The Globe’s On The Scene column shines a light on philanthropic events across Canada.
The Governor-General’s Performing Arts Awards, June 14, Ottawa
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Mary Simon, Governor-General of Canada, presented the 2025 Governor-General’s Performing Arts Awards to seven laureates during an intimate ceremony at her Rideau Hall residence on June 13. The following evening, the National Arts Centre was the locale for the annual gala that accompanies the awards, a much larger affair that saw some 2,000 guests filling Southam Hall to cheer on this year’s honorees. The event, considered a highlight on the capital’s spring social calendar, starts with a swish cocktail reception and dinner for sponsors and key supporters. What follows is a program filled with creative tributes that take form through film (the NFB does a film for each laureate), dance, music and song. Composer and 2025 laureate Jeremy Dutcher was joined by Inuk singer-songwriter Susan Aglukark (sometimes laureates take part in their own tributes). Members of Red Sky Performance, a contemporary Indigenous performance group, paid tribute to their org’s founder Sandra Laronde, and as the big finale, singer-songwriter Serena Ryder (joined by Nepean High School music students and, at one point, trampolinists) paid tribute to music producer Bob Ezrin, famed for his work with Lou Reed and Pink Floyd. The award named for voluntarism in the performing arts, named after the GGPAA founder Ramon John Hnatyshyn, went to Halifax-based performing artist and disability advocate April Hubbard. Among those out: Christopher Deacon, president and CEO of the National Arts Centre, and its foundation’s CEO, Juniper Locilento; Janice Charette, former clerk of the Privy Council and secretary to the cabinet; Power Corporation of Canada’s Paul Genest; Gowling WLG partner and Ottawa scene regular Jacques Shore; Roger Howard, executive vice-president of regional commercial banking at Royal Bank of Canada; and Susan Glass, chair of the National Arts Centre Foundation, and her husband, Arni Thorsteinson.
Together for Tomorrow Gala, June 12, Toronto
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The Telus Friendly Future Foundation, the charitable arm of the British Columbia-based telecom company, held the second edition of the Together for Tomorrow Gala, a black-tie dinner and concert held June 12 at the Telus Centre for Performance and Learning at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Money raised this year totalled just north of $2.6-million, funds which will be directed toward youth education through scholarships and bursaries to those across Canada who need them most. More than 1,000 students have benefited since the founding of the bursary in 2023. The gathering began with drinks followed by a dinner and live auction, but the big draw came after dessert: a concert inside Koerner Hall. A bevy of beloved Canadian musicians including Arkells, Deborah Cox, Steven Page and singing-songwriting duo Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida all took to the stage to sing their biggest hits, all in the name of education in Canada.