Métiers d’art 2015: Remise de prix

Salon des métiers d’art 2015 - Winners

Awards Ceremony

December 16, 2015

The Awards Ceremony of the 2015 edition of the Salon des métiers d’art de Montréal was hosted by Annie-Soleil Proteau. The Salon is an excellent opportunity to showcase the exceptional work, creativity and unique expertise of its artisans. The winners this year for the several categories of the awards were (see the winners group photo at the top of the article) the following artists and craftsmen:

Career Award
($60,000) - Awarded by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec to Quebec fine craft artists to recognize their contribution to Quebec's cultural vitality and help them continue their experimentation and creative activities:

Odette Drapeau, bookbinding artist


Jean-Marie Gauvreau Award
($10,000 value) given by Conseil des métiers d’art du Québec to showcase the excellent work of an artisan with 10 years of professional craft experience:

Marie-Hélène Beaulieu and Sebastien Duchange (Sebomari) (Loft B 1103) for the works in the category "lithosphere" which stand out for their aesthetic forms, refinement and mastery of the techniques used.

Jean-Cartier Award
to Pay Tribute to Young Talent ($500 value) given by Salon des métiers d'art to an artisan with less than five years of professional craft experience:

Marie-France Labrosse, ceramist (Loft 247 A) for the originality of her production.


Visual Presentation Award

Stand & Loft (value of $500 each) for artisans who have excelled at designing their stand or loft:

Jaimie Robson and Maya Ersan, ceramists (Workshop Make), (stand 267)

Geneviève Lugaz, toy maker, (Shed Creative space), (403 loft A)

First Attendance Award
($1,000 value), given by Institut des métiers d'art to support graduates in one of the craft programs at Cégep du Vieux-Montreal:

Marion PUARD (Mademoiselle Poire - Miss Pear), creative and textile imprimeure (Loft 903 D) for the originality, visual brilliance and a very original way to present her products.

Following are photos of two winners at their stands after the Awards Ceremony:

Marion PUARD, Mademoiselle Poire - Miss Pear (Loft 903 D), First Attendance Award

Marie-France Labrosse, ceramist (Loft 247 A), Jean-Cartier Award 

Food and drinks at the Awards Ceremony, with authentic Quebec artisanat cheese and beer on the menu.

Click on images to enlarge them.

The admission is free.
For more information in this years show, visit the Salon des métiers d’art de Montréal website.

Salon des métiers d’art 2015

Salon des métiers d’art de Montréal
Montreal Annual Arts and Crafts Show

December 11 - 20, 2015

This year, Salon des métiers d’art de Montréal (SMAM)  is celebrating its 60th anniversary. More than 420 professional exhibitors from many corners of Quebec, as well as other parts of Canada and even from France are participating and showcasing their one-of-the-kind creations. This is a very much anticipated Quebec arts and crafts show which takes place annually at Place Bonaventure just before the winter holiday season and offers an excellent opportunity for the visitors to acquire some unique holiday and Christmas presents.

All works of art at Salon des métiers d’art de Montréal are recognized as "fine crafts" in accordance with the norms and standards of Conseil des métiers d’art du Québec (CMAQ). This makes sure that every piece has been designed and made by artisans in full mastership of their craft.




The visitors will find many practical and very useful objects for the kitchen.

There are also may kiosks with fine clothing.

One will see a number of works from the MANO a MANO project (photo just below), Artisans sans frontière, in Bolivia. You can read about it here. 

This year, the Food Court is the largest ever. Visitors will find many delicacies, and could spend a long time tasting all the food displayed.

There are also alcoholic drinks to discover, like apple and pear ice wine, or honey, tomato, and other types of wine.

Many foods will delight people with a sweet tooth. Those who are more healthy minded would enjoy the cranberry stand. Others will be more excited about cookies or chocolates.

Click on images to enlarge them.

The admission is free.
For more information in this years show, visit the Salon des métiers d’art de Montréal website.

APCQ 2015 - Tournée des destinations

Tournée des destinations
Tour Destinations

December 3, 2015

This year the APCQ (l'Association des professionnels de congrès du Québec) invited organizers of business events to a special culinary Tour Destinations of different Quebec regions. The 32 regions had demonstrated its cuisine to the attendees of the event at the Hyatt Regency hotel today.

APCQ  is a network dedicated to Business Tourism. It brings together organizations and qualified speakers who know the market for congresses, meetings, and other events. The APCQ offers congress and event organizers different types of quick connections and business links, and this service is efficient and free to all 32 destinations forming its network, including about 100 hotels as well as convention centres at those destinations.

