2021 Initiative Fund Winners
Véronique Girard, Emily Hiemstra and Thais Montanari are the three co-winners of the 2021 ACWC Initiatives Fund celebrating the ACWC 40th Anniversary and relating to music-making during COVID-19.
Véronique Girard
Emily Hiemstra
Thais Montanari • Crédit: Hippolyte-Vendra
Véronique Girard
Véronique Girard's project, "Mentorat - Université de Montréal" is a mentorship project for students of Université de Montréal initiated by the Cercle de Composition (CeCo) de l’Université de Montréal (UdeM) in partnership with the Association of Canadian Women Composers (ACWC). This project offers a unique chance to both men, women and gender nonconforming students from UdeM to work directly with one of three composer-mentors from the ACWC: Cecilia Livingston, Lieke van der Voort and Sophie Dupuis. Participants will benefit from the support of their mentor as they will initiate and develop a new musical composition or a sound art project. This project will benefit both the mentors and the mentees by connecting established ACWC composers with students from Montreal. This will give visibility to the ACWC in Quebec while offering a chance for the community of UdeM to learn more about the organization. The ACWC will reach a wider audience to promote the work of women composers.
Véronique Girard is a visual and sound artist, an educator and vocalist whose work has been showcased at film festivals and concerts in Quebec and internationally. She uses a corporeal approach to create animated images and sound environments in which technology becomes a support for the affirmation of human vulnerability. Guided by movement, she seeks to reveal the authenticity of the body and of the voice in a way that is both enchanting and advocative. She is interested in the imperceptible, kinaesthesia, contemplation and intimacy. She is completing the digital music program at the Université de Montréal. See more here.
Emily Hiemstra
Emily Hiemstra's "Solo Viola Commissioning Project 2021" involves a call for scores from ACWC composers for solo viola pieces which Hiemstra will perform and video-record for presentation on the ACWC website. This project will support the music of ACWC members, and also allow for wider ACWC promotion.
Emily Hiemstra is a composer and violist whose music has performed throughout the USA and Canada, and heard on CBC Radio. As violist, she has performed at festivals around the world including Banff Centre for the Arts, and the North American Viola Institute. Her orchestral and operatic background as a performer has deepened her understanding of colour and texture which she readily applies in her compositions to create clear and innovative works. See more here.
Thais Montanari
Thais Montanari's project "Moi_Espace Public" consists of a series of videos created by people who identify as women and wish to share their personal experience of how they express themselves and behave in different public spaces, including virtual ones. It brings together collaborative work between the Montreal-based composer Thais Montanari, and Brazilian composers Nathália Fragoso and Sara Lana whose work as artists is affected by the pandemic reality and the lack of assistance for the artistic class in Brazil. The videos will have images and sounds inspired by the statements of those composers. The project hopes to capture the vision of women in arts within the pandemic context, encouraging them to express themselves creatively and with courage.
Thais Montanari creates interdisciplinary and collaborative projects, often including political and social ideas. Her work mixes instrumental and everyday sounds, as well as music and image. She is completing her doctorate in Composition and Sound-Art at l’Université de Montréal. She also works with free improvisation. See more here.
