New competition prize for music students

by | Aug 19, 2025 | Alumni, Award, donor, School of Music

Let’s say it’s 1912 and you’re a young, musically inclined girl who enjoys whistling . . . but your father says it isn’t “ladylike“ to whistle: what do you do? If you’re Eleanor Gray, you embrace the song in your heart and pursue singing lessons instead.

Fast-forward 113 years and that lifelong love of music has now become the foundation for the School of Music’s new $40,000 Eleanor Gray Memorial Piano & Voice Duo Competition Prize — an addition to the overall $2 million bequest, created by donor Douglas Gray (LLB) to honour his mother. 

Eleanor Gray was a talented pianist, singer and Royal (then Toronto) Conservatory of Music alumna who ensured that all five of her children were also part of the RCM piano program. A lifelong singer and pianist, Eleanor remarkably sang in a choir and played piano for church services up to the age of 100, stopping only before her passing at 101. 

Beginning in the 2025/26 academic year and running through 2028, the Eleanor Gray Prize will be earmarked for School of Music students who take part in an annual art song competition for piano and voice, with cash prizes awarded for the duo winners in both first ($1,500 each) and second place ($1,000 each).

A portion of this bequest will also go towards the existing donor-funded Collaborative Piano Endowment, which ensures that our 63 Steinway pianos remain concert-ready — a huge benefit to our status as the only All-Steinway School in Canada, thanks to the efforts of critically acclaimed pianist and professor Arthur Rowe. “Maintaining our excellent instruments is crucial, so these funds will help ensure the longevity and excellence of our Steinways,” says Rowe.

Marion Newman leads a voice recital (photo: Beth Bingham)

A piano and voice competition prize is ideal for our School of Music, given the enviable reputation of our Voice program — anchored by the likes of tenor Benjamin Butterfield, soprano Anne Grimm, mezzo-soprano Marion Newman and acclaimed vocal coach Kinza Tyrrell, plus an ever-increasing number of alumni stars like Isaiah Bell, Josh Lovell and Newman herself.   

Had Eleanor Gray been a student a century later, her infectious enthusiasm, intellect and energy would have made her an ideal student at our School of Music. Given her deep appreciation for piano and voice duets, as well as her encouraging attitude and natural caring and warmth for others, we’re sure Eleanor would appreciate this new competition prize. 

A longtime resident of Victoria who truly loved life and lived it to the fullest, Eleanor was always young at heart and was full of joy. She now rests in Ross Bay Cemetery, ensuring her spirit remains close to the city she so loved. 

historicizing the present through art

by | Aug 12, 2025 | Art History & Visual Studies, Faculty, indigenous, Visual Arts

When Sm Łoodm ‘Nüüsm (Mique’l Dangeli) was hired in 2024 as a professor of Indigenous Arts in our Art History & Visual Studies department, the Ts’msyen scholar knew it would be a good fit.

“I liked the fact that it isn’t just about art history here, it’s also about visual studies — so all of my interests are supported in terms of what I can teach,” she says. “Being a dancer and choreographer, I teach everything through music and performance as well as visual arts, and I also love Indigenous filmmaking, so I bring that in too. My classes are very much passion projects — like my Indigenous tattoo course — so it’s really enhanced my teaching to be able to explore all these other areas.”

Prior to UVic, Dangeli taught at the University of Alaska Southeast, UFV and UNBC, as well as serving on various curatorial teams for Canadian, American and European museums — all of which offered the perfect background for this position.  

“The approach I take is historicizing the present, so all of the artists I talk about are producing now,” she explains. “As Northwest Coast First Nations People, we live our art history every day, so I look at not only the historical roots of a wide array of art practices but also distinct and important differences Indigenous artists are making for future generations.” 

Dangeli is also careful to avoid problematic terminology in her teaching. 

“I steer away from oppressive terms like ‘traditional’ and ‘contemporary,” she says. “It’s a continuum: Indigenous artists are still doing the work of their ancestors who incorporated all the tools, materials and technologies that came through many trade routes before and after colonial invasion. If we’re going to talk about tradition, the most ancient tradition we have as Indigenous people is to use the tools, materials and technologies of the time period that we live in to express who we are today.” 

Over the past year, Dangeli has found a home in Fine Arts: not only through her teaching but also by leading panels, engaging with other units and  using the building lobby to rehearse her First Nations dance group, the Git Hayetsk Dancers. But her biggest highlight? The students. 

“The students at UVic are amazing: critical, intellectual, thoughtful and willing to create a safe space in my classroom to have challenging conversations about historical and ongoing colonization and about how Indigenous artists are engaging with today’s issues through their work,” she says. “There’s a gratitude here for the opportunity to learn that I haven’t encountered at any other university.”

Celebratory theatre empowers acceptance

by | Aug 5, 2025 | Award, Faculty, indigenous, Research, Theatre

Theatre students Simran Kang (left), Isabella Derilo & Alynne Sinnema in the 2024 production of Salty Scent of Home (Photo: Dean Kalyan)

It can be hard for people who never experienced immigration to understand the challenges faced by immigrants and refugees, but new research is showing the positive impact “celebratory theatre” practices can have on newcomers.  

Funded by a three-year, $200,000 Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council Partnership Development Grant, Department of Theatre professor Yasmine Kandil’s project — Celebratory Theatre for Building Inclusion, Resilience & Social Acceptance of Racialized Newcomer Immigrants & Refugees to Canada — is a partnership with the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria, the Vancouver Island Counseling Centre for Immigrants & Refugees and UVic’s Psychology department, with participation by professors Monica Prendergast (Curriculum & Instruction) and Fred Chou (Educational Psychology & Leadership Studies). “We’re invested in learning how theatre — particularly celebratory theatre, where the participants benefit and the audience learns — can support successful integration and thriving of newcomers,” says Kandil. 

A leading expert in applied theatre techniques, Kandil had previously partnered with ICA on 2022’s Homecoming: A Queer Journey — funded through a 2019 SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant — which focused on building empathy for LGBTQ2S+ immigrants and refugees. “People don’t want to be seen as pitiful or needing help,” she says. “They want others to see their rich culture, what they bring to the community — that they’re resilient, productive citizens, worthy of an equal share in society.”

Led by Kandil and Psychology professor Cathy Costigan, the 2024 Celebratory Theatre research project involved seven theatre students working with six ICA and VICCIR clients in a series of workshops in February and March, followed by a devised performance in May, which was then performed as The Salty Scent of Home to nearly 300 audience members in June — all aimed at testing how celebratory theatre techniques can impact the well-being, social cohesion and sense of self-worth of immigrants and refugees.   

Costigan developed evaluation tools to test various measures (i.e., confidence, belonging, acceptance) both before and after the workshops and performance, which were then applied to the participants, students and audience members during the workshops and performance. “The data has come back positive that celebratory theatre is making a difference and impacting people’s acceptance of immigrants and refugees, as well as making a significant impact in the way that newcomers perceive themselves and chances of success in Canada,” says Kandil.

The Salty Scent of Home is also being presented as part of UVic’s Phoenix Theatre MainStage season, running October 9-18, 2025.