HomeInitiatives Awards Community Arts Award

Celebrating the vital contributions that artists and organizations make in Toronto’s communities

Deadline: Nominations for the Community Arts Award will open in September 2025.  

Access the Full Eligibility Guidelines HERE

About: The Toronto Arts Foundation Community Arts Award is a $10,000 cash prize, with finalists receiving $1,000 each. The award celebrates an individual artist or arts organization or collective that has made a significant contribution in Toronto by working with, in and for communities, while increasing access to arts and culture. Established in 2013 as the Diversity Award, it was renamed the Community Arts Award in 2018. Award eligibility rotates from individuals to organizations or collectives in alternating prize years. In 2025, the award will be presented to an organization or a collective. The recipient and finalist prizes are generously sponsored by MOD Developments Inc.

Eligibility Criteria:

To be eligible for the award, all nominees must demonstrate a commitment and/or focus on community-engaged arts and access to arts and culture in Toronto. The nominee may not be awarded more than one Toronto Arts Foundation award within any given year.

Organizations and Collectives:  

  • must be headquartered in Toronto and have a significant portion of its activity taking place in the city; 
  • must have contributed significantly to the arts and culture of Toronto.  
  • may self-nominate (for example, a staff or board member of the organization or collective may nominate the organization or collective)  

Individuals (the award will be presented next to an individual in 2026):

  • Must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident 
  • Must be a Toronto-based professional artist 
  • Must demonstrate a commitment to or focus on community-engaged arts
  • May only receive the award once (this does not preclude a recipient from being considered for a different Toronto Arts Foundation award in the future)
  • Must not be serving as board or committee members of the Toronto Arts Foundation or Toronto Arts Council
  • (Nominees are welcome to nominate themselves)

 

With the exception of the Newcomer Artist Award, no person or organization may be selected for more than one Toronto Arts Foundation award within any given year and no person or organization 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.

Full Eligibility Guidelines for the 2025 Award (PDF)


How to Apply: To nominate yourself (self-nominations are accepted for this award) or an individual, collective or organization for the Community Arts Award you must,

  • Visit the Toronto Arts Foundation Nomination portal: https://tac.smartsimple.ca/welcome/taf/
  • 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 or organization 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.

For question about the awards and eligibility please contact: 
Liz Tsui, Coordinator, Program Outreach 
liz@torontoarts.org 
416-392-6802 x225

 

PAST RECIPIENTS

Go to Past Recipients to view bios of past Community Arts Award recipients, dating back to 2013.

2024: Anthony Gebrehiwot
2023: R.I.S.E. Edutainment 
2021: Naty Tremblay
2020: Jamii
2019: Collette "Miss Coco" Murray
2018: UrbanArts
2017: Syrus Marcus Ware
2016: Regent Park Film Festival
2013: Mammalian Diving Reflex

2023

Read full bios of all 2023 Breakthrough Artist Award finalists.  

FINALISTS
Jorian Charlton – Portraiture photographer, focusing on Jamaican-Canadian culture through personal and community experiences.
Rammah Mohammad – Singer, songwriter, performer, and vocal coach.
Oluseye Ogunlesi – Nigerian Canadian multidisciplnary artist.

PAST RECIPIENTS