Ron Lenyk, Inspiring Youth Arts Award

In the vein of inspiring youth in the arts, the Ron Lenyk award would be
used to do exactly so if awarded to Victor Cheng. While any individual can
certainly practice and enjoy the benefits of music, the same cannot be said
for providing spaces for these efforts to be celebrated and showcased. While
these events and spaces allow for hard work to be demonstrated, besides
their enjoyment (and subsequently recurring ticket purchases) not much
thought is given to the audience. While I cannot stress how important it is
that we provide opportunities for young musicians to perform, there is an
overlooked quality of such performances. Oftentimes we do not consider the
inspirational quality of performances, and how that in itself is a selfimproving cycle. In the world of Ontario choral organizations, one of the
many frontiers is bridging the age gap, and bringing choir into the 21st
century; a world of social media integration and instant gratification. With a
public school system that is cutting funding to choral programs, and a
growing demographic of students who have not experienced a Christian
choral tradition, how do we inspire our youths in this regard? How, and where
can we demonstrate the excellence that can be achieved by uniting a group
of students together and singing? With the Ron Lenyk award, Victor will be
assisted in showing that with enough work and dedication, a group of nonprofessional student musicians can still perform at a professional level, and
create real, soul-piercing music together. Currently, Victor is able to
showcase his choir, the Mississauga Youth Chorale with a culminating concert
in August, following 3 months of rehearsal. In addition to this, he has begun
to receive invitations to sing elsewhere, most recently at the SING! Vocal Arts
festival, as part of a National Film Board event. However, his long term goal
with the Mississauga Summer Chorale is to create a 3 day choral festival in
Port Credit, bringing together many of the talented ensembles, and
educators in the area, with interest/workshop sessions for participating
choirs, conducting master classes, and nightly concerts. This event would
serve to create an event which would bring together the choral community in
Mississauga and the surrounding areas, to be inspired by one another,
through professional adjudication, and the nightly professional concerts that
would be given. With this in mind, the Ron Lenyk award would certainly go
towards this endeavor, and assist Victor in attaining more corporate and
government sponsorship of this festival. In my mind, Victor Cheng would be
an excellent choice for the Ron Lenyk award, and would help him on his way
to inspiring a new generation of choristers in Mississauga and the
surrounding area.