And the winners are... the Imperial Tobacco Canada Foundation supports eleven leading Canadian arts organizations

    Ten winners of New Creation in the Arts programs to receive $50,000 each;
    Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal honoured with $75,000 Arts Achievement
    Award

    MONTREAL, May 12 /CNW Telbec/ - From a musical based on the story of a
shipwreck survivor in Newfoundland to a new Canadian opera, and from a
morality play acted on horse-drawn wagons in British Columbia to an innovative
Montreal photography festival, the Imperial Tobacco Canada Foundation is
delighted to announce the winners of its two inaugural arts donations
programs, New Creation in the Arts and the Arts Achievement Award.
    The prestigious Arts Achievement Award winner is LE MOIS DE LA PHOTO A
MONTREAL, an international biennale of contemporary photography mounted in
multiple Montreal public spaces, galleries and artist-run centres. This month
long celebration includes educational and curatorial programming, keynote
lectures and exhibitions. LE MOIS DE LA PHOTO A MONTREAL attracts visitors and
artists from around the world and garners international attention.
    "LE MOIS DE LA PHOTO A MONTREAL is an extraordinary achievement which
reaches sustained excellence at all levels, especially in its strong creative
focus and outstanding curatorial skills," said Benjamin Kemball, president and
CEO of Imperial Tobacco Canada and chair of the board of the Imperial Tobacco
Canada Foundation.
    The New Creation in the Arts donations of $50,000 each are specifically
directed to support the commissioning of new works in the performing and
visual arts.
    The ten winners of the New Creation in the Arts are:

    - OIL AND WATER, Artistic Fraud, St. John's, Newfoundland. A new musical
      theatre piece by writer Robert Chafe, composer Andrew Craig and
      Siminovitch winner, director Jillian Keiley. This musical tells the
      story of Lanier Phillips, the only black survivor of a 1942 shipwreck
      who found himself washed up on the shores of Newfoundland.

    - LOCK DANSEURS, La La La Human Steps, Montreal. A new creation by
      Edouard Lock, one of Canada's most internationally successful and
      avant-guard choreographers, is a contemporary re-analysis of Purcell's
      baroque opera, "Dido and Aeneas".

    - CREATION 2010: O Vertigo Danse Inc., Montreal. Ginette Laurin is one of
      Canada's most innovative choreographers. Her focus will be on the
      dancers' energy, individually and collectively, explored through
      oppositions. Video and sound installations will enhance the audiences'
      experiences.

    - DOULEUR EXQUISE, Sibyllines, Montreal. A new work by Siminovitch winner
      Brigitte Haentjens based on the work of French multi-media artist
      Sophie Calle. "Douleur Exquise" will combine theatre, visual art and
      performance art to portray the stages of romantic obsession.

    - THE MINES OF VENUS, Arraymusic, Toronto. This new music-theatre work by
      Allan Cole will combine music with science fiction in the creation of a
      world filled with love, betrayal and tragedy.

    - SEVEN STRANDS OF SOUND, Ottawa Jazz Festival, Ontario. A diverse group
      of seven Canadian composers will arrive at the Festival having each
      composed a ten minute piece. Intense workshops will culminate in a
      collaborative live performance during the festival.

    - CANASIAN DANCE FESTIVAL, Toronto. Three outstanding Asian dance
      artist/companies will create site specific works inspired by artifacts
      in Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum.

    - THE INVENTOR, Calgary Opera Association, Alberta. A new Canadian opera
      by Bramwell Tovey with libretto by John Murrell. The opera will be
      based on the true story of the nephew of Alexander Keith of Canadian
      brewery fame. Sandy Keith turned to racketeering and smuggling on
      behalf of the South during the American Civil War.

    - EVERYONE: A MODERN MORAILITY PLAY IN SEVEN HORSE-DRAWN ACTS, Caravan
      Farm Theatre, Armstrong, British Columbia. This modern interpretation
      of the classic medieval morality play will be performed on horse- drawn
      wagons before a stationary audience with each of the six episodes
      created by a different Vancouver company.

    - OUGHT APARTMENT, Vancouver Art Gallery Association, British Columbia.
      Using recycled and reclaimed materials in the blending of visual arts
      and architecture, artist Reece Terris will install a six-story
      apartment building in the rotunda of the gallery, noting the enduring
      nature of material culture.

    "We are extremely pleased by the diversity and creativity of the winners
of the New Creation in the Arts donations," said Joan Pennefather, general
manager of the Imperial Tobacco Canada Foundation. "On behalf of The Imperial
Tobacco Canada Foundation, I would like to thank the 194 organizations which
submitted applications and congratulate the 2009 winners."

    The Imperial Tobacco Canada Foundation launched the Arts Achievement
Award and the New Creation in the Arts programs in November 2008 to support
and honour artistic achievement in Canada. Full details of these programs are
available on the Foundation's Web site at www.imperialtobaccofoundation.ca.
The next application period will be in the fall, 2009.

    Established in 2005, the Imperial Tobacco Canada Foundation is a private
charitable foundation funded solely by Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited and is
responsible for managing the Company's donations programs. Since its creation,
the Foundation has distributed almost $10 million in funding to arts
organizations across the country.

For further information: Eric Gagnon, (514) 932-6161 x2113,
egagnon@itl.ca