An organizer looking for a place to hold its next event saves time and money by using the APCQ. The APCQ works with organizations and business events organizers to assist them in looking for sites.

Today's event began with a motivational lecture by Sylvain Guimond. His inspiring and also comical discourse kept the audience's attention. At the end, I noticed one woman wiping off a tear, as something he said about love, or rather the absence of love in one's life, must have touched a cord in her. 

After Sylvain Guimond's presentation he mingled with people and displayed his published books.

The food from 32 Quebec regions was very popular with the attenders.

The culinary variety was great, and the food was displayed and arranged with great mastery.

Those present were able to experience the type of service that would be available at the future events they will be organizing. They were also connected to and networked with their contacts and colleges.

To find out more about APCQ, visit the APCQ website.

Click on images to enlarge them.

Montreal Summit of Innovation 2015

5th Edition: Climate Change
Cities, People and Prosperity 

Monday, November 30, 2015

In conjunction with this 2015 Climate Change Conference that is presently taking place in Paris, the Montreal's Summit on Innovation had equally addressed  the climate change issues this year.

The Montreal's summit called to action to envision ways of mitigating and adapting to climate change. It endeavoured to open new solutions for cities and its inhabitants to enjoy well-being and prosperity for the future to come. The Climate (of) Change Summit presented leading academics, policy makers and scientists and heard their overviews on the anticipated impacts of the global climate change, specifically the impacts on Montreal and Quebec. Several presentations were by experts on best practices in risk management and investment strategies. In addition, as a response to climate change, the summit brought into focus new directions in city planning, examples of innovative business, and also social and technological initiatives.

The following topics were presented and discussed in depth:

The urgency and the cost related to climate change
Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director, The Earth Institute, Columbia University

Future Earth: Collaborative science for sustainable development
Paul Shrivastava, Executive Director, Future Earth

Countdown to 2 degrees
Damon Matthews, Associate Professor and Concordia University Research Chair (Climate Science and Sustainability), Concordia University

Anticipated impacts of climate change on Montréal and Quebec
Alain Bourque, Executive Director Ouranos 

The vulnerability of cities
Alan Mitchell, Executive Director,Cities Global Center of Excellence KPMG LLP

Green infrastructure: Making Montréal more resilient in the face of climate change
Dr. Jean-Patrick Toussaint, Science Project Manager, David Suzuki Foundation 
and
Jérôme Dupras, Professor, Department of Natural Sciences Université du Québec en Outaouais 

Genomics for an urban environment better adapted to climate change
Marc LePage, President and CEO Génome Québec

Designing resilient cities and communities
Polly Turton, Associate (MIEMA CEnv) Arup UK

Future of solar power
Andreas K. Athienitis, Professor, Building, Civil, and Environmental Engineering Concordia University

Low climate impact urban growth
Christian Savard, Executive Director, Vivre en ville 

Long term strategies for real estate today
Natalie Voland, President, Gestion immobilière Quo Vadis 

Building the solutions economy
Stephen Huddart, President and CEO, The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation

Collaborative mobility and carsharing: citizen choices and challenges for cities
Marco Viviani, Director, Development and Public Relations Communauto 

Between climate change and public health: the necessary move to a true clean tech economy
Andrée-Lise Méthot, Founder and Managing Partner, Cycle Capital Management

Responsible finance and investing
Karen Clarke-Whistler, Chief Environment Officer, TD Bank Group

The first half of the day focused on various climate change issues and how to address them. In the afternoon, some concrete paths of action were proposed. Over 400 delegates participated in the day conference presentations series.

The summit culminated in the evening with a conference-lecture given by David Suzuki as part of the Bell International Leaders Series. The audience was huge, at least three times or even larger than the number of the day participants.

SETTING THE REAL BOTTOM LINE
David Suzuki
Geneticist, broadcaster, and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation 




Among climate change and other environment issues, David Suzuki specifically stressed the importance of creating a legislature to protect the right to live in a clean environment: "Recognition in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms — the highest law in our country — is the final step toward protecting the right to clean air, fresh water and safe food for all Canadians."

David Suzuki founded the Blue Dot Movement to do exactly that - to advocate the clean environment across the country and to inspire people and communities to establish and sign a Declaration for Clean Environment at their municipalities. Visit the David Suzuki Foundation website if you would like to find out about or join the Blue Dot Movement.

