Deadline: Nominations for the Breakthrough Artist Award will open in September 2025.

About: The Toronto Arts Foundation Breakthrough Artist Award is a $10,000 cash prize, with finalists receiving $2,000 each. The award celebrates the accomplishments and future potential of an emerging Toronto artist working in any  discipline, and is intended to support the development or completion of new work. Established in 2006 as the Emerging Artist Award, it was renamed the Breakthrough Artist Award in 2021 and the age restriction for finalists was removed. The award is generously supported by The Azrieli Foundation. The Breakthrough Artist Award is presented every year at the Mayor’s Arts Lunch. 

A note about the Breakthrough Artist Award: After careful review, Toronto Arts Foundation has removed the age restriction for the Breakthrough Artist Award (formerly the Emerging Artists Award). The lifting of the age restriction reflects feedback from the Toronto arts community and is intended to reduce systemic barriers that disenfranchise BIPOC artists, artists from the 2SLGBTQIAP communities, as well as artists who identify as Deaf, disabled, and/or living with mental illness. This change brings the Breakthrough Artist Award in line with other prizes and awards, which have recently removed age restrictions, including the Turner Prize in the UK, The Sobey Art Award, and the Writers’ Trust of Canada’s RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers.  The intention of the award has not changed, and by removing the age restriction Toronto Arts Foundation is committing to the understanding that a career breakthrough can happen at any age. For more information about eligibility criteria for this award please contact Christy DiFelice, Award Program Manager, by email at christy[at]torontoartscouncil[dot]org

Eligibility Criteria

Individuals:

• must have demonstrated an ongoing association with Toronto
• must have contributed significantly to the arts and culture of Toronto
• must be living at time of selection;
• must be an artist in the early stages of their professional career who has produced a small body of work and achieved some local recognition and/or has limited public exhibition experience;
• should have between 2 and 7 years of independent arts practice in their nominated discipline;
• must have completed training (not necessarily at a formal educational institution) in their discipline;
• undergraduate and college students are not eligible to apply.
• are not eligible to nominate or receive Toronto Arts Foundation awards while serving as an executive board member or staff of Toronto Arts Foundation or Toronto Arts Council

With the exception of the Newcomer Artist Award, no person may be selected for more than one Toronto Arts Foundation award within any given year and no person may receive the same Toronto Arts Foundation award twice. This does not preclude a recipient from being considered for a different Toronto Arts Foundation award in the future.

How to Apply

To nominate an individual for the Breakthough Artist Award you must,

• Visit the Toronto Arts Foundation Nomination portal
• Register an account on the Toronto Arts Foundation Nomination portal or sign in to your existing account
• Submit the nomination online, complete with supporting material

Notes:

Along with the name of the individual you are nominating, the nomination form will also ask for a biography, a nomination rationale, and accompanying support material in the form of visual, audio or text-based attachments.

Nominators can save their application at any time before submission by clicking ‘Save Draft’. Nominators can log-in and out of the Toronto Arts Foundation Nomination portal as many times as needed before clicking ‘Submit’.

* Please ensure you are on/ register through the Toronto Arts Foundation Nomination portal and not Toronto Arts Council’s TAC Grants Online.

Curious about the info/questions you’ll be asked when filling out the nomination? Check out this handy guide: 

Selection Procedure

An award panel of up to 10 assessors selected by the Award Manager will review nominations and  recommend a shortlist and a recipient for final approval by Toronto Arts Foundation’s Board of  Directors. Participants in each panel include practitioners of the arts, organizers, programmers,  producers, curators, critics, commentators and lay specialists. Panelists must have recognized  expertise, credibility, and experience along with a sense of history and perspective.

This award is presented in recognition of a body of creative accomplishment, rather than for specific works or achievements. In addition to specific requirements for each award, deliberations will be guided by the following assessment criteria: artistic strength and achievement; strength of the candidate’s artistic goals and objectives; contribution to the development of arts and culture in Toronto; and the candidate’s overall public impact including public engagement and animation.