The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

economist suntribune saturday oct 26 2002 celebration highlights yorks artistry by simone joseph staff writer alexander seredenko 15 sits wearing black gloves thinking of the piece he is about to play franz liszts hungarian rhapsody no 2 for close to 10 minutes the eyes and ears of more than 600 people will be focused on his fingers on the keyboard being excited and nervous before performing is good mr seredenko said in an interview its healthy to get nervous if youre not nervous then you tend to play badly you dont centre in on the performance mr seredenko was at markham hilton suites performing in the celebration of the arts a gala per formance and bursary awards show presented by the york region newspaper group last sundays show featured artists from across york region and was an appreciation night for the newspaper groups clients and a chance to celebrate and support the arts in york region mr seredenko a richmond hill resident certainly got support from the audience in fact he received a standing ovation they were cheering for me a long time and it felt good to be up there he said ron dinelle general manager of upper canada mall was among the fans in the audience mr dinelle called the young musicians playing unbelievable he was amazing the piece he played was obviously very difficult he said aurora mayor tim jones was also impressed calling the 15-year- olds performance flawless but mr seredenko was more critical i played ok i could do bet ter i know my own mistakes this kind of humility was typical of the nights performers said brenda larson one of the hosts of the event and director of marketing and new product development for the york region newspaper group these kids have gifts and yet theres a certain humility about them all they were sitting backstage admiring each others work she said doug pettigrew executive pro ducer for the show wanted to cre ate an atmosphere where the audi ence could get to know aspects of the artists personalities because this rarely happens at performanc es he said very rarely do we get to know who they are what their personali ties are the person behind the per- staff photobill roberts singer gisele fredette performs playful number among the crowd attending sundays second annual york region celebration of the arts gala at markhams hilton suites hotel enjoying the moment in the background are york region chairperson bill fisch far right and markham mayor don cousens second from left the event is sponsored by the york region newspaper group formance he said they are our neighbours and they are excited about where they are going and we wanted to feel that people arent aware in york region of the tremendous amount of arts and culture that does exist so mr pettigrew had the hosts interview artists before and after performances in the interview area a relaxed setting of couches and subtle background colour mr pettigrew was helped by five of newmarkets huron heights secondary school students in cre ating this effect they are an invaluable team of people that put in hours of work he said last sunday at 7 am the stu dents offloaded trucks filled with sound and lighting equipment crawled under stages to check wiring made sure equipment worked and handled technical aspects of the show they were also the last ones to leave after taking down the set and equipment and packing it mr pettigrews company in house productions gave the team which worked on the show for the second year in a row a new 1500 bursary called the pro ducers award technical teams that work behind the scenes are often the unsung heroes of productions he said the artists get recognized but the technical people never do as part of the celebration of the arts 16 young artists from across york region received bursaries funded by different sources markam mayor don cousens charitable foundation for exam ple donated 1500 in bursary money most of the recipients will use the money to further their musical education the gala was a good way to remind people of the incredible talent of artists in york region york region newspaper group publish er ian proudfoot said arts define a community people arent aware in york region of the tremendous amount of arts and culture that does exist he said more people need to realize you dont need to go to toronto york region and its schools have been investing in the arts said bill hogarth director for york regions board of education theres a myth because of the change taking place that some boards dont support the arts in york region that just wasnt true i want to separate us out and recognize how important the arts are mr hogarth said mr pettigrew said he was pleased with the show weve accomplished what we set out to do the talent has shone through see pagfs 4 and 21 for more coverage of the york region newspaper groups celebration of the arts 4 heritage road markham ont l3p 1m4 full 3fi itamllabte for gm ford chrysler toyota honda mazda nissan kia suzuki hyundai isuzu 4 hrtuqr4u accredited v n 9054725100 t55 chech u4 but at wwwimarkharhautocom rr f