The Yellowknife Community Foundation awarded two new scholarships at its 25th anniversary gala, Saturday night.
photo courtesy of Yellowknife Community Foundation and Dominion Diamond Mines
The foundation which was established in 1993 announced the Alice and Randy Daniels music scholarship and the Elliott Michael Brown memorial scholarship which will be given out annually from 2018 forward.
The Alice and Randy Daniels scholarship was implemented to encourage applicants who are interested in studying and performing music whereas the Elliott Michael Brown scholarship which is valued at $2,000 annually will be awarded as a scholarship or entrepreneurial start-up.
In addition to the two new scholarships YKCF is increasing the value of 25 of its original scholarships to $2,500 a piece said president Bronwyn Watters.
“It's amazing to think how we got from $100 in essence to $4.5 million,” said Watters. “We've given over a million dollars in scholarships and grants ... it's a great way to say thank you to the community because the foundation wouldn't be where we are without a lot of people giving time, money and commitment.”
The foundation is awarding four additional grants to community organizations throughout 2018, all worth $25,000. The first to receive a grant is the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre.
“This was a great gift from the foundation,” said NACC executive director Marie Coderre who plans to use the $25,000 to cover the cost of renovations to the sound system in 2019. “Without this money we would have been OK but it would have been stressful because we only fundraise until March 31.”
Along with the announcement of the scholarships came the release of a documentary, entitled City of Gold.' Created by filmmaker Alex Legaree, City of Gold documents the past 25 years of the foundation's contributions to the community.
“I've spent the better part of 14 months going through archival footage and talking to people to see what was most important to put in the documentary,” said Legaree. “While working on the documentary it made me realize how happening Yellowknife actually is ... I wanted to recognize everyone who contributed to that.”
Born and raised in Yellowknife Legaree is an amateur photographer who said that skill helped him develop into a film maker for this project. Currently, he works with BHP Billiton in Australia. Although living on a different continent Legaree said he will never forget where he came from being the first recipient of the Jenny Gamble Fournier Memorial scholarship which was handed out by the foundation in 2000. Legaree said because of his scholarship he felt creating City of Gold was the best way to do it.
Dominion Diamond Mines also contributed $20,000 in diamonds to the event including a pair of earrings valued at $5,800 and a necklace valued at $14,300. Both items were bid for in a silent auction.