition, per diem) as well as other contributions (confirmed or potential) to finance the opportunity. Applicants from graduating high school students that will be attending post-secondary training institutions need not submit a budget but must still demonstrate financial need.