Festivals in the 1980s

Coordinators: Libby Anderson, Noreen Heighton & Anne Perry

Theme: Changing Times

Animateur: Tim Borlase

• First use of visiting artists with the inclusion of puppeteer Natalie Rewa, from Toronto
• Davis Inlet brings a play to the Festival for the first time.
• National coverage as a featured full-length show 'Bush Plane to Goose Bay' airs on CBC FM Arts National.

5 Performance Scripts for 1980

Coordinators: Cal Patey, Tim Borlase & Libby Anderson

Animateurs: Gaye Hauser & Katherine Smithrim

Visiting artists: Leonard Peterson, playwright; Stephen Hauser, artist; Cassie Brown, author; Bill Ritchie, artist; Theatre Newfoundland and Labrador.

• Major funding from Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, Secretary of State & IODE.
• Special project under an Exploration Grant develops historical photographs from the 'Them Days' collection
• Visiting artists: Leonard Peterson, playwright; Stephen Hauser, artist; Cassie Brown, author; Bill Ritchie, artist; Theatre Newfoundland and Labrador.
• First Button Design Competition. Winner: Darren Michelin, grade 8 student at Lake Melville School. The winning design is used to make buttons which are presented to all participating students and artists.
• For the first time visiting artists are sent to the coast to include more students in the Festival.
• First student art exhibition: teachers are invited to submit their students' art work, the pieces are sorted and a sample from several schools is sent to all of the participating schools.
• West St. Modeste sends a play to the Festival for the first time.
• Two-day teacher workshop on the arts

12 Performance Scripts for 1981

Coordinators: Noreen Heighton, Cal Patey, Libby Anderson & Tim Borlase

Animateur: Carmel Doyle

Button design winner: Lisa Michelin, grade 8, Lake Melville School.

Visiting artists: Sheila Brown, music; Deborah Dunleavy, mime; Gail Innes, dance; Henry Beissil, playwright; Theatre Newfoundland and Labrador.

• Most of the plays were videotaped that year and the Festival sponsored Hopedale's Amos Comenius Memorial School's attendance at the Newfoundland and Labrador Drama Festival (adult).

5 Performance Scripts for 1982

Coordinators: Libby Anderson, Cal Patey & Tim Borlase

Animateur: Wendy Berner, dramatist.

Button design winner: Jack Penashue of Peenamin MacKenzie School in Sheshatshiu.

Visiting artsists: Sonja Dunn, storyteller & dramatist; Beni Malone, clown; Ken Gass, playwright; John Bonia, instrumentalist; Rose Adams, visual artist.

• Port Hope Simpson & Churchill Falls participate for the first time.

11 Performance Scripts for 1983

No festival this year.

Coordinators: Libby Anderson, Cal Patey & Tim Borlase

Animateur: Dorothy Jane Needles, actress, playwright and teacher.

Button design winner: Jimmy Ponniuk of Peacock Academy, Happy Valley.

Visiting artists: Newfoundland Dance Theatre; Scott McIsaac, clown; Josephine Kalleo, author

• Eight of the plays entered in the Creative Arts Festival go to the Regional High School Drama Festival and Hopedale's Amos Commenius Memorial School's 'Second Chance', a play about suicide, wins a spot in the Provincial High School Drama Festival.

12 Performance Scripts for 1985

Coordinators: Tim Borlase & Cal Patey

Animateur: Marion Cheeks

Button Design winner:

Visiting artists: Charlotte Cormier & Donald Deschenes, Acadian folksingers; Penny Kemp, sound; Anita Best, Newfoundland folksinger; Gwen Lawson, photography & pottery; Judy McGrath, 'Them Days Magazine'.

• First time at CAF for Red Bay & St. Lewis

13 Performance Scripts for 1986

Coordinators: Libby Anderson, Cal Patey, Tim Borlase & Marg Wakeman

Animateur: Wendy Berner

Button Design winner: Sherry Dyson, grade 6, Peacock Elementary, Happy Valley.

Visiting Artists: Maritime Marionettes, performing 'Cinderella'; Maxim Mazumdar, actor; Joan MacLeod, playwright; Cindy Wheeler, music & visual artist; Jay Barry, visual artist; Mavis Penney, stage craft; Sylvie Gawley, creative movement & dance.

• This year the Festival moved to the fall, to promote the use of drama as both a methodology and teaching tool throughout the year.

13 Performance Scripts for 1987

Coordinators: Tim Borlase, Cal Patey, Libby Anderson & Marg Wakeham

Animateur: Jim Shea

Button Design winner: Connie Keefe, grade 12, St. Peter's School, Black Tickle

Visiting Artists: Jest In Time, movement & mime; Lilliput, musical play troupe; Sonja Dunn, drama & lyricist; Gilbert Haye, Inuit sculptor; June Baikie, music; Janice Wiseman, children's playwright; Deidre Kessler, author; Ewing Gallery art show

• A new initiative this year: the promotion of native foods. Goose High School Foods class prepared and the graduation committee from Our Lady Queen of Peace School served local dishes such as caribou stew, moose soup, boiled salmon, caribou chili, redberry juice, and baked char. Recipes were collected and a cookbook was produced. Said cookbook now in use in Home Economics classes across Labrador.

13 Performance Scripts for 1988

Coordinators: Tim Borlase, Marg Wakeham & Cal Patey

Animateur: Gaye Hauser

Button Design Winner: Robyn Holwell, Cartwright.

Visiting Artists: Cornelia Boucher-McLeod & Billy McLeod, singers; Rising Tide Theatre, 'Falling Through the Cracks'; Mermaid Theatre, puppet theatre; Atlantic String Quartet; Larry Zacharko, playwright; Rita Cox, storyteller; Marlene Creates photography exhibit; Christine Parker Gallery of Fine Arts & Scott Goudie, art show.

• Labrador City and Postville participate for the first time, meaning that the Festival has for the first time reached all areas of Labrador.

16 Performance Scripts for 1989