The foundation’s first five Lifetime Achievement Awards in the Arts were handed out on November 16 at the terminal City Club to an audience of one hundred. The recipients were Barry Leinbach President of the Kitsilano Showboat Society, Gordon Olson Founder and Director of the British Columbia Beefeater Band and Bob Rebagliati, Keith Woodward and Peter van Ooyen of the Handsworth Secondary School Music program in North Vancouver.

The criteria for receiving the award needs to be a person who has spent his life working with youth in the arts. Three of the above were career music educators in the public schools of Vancouver. One was the founder of a community band and the other grew up on the stage of one of Vancouver’s iconic venues the Kitsilano Showboat, directed by his mother Captain Bea for decades. He took over as director and then President after his mother passed away.

There are many people in the arts who should be recognized for their dedication to the youth of their day but will never receive an award. I call them the unsung heroes. By giving them an Arthur W. Delamont Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award we can at least honour them in a small way. Arthur Delamont spent his life giving to the youth of Vancouver through his prize-winning community band the Kitsilano Boys Band. What better tribute to these unsung heroes than to show a connection to Arthur W. Delamont.

There are many who deserve to be acknowledged for their work with youth in the arts. Over the coming months, the foundation will be giving out more awards to more unsung heroes.