The James Buller Awards is the only award of its kind in North America that is presented to recognize the skills and dedication to theatre, film and television made by Aboriginal persons and organizations. Each Nominee will have demonstrated a commitment to the development and advancement of Aboriginal theatre arts and its forms. In the Advancement of Aboriginal Theatre category, nominations are reserved for those individual or organizations whose work has significantly raised the profile of Aboriginal Theatre in North America or has had a ground breaking influence in the field. Nominations for this category will be collected and sent to the Advisory Council of The Centre for Indigenous Theatre who will make selection of the recipient. This award will be presented to an individual or an organization only when deemed necessary.
Nominations are open to the general public.
All nominations are taken to the James Buller Awards Co-ordinator for calculation of the top 3 nominations in each category for the final ballot. The final ballots are then sent out to the membership of The Centre for Indigenous Theatre to vote on the recipients of that year's James Buller Award. Over the years Marrie has worked with a number of organizations in Canada. Marrie also holds the distinction of being the first Aboriginal person to teach in the Theatre Department of the University of Toronto. Currently Marrie is the Director of Aboriginal Arts Programs at The Banff Centre for the Arts where she founded the Aboriginal Dance Project.