Overview of Our Support
Bravura Nova Scotia’s motto is Supporting Excellence in the Performing Arts. Such support, with an emphasis on performing arts education, has been our primary goal since 1922 when, at the organization’s first AGM, a proposal was presented to create an endowment to fund awards for students at what was then called the Halifax Conservatory of Music; the first fund-raising efforts were in support of this initiative. More recently we have expanded our mandate to a range of performing arts education institutions, although the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts remains a focus of our activities.
The number and value of the awards we offer has expanded significantly in recent years. While some of our awards are funded from our general revenues and others directly by annual donations from individuals, many are supported by the income from endowments created by, or in memory of, our members or supporters.
Bravura Nova Scotia’s support for performing arts education takes three forms:
support for students with Scholarships, Cash prizes, and Bursaries,
support for faculty members with Fellowships, and
support for partner organizations.
A list of recent recipients may be found here.
To fulfill our mandate, we have various streams of support:
Donor-funded directly for awards,
Endowment-funded for awards, and
Monies raised through fundraising activities and the General Donations account.
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Student Support:
Bravura Nova Scotia supports dance and music students through an extensive range of scholarships, prizes, and bursaries. Among the institutions whose students we currently support are the MCPA, Conservatory Nova Scotia, and the Kiwanis Music Festival. Scholarships (a tuition credit) and cash prizes are awarded for student excellence, while bursaries are provided for financial need. The choice of recipients for these awards is made through a selection process developed by each institution.
In 2021 we added several new student awards, among them $1,200 and $1,000 music scholarships funded by Cecilia Concert Society and Jules Chamberlain respectively. We also increased the number of awards we offer to participants in the Kiwanis Music Festival by instituting a new prize for the best performance by a string, brass, or woodwind student.
In 2022 Bravura Nova Scotia will be adding at least two new awards. The first will be a $2,000 voice scholarship offered in memory of Nova Scotia classical singer Portia White, who was one of the most talented students to have studied at the Conservatory. This new award has been made possible in part by a very generous of $50,000 grant from the Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Heritage and Culture. The second new award will be for the winner of a musical theatre class at the Kiwanis Music Festival.
Bravura Nova Scotia’s bursary programme provides support to students in financial need so that they can continue their performing arts studies. Our newest bursary, the Ella DesBrisay Bursary, is a memorial to the DesBrisay family who were connected to the Conservatory and Bravura Nova Scotia throughout much of the 20th century as students, teachers, and benefactors.
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Faculty Support:
We also provide support to performing arts teachers through our Professional Development Fellowship Programme. This programme is designed to inspire Faculty members to remain actively engaged with their own artistic and pedagogical development, more specifically to assist them in honing their skills as performers and teachers. Among the activities for which support may be granted are: a. participation either in person or electronically at a conference, master class, or workshop focusing on upgrading a specific skill or set of skills; and, b. training that will enable the Faculty member to upgrade her or his formal qualifications or certification as a performer or teacher.
We currently offer three Fellowships annually through the generosity of the late Ken and Gloria Mader, of Edie Hancock (in memory of long-time Conservatory string teacher Pat Wyman), and of Antonia Mahon who has created an endowment in memory of her mother Bee Huxtable.
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Partner Support:
Each year Bravura Nova Scotia supports one or more major projects at a performing arts education organization that is a registered charity. Over the decades these have taken many forms including the purchase of pianos, music stands, and, most recently (with financial support from members Christopher Hopgood and Mark Buckrell), cameras and other audio-visual equipment in to support online classes and performances.
We have covered the costs of installing specialized floors in dance studios, the restoration of the Conservatory’s harpsichords (funded by Bravura Nova Scotia member David Mercer), and for the moving expenses of the Conservatory from one home to another during the days when it was housed in rented spaces. And, after MCPA settled into its current home on Chebucto Road, we covered the costs of creating a new kitchen and staff room and also of installing the front desk area.
Bravura Nova Scotia has also sponsored productions of the Faculty of Dance, and it has arranged for voicing and regulation of the concert grand piano in the Lilian Piercey Concert Hall.
In October 2021, Bravura Nova Scotia sponsored the Halifax Institute of Traditional Early Music’s online event, “The Traditional Music of Sweden” with a grant from The DesBrisay Family Endowment.