ARTS & CULTURE NOMINEES
For enriching the culture of our community through creation or promotion of the arts on a volunteer or professional basis.
Award Presented by:
Kayla Zawiski, Marketing and Interior Design,
Central Views Property Management
Katie Billo
Katie is a producer and editor at Digital Sabbath Film Company where she continues to tell stories that matter to her community. In the spring of 2021, Katie helped produce a series called Business Unusual which told the stories of 17 local businesses and initiatives that were affected by the lockdowns of the pandemic. In early 2022, she created a collective for local women filmmakers to connect, collaborate, grow in their careers, and cultivate KW's filmmaking industry.
Kristen Gottwald
Kristen is an inspiring, encouraging, and real woman. She is an advocate of body acceptance, mental health awareness, self acceptance, and women supporting women. She is a mother, who shares the truths of motherhood, especially navigating through the pandemic, as a working mom-she provided support and relatable content to women like me through an isolating time. She shares the struggles and provides hope and acceptance to those going through the same -I thank her for that, and many others do too.
Nichole Robertson
Nichole is a piano teacher and pedagogue. She has two bachelor degrees, in piano and clarinet with a focus on music education, as well as one in music therapy. She began playing piano at 6 years old, and began teaching while studying in university. Her students have all achieved high levels of success in festivals/competitions at the regional and provincial level, successful exams, and going on to study music at the post-secondary level. Nichole is completely blind and has been since birth.
Lucy Bilson
Lucy excels at creating a sense of placemaking with art and design. From curating an exhibition at the Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery, to building relationships with other creatives in the community and teaching the next generation of designers at Conestoga College, Lucy has an ambitious commitment to seeing arts and culture thrive in this city. Lucy's creative practice engages the community through public installations such as The Forest of Curiosities at the new Eastside Branch library and her work as City of Waterloo Artist in Residence, which can be spotted in Uptown Waterloo along the Laurel and Spur Line trails.
Betty Ann Keller
For more than five decades, Betty Anne worked tirelessly both as a volunteer and as a municipal employee to build, support, and promote a strong, diverse, and visible arts community in Waterloo Region. From 1972 to 1995, she worked as a concert promoter and touring manager for recording artist Loreena McKennitt. She served as Manager of Culture at City of Waterloo from 1999 until 2013. Betty Anne is the producer of the documentary ‘Rock this
Town’, which celebrates the history of K-W’s local rock scene.
Marswa Yarmeto
Marswa Blossom Yarmeto is an African-Canadian author. She was born in Liberia during the infamous civil war. Blossom, as she is affectionately called, survived the brutal civil war. She is a wife and mother of two beautiful young girls. Blossom has been blogging over the years and is a creative writer. Blossom has a passion and gift for molding young minds. She holds a diploma in Social Service Work from Centennial College and she has obtained a degree in Sociology from York University. Currently, she is in the teaching field working at the primary level. She was born to be a Broadcast Journalist who possesses the gift of writing.