30th annual Arts Recognition Awards nominees share their story
Peter Paylor is one of the nominees for the 30th annual Arts Recognition Awards. Photo by QNet News.
BELLEVILLE – The 30th Annual Arts Recognition Awards event are taking place September 26.
QNet News had the opportunity to interview two of the nominees for the award, Quinte Youth Theatre, run by Crystal Clark and Annastacia Smith, and local playwright Peter Paylor.
It’s the first nomination for the Quinte Youth Theatre.
Clark and Smith founded it after the pandemic to give youth an opportunity to find a hobby and be social again.
“There were a lot of kids that were struggling with depression and isolation,” Smith said.
“We were thinking of ways that we could help kids in the community find each other again. We said ‘Wouldn’t it be great to have some sort of theatre company for young people to be able to participate in?’ ”.
Clark and Smith feel it’s important for youth to have an opportunity to express themselves and find like-minded friends along the way.
“Having an outlet for kids to be able to meet each other, to have fun, to work really hard, but also to foster that community spirit is so big,” Smith stated. “They need identity. Kids need something to belong to and how nice is it for them to all belong to something that’s so fun and positive?”
The Quinte Youth Theatre strives to give youth an opportunity to join the creative arts regardless of financial backgrounds.
“I had a lot of friends in school who couldn’t do those types of activities, friends who I always thought were gifted, talented, had all of the abilities in the world, but didn’t have the place to do it,” Smith said.
“The program is completely free. It’s through volunteer work and donations. We donate all of our time, I think we put in about 400 hours last year.”
The Quinte Youth Theatre also receives finances from sponsorships and ticket sales from productions.
“The hope is one day that it can generate through sponsors and ticket sales enough to carry us through to the next season,” Clark stated. “The (dance) studio covers any difference in cost to make sure that the production can still run and we just consider that a business donation.”
Clark and Smith say the heart of The Quinte Youth Theatre is the kids.
“We get new faces every single year which is so fantastic,” Smith said. “We also have kids that have been with us since the beginning who have been in all of our productions and workshops. We’ve got to see them grow and come out of their shell and take on a leadership role within the group.”
“What we’ve seen is now that they’ve found each other, they support each other out of QYT,” Smith stated. “They’re friends at school, they hangout together, they talk about musicals, it’s fantastic.”
Clark and Smith mentioned they are always looking for sponsorships to maintain the longevity of the program.
“Every year we’re on the edge of our seats to see if we can even make another production. There was one year where we didn’t quite have enough so we had to do a lot of workshop programs as we were saving towards another musical. The goal is always a full musical each time so that the kids can get the top to bottom experience.”
QNet News also had the opportunity to speak to Belleville’s own nationally recognized playwright, as well as a wood carver, Peter Paylor.
Paylor has previously won the Arts Recognition Award with a different organization he co-founded.
“The last time I came here (Belleville), I came here because I was homeless.”
“To go from being homeless in a place where I didn’t know anybody, until now, sometimes I step away from the situation enough to go ‘You know, that’s pretty cool.’”
Paylor says he considers himself a writer over being a person in theatre.
“Some friends of mine who were involved in theatre asked me what I thought about writing a play for the Belleville Theatre Guild,” he mentioned.
“So, I tried and it was immediate – I knew as soon as I started that that was what I was going to do for the rest of my life.”
Paylor said all of the people involved in a play have meaning to him.
“It’s the most collaborative of the arts,” he said. “A playwright hands a script over to a director, who then gives it to a cast, who then puts it in front of an audience, and the audience takes it the rest of the way.”
“A director or actors will then find things in the play that I didn’t even know were there. That whole collaboration thing is pretty cool.” He said.
When asked about what inspires him to write a play, Paylor didn’t have a definitive answer, but he says there is a commonality in his work.
“I find looking back on my plays, a lot of them have to do with creating a family,” he said. “Which is not something I do intentionally, but I have noticed that’s a thing that comes up quite often. That’s something that’s important to me.”
Paylor is also very involved with the Loyalist College TV/Film program and the showcasing of the graduating students final assignment, a short film. The showcasing of the films was once shown at Paylor’s studio on Bridge St East and got moved to a larger venue, but he says many former students still ask to come back to the red door building.
“We were so pleased that they wanted to come back here. Working with Paul (Papadopoulos) and the students, it’s a cool thing that we do,” he stated. “We also do it with the Eastside Secondary School film group, we just did a workshop for the Blue’s Festival, we did a summer youth arts festival. So having this space available is pretty important to us.”
Paylor mentioned community is a big part of his life and the work that he does.
“Finding a community through theatre is the best thing that ever happened to me,” he stated.
There were six nominees chosen for this year’s Arts Recognition Awards.
Judy Bridle, a long-time volunteer and Former President of the Belleville Theatre Guild. Connie Carson, a local author and historian, best known for her work “Memories of Belleville”. Quinte Youth Theatre, owned by Crystal Clark and Annastacia Smith, a free program to make the arts accessible to children. Peter Paylor, a nationally recognized playwright and sculptor, supporter of numerous Quinte arts endeavors. Prince Edward Jazz Festival, a year-round incorporated charitable organization offering jazz performances throughout the region. Bill Stearman, a quilt-maker and storyteller who donates the proceeds of his quilts to various charitable causes.
The 30th Annual Arts Recognition Awards will be held at Dinkel’s Restaurant in Belleville on Sept 26 from 11am-2pm. Tickets for the event are available through: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/30th-annual-arts-recognition-awards-luncheon-tickets-961510402497.
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