July 11, 2007
Arts School’s Founding Director Named to the Order of Canada
Lola Rasminsky, the Founding Director of The Avenue Road Arts School, has been named a Member of the Order of Canada.
Rasminsky is among 71 new appointees announced on June 29th by Governor General Michaëlle Jean. Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Reform party founder Preston Manning, golfer Mike Weir and broadcaster Pamela Wallin are some of the other notable individuals appointed.
The Order of Canada is the country’s highest civilian honour, and recognizes a lifetime of distinguished service in or to a particular community, group or field of activity. Rasminsky is being recognized for her contributions to education.
In the past 28 years, she’s gone from opening a Fine Arts Kindergarten in the basement of her Forest Hill home for six neighbourhood children, to running three very successful organizations: The Avenue Road Arts School (which now serves over 1000 students); Arts for Children of Toronto (a registered charity reaching 8,000 inner city children per year); and, Beyond the Box™(the corporate spin-off enterprise, which has provided creativity workshops and team-building training to more than 2,000 executives since its inception).
This past November, Rasminsky became the 2006 RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year in the Bell Trailblazer Category. This award is given to women who move forward the state of the art in their field through innovative thinking and the ability to build networks of relationships in the community.
Rasminsky’s late father, Louis Rasminsky, the Governor of the Bank of Canada from 1961-1973, was one of the first people to be appointed a Companion to the Order of Canada in 1968.
Rasminsky will receive her award at a reception at Rideau Hall, in Ottawa, this fall.