Indigenous Artist Award Deadline: Nominations for the Indigenous Artist Award will open in September 2026. About: The Toronto Arts Foundation Indigenous Artist Award is a $20,000 cash prize which celebrates an Indigenous artist or artist collective that has made a recognized contribution to the creative cultural life of Toronto. In addition, the recipient selects an artist mentor/Elder or mentee/protégée to receive $5,000. Established in 2021, the Indigenous Artist Award is presented every other year at the Mayor’s Arts Lunch. The recipient and mentor/Elder or mentee/protégée prize are generously supported by the K.M. Hunter Foundation. In addition to the prize money, the 2025 recipient will receive a complimentary week long stay at Valleyview Artist Retreat. Established in 2021, the recipient and mentor award is supported by K.M. Hunter Foundation. Beginning in 2025, the award will be presented every two years at our Mayor’s Arts Lunch. Eligibility Criteria Individual Artists*: must be Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, Inuit) 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. may self-nominate, however; a letter of support is strongly recommended. undergraduate and college students are not eligible to apply. nominees are not eligible to nominate or receive Toronto Arts Foundation awards while serving on the board member or staff of Toronto Arts Foundation or Toronto Arts Council Collectives*: all members must be Indigenous must be headquartered in Toronto and have a significant portion of its activity taking place in the city undergraduate and college students are not eligible to apply. must have contributed significantly to the arts and culture of Toronto. may self-nominate (for example, a member of the collective may nominate the collective) No person may be selected for more than one Toronto Arts Foundation award within any given year. 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 or a collective for the Indigenous 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 or collective 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: nomination questions (PDF) Selection Procedure: An Award Assessment Panel of up to 10 Indigenous arts community members will review nomination profiles and select a shortlist and recipient recommendation for this award. Toronto Arts Foundation’s Board of Directors will make final determinations. 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; and contribution to the development of arts and culture in Toronto. *Definitions Professional Artist: an individual who is recognized as such by their peers (artists working in the same artistic tradition), who has a history of public presentation, publication and/or production, who is not currently enrolled in an undergraduate or college program, and who is committed to devoting more time to their artistic activity if financially feasible. Collective: Includes at least two or more professional artists. FAQS I’ve logged in to the nomination portal, but I can’t find the Indigenous Artist Award. Am I in the right place? We share our award nomination portal with our affiliate Toronto Arts Council (TAC). If you’ve applied for a TAC grant before, the system will default to your TAC SmartSimple account. If you’d like to nominate someone for a Toronto Arts Foundation Award, you must create a nominator login! Still having trouble? Contact us! I want to be nominated. Can I ask someone to nominate me? Yes! Ask a peer, a trusted colleague, a friend or your mom! You can also self nominate for the Indigenous Artist Award. Should I tell my nominee that I’m nominating them? Yes, we recommend that you tell the nominee that you’re nominating them. When you do this, you can ask for an updated biography/resume, etc. Can multiple people nominate me/my collective for the Indigenous Artist Award? Would it make it more likely that I win? You can definitely have multiple people nominate you/your collective. We advise against nomination campaigns, as it is a bit burdensome for panellists. Multiple nominations don’t necessarily result in a win. What do I actually NEED to prepare before I submit a nomination? Along with the name of the individual/collective you are nominating, the nomination form will also ask for a biography/company description, a nomination rationale, resume, and accompanying support material in the form of visual, audio or text-based attachments, and an optional support letter. Support letters are not optional if you are self-nominating for the Indigenous Artist Award. I’m nominating someone. Am I also supposed to write the letter of support along with the other support material? We suggest that you find another supportive peer/colleague, etc., to write the letter. This may strengthen the nomination. For the Indigenous Artist Award, what does the requirement “must have demonstrated an ongoing association with Toronto” look like? This can mean different things for different people. For example, if you share your living and working time between Toronto and another community or if you do not live in Toronto but continue to collaborate in, produce work in, or present/exhibit in Toronto on a consistent basis over your artistic career, you have “an ongoing association with Toronto.” For the Indigenous Artist Award, what does the requirement “must have contributed significantly to the arts and culture of Toronto” look like? This will largely be determined by the award peer assessment panel. To determine the finalists and recipient of our Awards, we use the peer assessment process. This involves bringing together artist peers (artists working in the same artistic field) to assess award nominations according to the nominees’ artistic strength, achievement and history of public presentation, publication and/or production in Toronto. All of this work contributes to the development of arts and culture in Toronto.