Toronto, July 22, 2024 – Costume designer Nadine Grant is the 2024 winner of the $25,000 Virginia and Myrtle Cooper Award in Costume Design. The award is given annually to a professional costume designer in Ontario in mid-career to further enrich their career through research and travel.
About Nadine Grant
Nadine is a costume designer, educator and emerging costume concept illustrator. Recent notable designs include “The Amen Corner” (Shaw Festival), “Treemonisha” (Volcano), “Little Women” and “Serving Elizabeth” (Stratford Festival).
Nadine has been a tenure track professor at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois, and Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi. She is currently Head of Wardrobe and Costume Design at the University of Waterloo. Nadine has a passion for mentoring new designers with a special focus on young designers of color.
Nadine holds an MFA in Costume Design and Technology from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri. She is the proud past recipient of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) Costume Design and Technology Award, Stratford Festival’s Ian and Molly Lindsay Young Design Fellowship, and most recently the Stratford Festival’s Guthrie Award.
“It is so incredible to be included in the company of designers, both nominees and laureates, whose work I deeply admire,” says Nadine Grant. “This award is particularly meaningful for me as a black designer, as it will enable me to more powerfully tell stories that I care about to audiences that rarely get to see ourselves portrayed in all our nuances on stage. I hope this brings attention to those of us who are underrepresented, behind the scenes. Thank you to everyone who has supported me artistically and helped breathe life into my designs.”
Assessment
Nadine Grant was selected by an assessment panel comprising of Vanessa Imeson (Ottawa) costume designer, head of wardrobe for the Great Canadian Theatre Company and the 2023 Virginia and Myrtle Cooper Award in Costume Design; and Tiana Kralji (Toronto) costume designer and educator.
The assessors were unanimous in their choice of Nadine Grant as the 2024 Virginia and Myrtle Cooper Award in Costume Design. They said, “Nadine weaves storytelling and artistry into her designs. Her strong voice carries through the wide range of projects which illustrate her adaptability. Her renderings are beautiful and fully bring the ideas to life.”
About the Award
Established through a generous gift under the will of Dr. Virginia Cooper, the Virginia and Myrtle Cooper Award is to be given “For the Love of Creation”. Dr. Cooper served as a director of the Tarragon Theatre and was a charter member of the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto and active in its activities. She had a keen interest in the performing arts, particularly in costume design.
The Ontario Arts Foundation manages the endowment that funds the award, and the Ontario Arts Council manages the nomination and adjudication process.
Previous award winners include Vanessa Imeson (2023), Anna Treusch (2022), and Ming Wong (2021). See the full list of previous recipients here.
###
For information, please contact:
Bruce Bennett, Executive Director
Ontario Arts Foundation
Tel: (416) 969-7413 bbennett@oafdn.ca
Established in 1991, the Ontario Arts Foundation (OAF) is passionately committed to building long-term support for the arts in Ontario. In 2023-2034, the OAF paid $4.6 million in endowment income to arts organizations and $500,000 in grants and awards to artists and arts organizations.
For 60 years, the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) has played a vital role in promoting and assisting the development of the arts for the enjoyment and benefit of Ontarians. In 2022-2023, OAC invested $57.1 million in 224 communities across Ontario through 2,344 grants to individual artists and 1,042 grants to organizations.
Ce document existe également en français.