Artists pursue their crafts for many and varied reasons. And while some are rewarded with fame and fortune, most struggle to have the space and time to make the kind of work they want to share with the public. At $25,000, the inaugural Johanna Metcalf award is a generous prize. It was given just last night to five Ontario-based performing artists. It will give them – and another artist of their choosing – more opportunity to create. Steve Paikin interviews playwright and theatre creator Sunny Drake, composer and classical pianist Alice Ping Yee Ho, composer James Rolfe, multidisciplinary artist Santee Smith, and world music performer and composer Maryem Tollar.

Produced by Wodek Szemberg. Originally broadcast on December 13, 2019.