The Faculty of Fine Arts is thrilled to announce that Jeannette Armstrong will be awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt) and Lina de Guevara will be awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts (DFA) at the Fall 2024 Fine Arts convocation ceremony.
You can watch as part of the UVic convocation livestream starting at 10am Tuesday, Nov 12 (Armstrong) and 2:30pm Wednesday, Nov 13 (de Guevara).
Armstrong
About Jeanette Armstrong
Jeannette Armstrong is an associate professor in Indigenous Studies and the coordinator of Interior Salishan Studies Centre at UBC Okanagan. She is a member of the Royal Society of Canada and an Officer of the Order of Canada. Born on the Penticton Indian Reserve in the Okanagan, Armstrong is a multi-faceted writer, visual artist, researcher, educator, leader and activist.
She received a Diploma in Fine Arts from Okanagan College, then earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Victoria in 1978. In 2009, she received her doctorate in Indigenous Environmental Ethics from the University of Greifswald in Germany.
Armstrong is one of the founders of the En’owkin Centre (originally named the Okanagan Indian Curriculum Project) to provide students with strong cultural and academic foundations for success. The Centre includes Theytus Publications, the first Indigenous-owned publishing house in Canada.
The En’owkin International School of Writing, founded by Armstrong in a partnership with UVic’s Faculty of Fine Arts, has served Indigenous artists and writers for over 40 years. Armstrong was a co-founder of En’owkin’s Certificate in Aboriginal Language Revitalization which operates in partnership with UVic’s Department of Linguistics serving Indigenous communities throughout Canada.
As an influential advocate for Indigenous peoples’ rights, Armstrong has been a force of change and widescale community impact through her artistic, research and educational vision.
de Guevara
About Lina de Guevara
Lina de Guevara’s career as a director, writer, actor, and teacher has left an indelible impact on Canada’s theatre community. As the founder and former artistic director of Puente Theatre, she dedicated 25 years to sharing the stories of immigrant and refugee communities.
Having fled a military coup in her native country of Chile before settling in Victoria in 1976, de Guevara drew upon her own lived experiences to produce dozens of critically acclaimed plays and collaborations that have toured nationally and internationally.
Visionary productions such as I Wasn’t Born Here, Crossing Borders and Familya shed light on issues such as discrimination, social justice, and employment barriers. By exploring these themes, de Guevara’s work has both entertained and educated audiences for decades.
Trained at the Instituto del Teatro (University of Chile), she has used her skills to teach, mentor, and create space for emerging Indigenous artists and artists of colour across Vancouver Island. As a workshop facilitator at the University of Victoria and instructor at institutions like Royal Roads University, Camosun College, and the Canadian College of Performing Arts, de Guevara has left an enduring legacy on the national theatre landscape through her active support of the next generation of artists.