This year, we are thrilled to announce that Green Thumb Theatre and TELUS are the joint recipients of the 2019 Business/Arts Community Impact Award. This award recognizes an arts and business partnership that has enhanced quality of life and enriched a local cultural scene.

Green Thumb and the Vancouver TELUS Community Board have been collaborating for over a decade to bring engaging, live theatre to children and youth in the Greater Vancouver Area. This partnership has been instrumental in helping Green Thumb bring artistically excellent work to as broad an audience as possible, regardless of their location or socio-economic status. Throughout our partnership, TELUS has been a huge supporter of Green Thumb's artistic practice, and our commitment to creating theatre that reflects the lives of the young people who see our work. Shows that received initial funding from TELUS have gone on to multi-year, international tours, and have covered topics including homophobia, environmental stewardship, gendered harrassment, substance abuse, and beyond.

In December 2018, TELUS honoured Green Thumb with one of their inaugural Community Innovation Awards for our work in "Challenging young audiences to think about their actions and make positive changes in their lives". At Green Thumb we are proud to make theatre that is challenging, and it was an incredible honour to have TELUS recognize that aspect of our work specifically. We are further honoured to have our partnership with TELUS recognized by Business/Arts, a national charitable organization that shows the power of partnership between business and arts.

The award presentation will take place on November 7th at The Sony Centre in Toronto, Ontario.