St. Albert Gazette Arts Champion Award Winners

St. Albert Singers Guild 
Choir

The St. Albert Singers began as a "little choir" in a church basement in 1968 under the direction of Dr. Lillian Upright. In 1985, Upright created the St. Albert Singers Guild. With direction from accomplished conductors like Tim Hankewich, Jan Dammann, Eric Mierau and Criselda Mierau, the choir has built a strong reputation in the St. Albert Community.

In 2023, the current Artistic Director Caroline Crispin took the helm to keep the organization going strong, moving them into their fifth decade. What began as a mixed choir of 24 voices grew to almost 50 singers with many more on the waiting list. Eventually the Guild expanded its programming to include six choirs: The St. Albert Singers, The St. Albert Women's Vocal Ensemble and four children's choirs.

Congratulations to one of the 2026 Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts St. Albert Gazette Arts Champion Award recipients, Emily Baker!

Emily Baker 
Curator 

Emily is the curator of the Art Gallery of St. Albert and responsible for each of the Gallery’s exhibitions. From research to installation and interpretation to celebration. Since taking on the role of Curator in January 2021, she has worked on 61 exhibitions, encompassing a dazzling range of art styles, media and stories.

Over her career, she has worked with over a thousand artists from across the province, the nation and a handful from around the world. She has hung tens of thousands of works of all shapes, sizes, materials and media.