2026 Cultural Leaders Legacy Arts Awards Recipients
Calgary Arts Development and the Office of the Mayor welcomed approximately 900 people from Calgary’s business and arts communities to the 2026 Celebration for the Arts hosted by Mayor Farkas on May 4, 2026 at the Werklund Centre’s Jack Singer Concert Hall.
“It’s a thrill to host my first Celebration of the Arts,” says Mayor Jeromy Farkas. “Tonight, we celebrate the people who bring our city to life and we commit to backing them. As Calgary moves toward two million people, we cannot afford to leave this industry on the sidelines. The arts create jobs, attract investment and drive growth. They also build belonging, confidence and real opportunity across our city.”
“We’re excited every year to gather the community together for a festive evening celebrating the arts,” says Patti Pon, President & CEO of Calgary Arts Development. “We thank Mayor Farkas for hosting and extend our gratitude to all the event sponsors and benefactors of the 2026 Cultural Leaders Legacy Arts Awards. We congratulate all the nominees and recipients of this year’s awards.”
The onstage celebration included a showcase of performances by a variety of artists and arts groups from our community. It also recognized recipients of this year’s Cultural Leaders Legacy Arts Awards. A legacy of Calgary’s year as a Cultural Capital of Canada, each award is funded by a contribution from a local philanthropist or organization. These awards are $5,000 cash prizes that support artists or arts organizations in seven categories, with the Youth Artist Award award providing $2,500 each to two recipients.
The 2026 awards categories and recipients are:
ATB Powering Possibility Through the Arts Award
The ATB Powering Possibility Through the Arts Award recognizes and supports small to mid-sized organizations that are committed to enriching Calgary through arts programming that powers possibility for the local creative community.
The Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth (USAY) receives this award for supporting Ozzy Eagle Jr., Courtney Gouchey, Chassidy Daniels and Tamia Spotted Bull to create Twilight Celebrations, an Indigenous youth digital arts initiative in collaboration with EMMEDIA and Quickdraw Animation Society.
Rozsa Foundation Emerging Arts Manager Award
The Rozsa Foundation Emerging Arts Manager Award recognizes and encourages the role of emerging professional arts managers who are dedicating their careers to promoting and supporting the work of Calgary’s artists, arts collectives and arts organizations. Given the complexity of the challenges they face, the work of these arts managers needs to be as creative as the artists and organizations they work with. The recipient also receives no-cost entry into the Rozsa Arts Management Program (RAMP). This year there are two recipients for this award.
Virginia Sparvier-Wells (formerly Jessica McMann) has made tremendous contributions to the Treaty 7 arts community through her work with the Indigenous Public Art Program with The City of Calgary.
Yilu Xing, Education Program Manager at Contemporary Calgary, is responsible for creating engaging contemporary art learning experiences for children, youth and adults. She contributes to the broader Calgary community through her robust artistic practice and mentorship.
Mamdani Arts Leadership Award
The Mamdani Arts Leadership Award recognizes and rewards the integral role of volunteer board members who lend their expertise, talent and time to supporting the work of arts organizations and festivals that make Calgary a vibrant and creative city. This award honours an arts volunteer board member who goes above and beyond to support the logistics, programming, operations and/or culture of the organization(s) they choose to support.
Aditya Chaudhuri exemplifies the statement:
A sustainable and thriving artistic community requires those who can walk both the path of the artist and that of administrator with authenticity and compassion.
The Legacy of Doug and Lois Mitchell Outstanding Calgary Artist Award
The Legacy of Doug and Lois Mitchell Outstanding Calgary Artist Award honours artists who are lauded for their work and choose to make Calgary their home. Regardless of career length these artists are acknowledged by their peers around the world for the calibre of their work and their contributions to the arts. They are innovators who have significantly enriched artistic discourse in Canada. The winner of this award receives a one-week, self-directed residency in Banff Centre’s Leighton Artist Studios.
Eric Rose creates theatre from the improbably: lightning strikes, sound baths, wrestling rings and silence, shaping bold devised works that expand artistic possibility while mentoring artists and championing Calgary on international stages.
Indigenous Artist Award sponsored by TD Bank Group
Sponsored by TD Bank Group, the Indigenous Artist Award was established in 2020 in partnership with the Calgary Public Library’s residency program to recognize the contribution of Indigenous artists, craftspeople and Knowledge Keepers to Calgary. In response to the calls of action in The City of Calgary’s White Goose Flying report, the award seeks to honour Indigenous cultures and to promote intercultural understanding, perspective-taking and communication between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. The winner of this award receives a paid residency courtesy of Calgary Public Library.
Darren Weaselchild, a Siksika Nation member and Red Seal Journeyman Painter, strengthens communities through cultural advocacy, youth mentorship and trauma-informed programming. Blending art with Blackfoot teachings, Darren supports Indigenous youth, leads cross-cultural initiatives and collaborates with regional partners to foster belonging, healing and unity across Treaty 7.
Calgary Catholic Immigration Society New Canadian Artist Award
The Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS) New Canadian Artist Award recognizes that artists from all parts of the world enrich Calgary’s arts sector. This award supports an individual artist whose cultural background and relatively recent arrival to Canada result in communication challenges, difficulties in transferring relevant credentials and isolation from Calgary’s arts community. The award intends to help these artists pursue their artistic work and connect with the institutions and support networks that are available to all Calgary artists. The winner of this award will also receives a paid residency courtesy of Calgary Public Library.
Maedeh Mosaverzadeh contributes to Calgary’s arts community through animation, illustration and education, and is committed to environmental storytelling that inspires public awareness, creativity and community engagement.
Calgary Arts Academy Youth Arts Awards Visual and/or Media Arts & Performance and/or Literature
The Calgary Arts Academy Youth Arts Awards recognize the impact young artists have in our community through work that inspires spirited citizenship: belonging, mastery (e.g. learning/self-defines success), independence and generosity.
Thea Galang (Visual and/or Media Arts) is an interdisciplinary artist and community leader whose work offers an impactful exploration of Filipino identity, migration and belonging.
Sebastián (Performance and/or Literary) has, since arriving from Colombia in 2025, accomplished remarkable artistic growth, performing across Calgary’s vital cultural spaces while embodying Circle of Courage values of belonging, mastery, independence and generosity.
Learn more about the Cultural Leaders Legacy Arts Awards here. Thank you to all the benefactors whose generosity makes these awards possible. We also recognize the generous contributions of Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and Calgary Public Library for their artist residency support.
This Celebration for the Arts is made possible through the support of Champion Partner Rozsa Foundation; Artist Showcase Partner Calgary Foundation; Venue Partner Werklund Centre; Lobby Activation Sponsor Tourism Calgary; Ticket Accessibility Sponsor Bird Creatives; Event Accessibility Sponsor Calgary TELUS Convention Centre, VIP Sponsors Calgary Economic Development and Calgary Hotel Association; and Arts Patrons Alberta Blue Cross, Calgary Downtown Association, Calgary Marriott Downtown, CMLC and DIALOG.
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