The Fredericton Arts Alliance presents
The Strunz Award
for Excellence in Arts Education
The Strunz Award
The Fredericton Arts Alliance has created an award for teaching excellence in the arts in honour of George and Annette Strunz. George was a past president of the FAA and he and Annette were lifelong supporters of the arts in Fredericton.
Winners of the Strunz Award receive: two complimentary tickets to the FAA’s annual Gala and Art Auction, held each October, as well as recognition of the recipient the night-of; a framed original George Strunz painting; a $200 gift certificate for art-related materials; and a one-year membership to the FAA.
Eligibility
The FAA Strunz Award for Excellence in Arts Education will be awarded annually to a K-to-12 public school educator in the Fredericton region who has demonstrated excellence in teaching the arts and has promoted the importance of visual arts, music, drama, or dance in education.
David Steeves is first-ever Strunz Award recipient
Devon Middle School music teacher David Steeves became the first-ever recipient in 2023, selecting a watercolour titled Palmer’s Creek as his original George Strunz. The Fredericton Arts Alliance would like to thank Tony’s Music Box Ltd. for sponsoring part of 2023’s award.
Nominate an educator
Anyone—a colleague, student, school, parent, administrator, or community member—familiar with the nominee’s teaching may make a nomination.
The deadline for nominations is May 31, 2024.
Please send completed forms to:
Katie FitzRandolph
President, Fredericton Arts Alliance
president@frederictonartsalliance.ca
George and Annette Strunz
George Martin Strunz (1938-2022) was born in Vienna, Austria. A few months after the Anschluss of March 1938, his family moved to Ireland. George studied Natural Sciences in Dublin and later moved to Fredericton to teach at UNB where he received his Ph.D. After working in Michigan and at Harvard for two years, George began his career with the Canadian Forest Service while being an adjunct professor at UNB.
Passionate about the Arts, George was a member of the Fredericton Choral Society and a talented painter, often exhibiting his paintings in local galleries. He was also a long-time member of the Fredericton Arts Alliance and served one term as the organization’s president.
Annette Pietronella Strunz (née Knoppers) (1930-2022) was born in Groningen in the Netherlands. She lived in Amsterdam, Venezuela, and New York City before settling in Fredericton to work at the University of New Brunswick for several years. She and George were married in 1972.
A talented weaver, Annette practiced several fiber arts and was a long-time member of the Fredericton Guild of Fiber Artists, serving one term as president and exhibiting her work regularly in group exhibitions at Government House.
Annette also loved languages, travelling, birds, and animals, and she and George shared a love of plants, gardening, and the outdoors. They spent many summers at their lakeside property in Queenstown, NB, and were avid supporters of the Arts.
The Fredericton Arts Alliance received a bequest of 57 of George’s artworks in 2023. Learn more in our Annual Report.