Creative Encouragement Award

Bomi Yook works in immersive multimedia, experimental animation, and video performance.  Bomi Yook received her undergraduate degree from Alberta University of the Arts in 2021. She has continued her dedication to her work throughout her MFA at University of California, Los Angeles, producing a number of complex and extraordinarily beautiful works.

Bomi Yook’s current work is a major multi-part project, a continuation of her research on colonial trauma and intergenerational memory. Her research has involved collaborating with prominent museums, archives, and activist groups, including the War and Women’s Human Rights Museum, the Justice Memory Solidarity Foundation, the Museum of Forced Mobilization History, the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization, and the People’s Archive of Japanese Colonial History.

Exploring how text and music interweave to express ideas and feelings is a passion for Margaret King. Her music, primarily choral, is published and has been performed across Canada, the United States and Europe.

King’s connection to Quilichini and the Calgary Girls Choir was solidified in 2017 when the Choir and the Borealis String Quartet premiered Margaret King’s Migrations at the 23^rd International Kodaly Society’s Symposium. In 2020, King was commissioned by the Calgary Girls Choir to write five new pieces in honour of the Choir’s 25^th anniversary.

Quilichini believes King’s choral compositions will continue to expand, enriching choral communities in Alberta, Canada and the world for years to come.

Audrey Ochoa is a trombonist, composer, arranger and educator from Edmonton, Alberta. Her debut album, Trombone and Other Delights (2013) was widely acclaimed and spent three weeks as the number one Jazz album on the Earshot charts. Ochoa’s Afterthought (2017) rose to number one on the Canadian jazz charts and broke into the top 20 in the United States. Frankenhorn (2020) introduces strings into her previous configuration of trombone, piano, bass and drums, and is a mix of chamber music with contemporary and Latin jazz.

In 2020 Ochoa was named Jazz Artist of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards. She is a recipient of the Edmonton Music Prize for her outstanding musical contribution to the local arts scene. 2023’s The Head of a Mouse album earned Ochoa her first JUNO Award nomination in 2025. Jens Lindemann is delighted to add his own congratulations and encouragement to Ochoa’s soaring career.

Tap dancer Lisa La Touche left Alberta to pursue a busy professional dance career in the USA, but when the pandemic hit she moved back to Calgary with her infant son and discovered a receptive, supportive and progressive dance community she has embraced. These days, La Touche is a very busy performer and tap dance teacher. Her most recent endeavor has been writing and directing her debut film TRAX encompassing her journey back to Alberta and her expanded discovery of local black history.