Salon du livre 2015: Awards

Last day November 23, 2015

A number of prizes for literary excellence are awarded at Le Salon du Livre de Montréal. These events are open to the public, and the majority take place at Espace Archambault. On the very first day of the Salon, right after the official opening ceremony, the prestigious PRIX MARCEL-COUTURE 2015, that has been awarded annually for 15 years, was presented by La Presse. It included an ad placement worth of $10,000.

The Prize went to the SEPTENTRION Publishing house for the first volume of CURIEUSES HISTOIRES DE PLANTES DU CANADA by Alain Asselin, Jacques Cayouette et Jacques Mathieu (Éditions Septentrion). The photo of both volumes is just below. Volume 1 is on the left.

Another prestigeouse Prize at the Salon du livre is PRIX QUÉBEC/WALLONIE-BRUXELLES for Children's Literature. It is awarded every two years concurrently to authors or illustrators from Quebec and also the those from French Community of Belgium. This award comes with a cash prize of $ 3,500 for the winners and an additional financial assistance of $ 6,000 to their publishers so that they can ensure the book's promotion and marketing in their respective regions. This year, the award specifically targeted the category "First novel for beginning readers".

The winners of thee PRIX QUÉBEC/WALLONIE-BRUXELLES 2015 for Children's Literaturefor:

For Wallonie-Bruxelles, author and illustrator Mélanie Rutten (photo just below on the left) for her book L'ombre de chacun (éditions MeMo).

For Québec, author Alain M. Bergeron (photo just below on the right) and illustarator Pierre-Yves Cezard (bottom photo) for the book Le géant qui sentait les petits pieds (éditions Québec Amérique).

If you are planning to visit the exhibition, check the Salon's website first:
Salon's website.

Salon du Livre 2015: 38th Edition

Le Salon du livre de Montréal 2015
November 19-23, 2015

If you like books and reading, you will once again enjoy the annual Le Salon du Livre de Montréal being held, as always, at the Montreal's Place Bonaventure. There are many rows of shelves with books of various kind, directed to divers age groups, interests, fields of knowledge, and all presented and promoted by a great number of different publishing houses.

Some book displayes at the Salon du livre are arranged in quite an artistic way.

A special tribute is being held at this year's Salon to Agatha Christie, whose exclusive exhibition will open at Montreal's Pointe-à-Callière (PAC) Museum on December 8, 2015. You can read more about it in my article here.

Find the time to visit the Salon du livre, especially keeping in mind the quickly approaching holidays season and thus the upcoming traditional presents exchanges.

For more information, visit the Salon's website.

AFP Quebec Awards

Philanthropic Achievement Award Winners, 2015

National Philanthropy Day
2015 Excellence in Philanthropy Awards

The Association of Fundraising Professionals – Quebec Chapter (AFP Quebec) celebrated National Philanthropy Day by presenting awards to eight individuals and organizations for their outstanding commitment to social causes. The awards presentation banquet was held at the  Montreal's Hyatt Regency Hotel, on November 13, 2015. It was attended by over 300 philanthropy professionals and their guests.

Cocktails Before the  Banquet Awards Ceremonies

AFP Quebec (The Association of Fundraising Professionals) strives to advance philanthropy throughout Quebec. It brings together fundraisers working in the province’s non-profit organizations. Their 240 members represent some 160 organizations with an overall budget of over $4 billion. They are important agents of positive change in our society.

Hyatt Regency Hotel Banquet Hall - Awards Ceremony

Created in 1986, National Philanthropy Day, November 15th, celebrates individuals, businesses and organizations for the altruistic contributions they make every single day. Every year, over 100 AFP chapters across North America organize events to mark this special day.

Awards Ceremony - Head Table

Award Winners 2015, photo at the top of the article:

From left to right:

John A. Rae, C.M., Executive Vice-President, Power Corporation of Canada (and one of three keynote speakers); 

Alain Bouchard, Sandra and Alain Bouchard Foundation (Outstanding Philanthropists of the Year);

Jean-Philippe Towner, Head, Strategy and Business Management, BMO Capital Markets (and keynote speaker);

Julie Méthot, receiving the award on behalf of Richard Marchand, volunteer, Opération Enfant Soleil (Jury’s Special Choice in Philanthropy); 

Francine Laplante, Fondation des Gouverneurs de l'espoir and Fondation Néz pour vivre (Special Tribute);

Fabrice Vil, Pour 3 Points (Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy –18-35 years);

Sandra Chartrand, Sandra and Alain Bouchard Foundation (Outstanding Philanthropists of the Year); 

Robert Clermont, Chair of the Board, Caisse Desjardins La Prairie (Outstanding Corporation of the Year – fewer than 250 employees);

L. Jacques Ménard, C.C., O.Q., Chair, BMO Nesbitt Burns and President, BMO Financial Group, Quebec (and keynote speaker);

Nicole Beaulieu, Executive Director, Special Olympics Québec, and AFP Quebec’s Chair of the Board.

