Awards

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD

Every year the Festival acknowledges musicians that have made a significant contribution to Saskatchewan’s music culture through the Special Recognition Award. This award has been received by many great artists who have and continue to shape the jazz community in Saskatchewan and beyond.

JIM HILL FESTIVAL BUILDERS AWARD

The Jim Hill Festival Builders Award has been presented annually by the Festival since 2006. The purpose of the annual Jim Hill Festival Builders Award is to recognize people who have made major contributions to the success of the Festival.

Special Recognition Award Winner 2025: Kim Salkeld

Kim began his life as a professional musician in Saskatoon in 1975. Since that time, he was able to balance a fulltime 25-year career in the Canadian Forces Music Branch with an active freelance schedule. For his first 16 years in the CF, he was primarily the keyboardist and arranger for the Air Command Band in Winnipeg, taking part in hundreds of official government, military and public functions throughout North America and Europe. For his last 9 years in Ottawa and Borden, Ontario, he was the CF Director of Music Studies. Duties in this capacity included teaching arranging, orchestration and theory courses to senior levels of CF musicians as well as overseeing the branch curriculum development and audition process.

Apart from his CF career, Kim has been able to freelance both as a performer and a writer while living in Saskatoon, Toronto, Winnipeg, Miami, Ottawa, and Barrie, Ontario. Professional activities along the way have included numerous public concerts, theatre, jazz festivals, cruise ships, clubs, and various media broadcasts.

Kim holds a Bachelor of Music (Music Education) degree from the University of Saskatchewan, an Honours Diploma in Arranging from Humber College in Toronto, and a Master of Music (Studio/Jazz Writing) degree from the University of Miami. He is very happy being back in Saskatoon with friends and family since retiring from the CF in 2012 and has had the pleasure of being involved with a wide variety of performers including the Saskatoon Jazz Orchestra, the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, Persephone Theatre, Kids of Note, several of the city’s vocalists, and a healthy number of jazz, rock, pop, and country ensembles. He plans to continue until hauling gear dictates otherwise!

Jim Hill Festival Builders Award Winner 2025: Lyle Bolen

Lyle was a volunteer for the Festival for over 30 years including over 20 years in a senior leadership role.

From 1990 onward, Lyle was a familiar presence at the Festival’s main stage in the Bessborough Gardens. His first major role with the Festival was coordinating the Bess Gardens main stage shows, often acting as an Emcee as well. This is a role he continued in for the next 34 years. About 15 years ago Lyle was joined by Mitch Riabko and Tara Martin as fellow stage management coordinators to lead a team of volunteers who managed all the Festival stages.

After stepping off the Festival Board of Directors around 1999, Lyle was invited to rejoin the Board to co-chair the Programming Committee. After initially turning the invitation down, Lyle agreed but it soon became clear that his role needed to be expanded and, although he had a full-time job outside the Festival, Lyle became the volunteer Artistic Director and booked all the performers for the Festivals in 2002 and 2003. This time around, Lyle stayed on the Board for a total of 10 years, including the role of vice-chair and then a 4-year stint as Board Chair.

Just for good measure, Lyle served another 3-year term on the Board in the mid-2010s. Even then, Lyle wasn’t done. In 2022, at the request of the Festival Board, Lyle volunteered to participate on the recruitment committee for a new Executive Director.