[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]For Immediate Release WINNIPEG—On June 19, 2018, multidisciplinary artist Frances Koncan became the third recipient of The Nellie McClung Foundation 2018 Arts Legacy Award.
The Nellie McClung Foundation Arts Legacy Award recognizes a woman who is emerging in her artistic practice, or a collective of emerging women artists, whose artistic work seeks to engage with the community in social justice issues. The $2,000 award is given to assist in the development of new work within a two-year period.
Frances will be using the funds to develop a new play, Women of the Fur Trade, about the lives of Settlers, Metis, and First Nations women during the fur trade era. Set against the backdrop of Louis Riel’s life, the play focuses exclusively on women and what it took for them to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing world. The core theme of Women of the Fur Trade is survival, and the story that builds around the way three women utilize different tactics to acheive their goal.
This biennial award was created in 2013 to honour the vision and advance the legacy of Nellie McClung and to recognize the contributions women make to social justice through the arts. The Nellie McClung Foundation works in partnership with the Manitoba Arts Council to administer the Award.
The Nellie McClung Foundation Arts Legacy Award recipient Frances Koncan (right) with The Nellie McClung Foundation Past Board Chair, Lila Goodspeed Everett (left) at the Nellie McClung Foundation monument.
[/vc_column_text][vc_message message_box_color=”grey”]ABOUT FRANCES KONCAN Frances Koncan is an emerging Anishinaabe artist originally from Couchiching First Nation in Treaty 3 Territory. Her artistic practice is in writing and interdisciplinary theatre, primarily in the roles of playwright and director, is currently based in Winnipeg in Treaty 1 Territory. She is a graduate of the University of Manitoba (BA) and the City University of New York Brooklyn College (MFA Playwriting). As a writer, she has contributed work to Intermission Magazine, CBC Arts, Red Rising Magazine, and the Canadian Theatre Review, she is currently a month columnist with The Uniter.
[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]