Artistic & Executive Director of PuSh Festival Receives Vancouver's Highest Civic Award

Norman Armour, artistic and executive director of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, received Vancouver's highest civic award in a ceremony at City Hall this week. 

The Civic Merit Award recognizes individuals for outstanding achivement in a particular field of endeavour – in sports, science, arts or culture – within the city and the province, or in recognition of a specific service.

"I am proud of the work I have done. I am proud of our city’s art scene, of our Mayor, our Councillors, and proud of the staff in the Office of Cultural Services. Like – I am sure – many of my fellow recipients, this is something of a surprise. But surprises are often good," Armour said in a news release. 

The PuSh Festival, co-founded by Armour in 2003, is produced over three weeks each January and presents groundbreaking work in the live performing arts. The three-week festival engages and enriches audiences with adventurous contemporary works in a spirit of innovation and dialogue. Armour has been the festival's artistic and executive director since 2006. 

The City began awarding the Civic Merit Award in 1942. Recipients are recognized during a ceremony at Council, in which the Mayor reads a resolution on the recipient's achievements and presents the Civic Merit Medallion and a bound, calligraphed copy of the Resolution.

Other recipients of this year’s award are Trevor Linden, Vancouver Canucks captain; Ken Lyotier, founder of United We Can; Wendy Grant-John, the first woman elected as regional chief to the Assembly of First Nations; retired obstetrician Dr. Madeline Chung; Eleanor Guerrero-Campbell, former executive director and CEO of the Minerva Foundation; Susan Tatoosh, executive director of the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre; Joe Wai, architect of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden; and Faye Wightman, philanthropist.

The PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2014, runs from January 14 through February 2. For more information visit http://pushfestival.ca/.