Front row:

Serge Tremblay, volunteer, Leucan (Outstanding Volunteer of the Year);

Gabrielle Bleau-Côté, 8, ambassador, Opération Enfant Soleil (Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy – under 18 years).

Present for her award but absent from this photo:
Martine Turcotte, Vice Chair, Quebec, Bell (Outstanding Corporation of the Year – more than 250 employees). 

La Grande Dégustation de Montréal 2015

La Grande Dégustation de Montréal
5th Edition

November 5 -7, 2015

La Grande Dégustation de Montréal is back with its 5th editon showcasing a program full of sunshine and variety! With close to 1,500 products to discover and over 13,000 wine, beer and spirit lovers, La Grande Dégustation de Montréal is once again pulling out all the stops to feature its three-themed formula which has solidified the event’s reputation.

The Show is organized by the Associaton québécoise des agences de vins, bières et spiritueux (AQAVBS) and co-presented by the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ).

In 2015, the spotlight is on Spain, Grenache and bubblies from around the world, not to mention producers from 15 other countries, all here for the occasion! La Grande Dégustation de Montréal is part of Happy November, a month-long celebration of wine and gastronomy in Montreal.

Some speciality Spanish food products are offered for tasting.

The world famous wine list Le Palmarès de La Grande Dégustation de Montréal honours bubblies from around the world. Over a hundred products were tasted in the course of a professional competiton. A jury made up of wine experts and presided over by Guénaël Revel, a.k.a. Mr. Bubbles, performed a blind tasting of the products by category in order to shine a light on the best Spanish cavas, Italian proseccos, French crémants and other sparkling wines from the world of viniculture. Below is a group photo of the winners.

Here is the list of the winners of the Palmarès Bulles du monde de La Grande Dégustation de Montréal 2015:

CAVAS
These Spanish wines, mainly produced in the region of Penedès, Catalonia, are a favourite of wine lovers as they offer great quality for their price. The winners are:
1. SEGURA VIUDAS, Reserva Brut.
2. PERE VENTURA, Clos Amador, Cava Brut.
3. J. GARCIA CARRION, Jaume Serra Cristallino, Cava Brut.
4. FREIXENET Ellysia, Gran Cuvée Brut.
5. BODEGA MUGA, Casa Conde de Haro, Brut Vintage 2011

PROSECCO
Made from its namesake variety of grapes, these Italian bubblies are mainly produced in Venetia. The winners in this category are:
1. CANTINE, Riondo Millesimato Prosecco 2014.
2. LA GIOIOSA S.P.A., Prosecco D.O.C. Treviso Il Fresco Villa Sandi.
3. MARCELLO DEL MAJNO / MARCHESI MAZZEI, Prosecco Villa Marcello.
4. NINO FRANCO, Rustico Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore D.O.C.G.
5. PALADIN, Prosecco Extra Dry 2014. 

CRÉMANTS
Crémant wines are made in Burgundy, Alsace, Luxembourg and several other regions of France, using different varieties of grapes. The winners as chosen by our judges: 
1. VITTEAUT-ALBERTI, Crémant de Bourgogne Brut Blanc de Blancs.
2. VEUVE AMBAL, Veuve Ambal Prestige, Crémant de Bourgogne. 
 3. LOUIS PICAMELOT, Crémant de Bourgogne Blanc Brut 2012.
4. CAVE VINICOLE WOLFBERGER, Crémant d’Alsace Brut.
5. SAGET LA PERRIÈRE, Barbule, Crémant de Loire Blanc Extra Brut. 


OTHER SPARKLING WINES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Including New World wines and the traditional varieties, the winners in this category made quite an impression on our judges:
1. CA’DEL BOSCO, Franciacorta Cuvée Prestige (Italy).
2. MUMM NAPA VALLEY, Mumm Prestige Brut (California).
3. CARPINETO, Cuvée Brut Farnito, Vino Spumante di qualità (Italy).
4. ANTECH, Cuvée Émotion, Crémant de Limoux Rosé 2013 (France)
5. YELLOWGLEN, Vintage Perle Rosé 2009 (Australia).

CRÉMANTS REIGN SUPREME
The jury was asked to award five prizes in four categories of sparkling wines, and to highlight the category with the highest scoring average. Crémants ranked first with 85.31%. 

Click on images to enlarge them.

For more information, visit La Grande Dégustation de Montréal website.