Daniel Lanois: Menaka Thakkar

Daniel Lanois Dept: On Wednesday, Gov. Gen. David Johnston announced winners of the $25,000 awards which celebrate lifetime achievement . They are: Andrew Dawes, first violinist of Canada internationally acclaimed Orford String Quartet and a teacher and mentor to young musicians. Daniel Lanois, a Hamilton, Ont-born musician who produced for Brian Eno, U2, Neil Young and Emmylou Harris and is a respected guitarist and recording artist. Jean Pierre Lefebvre, an independent filmmaker responsible for more than 30 features and short films, including Les fleurs sauvages , a 1982 film which won a critics prize at Cannes. Viola Leger, an advocate for Acadian culture and an actress best known for playing the lead in La Sagouine by Acadian writer Antonine Maillet, a role she has performed more than 2,500 times. Menaka Thakkar, an Indian classical dancer and choreographer and artistic director of Menaka Thakkar Dance Co. Eric Peterson, an actor known for TV series Corner Gas and This is Wonderland and for theatre hit Billy Bishop Goes to War, according to CBC. Actor-director Sarah Polley, star of Splice and Road to Avonlea , will receive the National Arts Centre Award which celebrates achievement over the past year. Her latest directorial outing is Stories We Tell, which premiered at the 2012 Venice Film Festival, then captured acclaim at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival and Veteran television and theatre actor Eric Peterson and music producer Daniel Lanois are among the six Canadians who will be honoured with the Governor General Performing Arts Awards this year. In addition, Jean Pierre Desrosier, who has led fund-raising campaigns for the arts in Montreal, including Centaur Theatre and The tre du Rideau Vert, wins the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for voluntarism. Sarah Polley gets NAC award (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.