7 October 2003

• Cultural Merit Award for Tom van Vliet
• A selection of Canadian artists presented at
  the Word Wide

Cultural Merit Award for Tom van Vliet
On Thursday, 24 October 2002 the Canadian ambassador will officially present this year’s Cultural Merit Award / Prix Du Mérite Culturel.

The prize is awarded to persons or organizations in the Netherlands who have been of great merit in promoting Canadian culture in the Netherlands in the fields of music, dance, theatre, film and video, literature, visual arts or new media.

This year, the award honours the field of new media and is given to Tom van Vliet, director of the World Wide Video Festival of Amsterdam.

Even at the beginning of the festival some 20 years ago, Van Vliet paid attention to Canadian video productions, fulfilling a pioneer’s role in discovering Canada’s use of new media. Many artists who were presented by him over the years have used the World Wide Video Festival as a springboard to launch themselves in continental Europe. Hardly a year goes by without a prominent Canadian contribution to the programme. Some of these memorable projects by renowned Canadian artists such as General Idea, David Rokeby, Vera Frenkel and Jayce Salloum can be visited at the special Canadian page where you can find A selection of Canadian artists from the festival archive.

Previous winners of the Cultural Merit Award include Jan Wolff, director of Muziekcentrum ‘de IJsbreker’ in Amsterdam (1994), Jaap van Baasbank, producer Van Baasbank & Baggerman in Amsterdam (1996) and Anne Wertheim, director of the John Adams Institute in Amsterdam (1998) and the complete management team – Ally Derks, Willemien van Aalst, Adriek van Nieuwenhuyzen and Jolanda Klarenbeek – of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (2000).

This year the Canadian Ambassador to the Netherlands, Serge April, will present Tom van Vliet with the award at a festive reception that will be held on Thursday, 24 October, 2002. The award consists of a certificate of appreciation and a Canadian work of art.

The official award ceremony will take place at the ambassador’s residence ‘Groot Haesebroek’ in Wassenaar.

A selection of Canadian artists presented at the Word Wide
Video Festival, 1982 - 2001

2001 Jayce Salloum, Intangible Cartographies, Vera Frenkel, Jamelie Hassan, Manon Labrecque, Julie-Christine Fortier 2000 Katia da Silva, Marie–France Giraudon & Emmanuel Avenel, Jayce Salloum 1999 Germaine Koh, Edward Pien, Istvan Kantor 1989 Philip J. Pocock / Florian Wenz / Udo Noll / Felix S. Huber, Paul Wong, Istvan Kantor 1997 Herman Weeb, Su Rynard, Manon Labrecque, Istvan Kantor, Nelson Henricks, Dennis Day 1996 Don Ritter, Alain Pelletier, Manon Labrecque, Nelson Henricks, Marie-France Giraudon & Emmanuel Avenel, Elio Gelmini, Luc Bourdon 1993 David Rokeby 1992 Paul Landon, Zacharias Kunuk & Norman Cohn, Mario Côté, Yvel Champagne & René Roberge 1990 Josef Robakowski, Jan Peacock, Robert Morin & Lorraine Dufour 1987 Susan C. Rynard, Dennis Day 1986 Michael Baiser, Doris Chase, Françoise Dugré & Johanne Fournier, François Girard, Susan C. Rynard, Geoffrey Shea 1982 Nora Hutchinson, Noel Harding, Michael Goldberg

For more information:
World Wide Video Festival
Keizersgracht 462
1016 GE Amsterdam

P: +31 (0)20 420 77 29
F: +31 (0)20 421 38 28
E: wwvf@wwvf.nl
W: www.wwvf.nl