www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=131247&sc=85 -
[Cached Version]
Last Visited: 5/3/2008
Reg Winsor, executive director of the NLAC, says the
show has grown drastically since 1984, when the awards were a small dinner party.
"We moved it then to the LSPU Hall with about 140 people, where we did a live show that was broadcast on CBC," he explains, "and then about five years ago we made the move to Reid.
...
"Council has agreed to move the show outside St. John's every two years," Winsor says."Next year, we're hoping to have Happy Valley-Goose Bay host the show.
"When we did our public consultation two years ago, the big consensus we got was to move it around the province," he adds."So when we got our increase in the budget, we agreed that taking it on the road was one thing we'd definitely do."
Winsor says the success rate of the program outside the capital is equally grand.Corner Brook's show last year sold out the more than 400 seats of the Arts and Culture Centre a week in advance - an indicator of the strong support Newfoundlanders and Labradorians feel for the arts.