• Grow North Awards 2026

  • Awards Guidelines & Application Form

    Learn about the award categories, eligibility, criteria and how to apply.

  • The Grow North Awards (GNA) acknowledge the significant contribution that North York based artists make to the vibrancy, arts and culture of the North York community. This awards competition offers the opportunity to receive city-wide recognition from a jury of artistic visionaries.

    The Awards recognize emerging, established, and community artists in North York and spotlight their contributions to the community and their respective disciplines. Our goal is to highlight the achievements of these artists and to build our local community’s appreciation for the art that is being created in North York.

    The Grow North Awards are dedicated specifically to artists based in North York from a variety of disciplines including, but not limited to: Indigenous arts, Disability arts, literature, film, media, multi and inter-arts, dance, music, theatre, and visual arts.

    Please note that these awards are self-nomination only. Artists can submit to one of the following award categories:


    Emerging Artist Award:
    The Emerging Artist Award aims to celebrate the achievements and artistic merit of a rising North York artist in any field. This award not only honors the past achievements of the artist but also champions the future potential of their work. The artists must have at least 2 years of an independent arts practice. The artists must be in the early stages of their career with a brief history of public presentation of their work. This award is a $1,000 prize.


    Established Artist Award:
    The Established Artist Award honors a professional artist who has been creating and showing their work for an extended period. Their work has made a significant impact on arts and culture in North York, and the artist has established themselves as an artistic staple in the local arts community. This award is a $2,000 prize.


    Community Arts Award:
    The Community Arts Award celebrates an individual or collective that has impacted North York communities through their creative programming. The work of this individual or collective will have increased public access to art and contributed to local appreciation for the respective artform. The artist or collective must have a clear history of demonstrated commitment to community engagement through the arts. This award is a $1,000 prize.

     

    Awards Eligibility Requirements:

    • Be an individual artist or unincorporated group/collective based in North York.
      • For groups/collectives: at least 50% of the group/collective must be a resident of North York and they must be the one applying on behalf of the group/collective
    • **Be a qualified artist
      • Definition: A qualified artist is someone who is over the age of 18 and has developed their craft through formal training and/or equivalent practice; actively practices and pursues their art; must seek payment for their work; and has a history of public presentation of their work.
    • Must have contributed significantly to the arts and culture of North York
    • Be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada
    • Have a Canadian bank account
    • Applicants cannot be students enrolled in post-secondary education
    • Past North York Arts microgrant recipients, awards honourable mentions, and applicants are eligible to apply for these Awards

    We recognize that tools like ChatGPT and other AI platforms can be powerful resources for improving accessibility and helping applicants organize and clarify their ideas. These tools can support your process—but we encourage you to use your own authentic voice when completing this application. The jury is eager to get to know you—your perspective, your experiences, and your work. While AI-generated content can be helpful, it can also unintentionally create distance between the applicant and the reader. We value sincerity, individuality, and personal insight, and these are best conveyed in your own words.

     

    Where is “North York”?

    North York Arts defines North York as the following Wards & postal codes:
    6-York Centre
    8-Eglinton-Lawrence
    15-Don Valley West
    16-Don Valley East
    17-Don Valley North
    18-Willowdale
    and M3N and M3J postal codes

    • Historically, North York included M3N and M3J postal codes, but now they fall under the Community Council of Etobicoke. We wish to honor the relationships we have built while this part of the city was previously served by North York Arts.
      You can check if you reside in these Wards by visiting this link.

     

    Your application must include:

    • Samples of past works
      • Important: All submitted materials combined should take no more than 5 minutes to review. This includes time spent watching, reading, or listening.
    • Your CV
    • 2 professional references
    • A 2-page cover letter that explains:
      • Your artistic history and achievements
        • Tell us about your past projects and their impacts
        • Describe any future projects you have on the horizon and the rationale behind them
        • Feel free to share whatever you’d like about your journey as an artist
      • Your artistic practice
        • What inspires your work?
        • What makes your work unique?
        • What are your goals as an artist?
      • Rationale for applying
        • What interests you about this award?
        • How has your work contributed to the vibrancy and inclusivity of the North York community?

    ***The cover letter can also be presented in the format of a video or audio recording (3 minutes max)

    The primary criteria for assessing the submissions will be:

    • The impact of your past art worksd on arts and culture in North York
    • The artistic merit of your practice and past art works
    • The strength of your artistic goals and future projects
    • The overall contribution of your work to community building and/or community activation through the arts
    • The rubric can be found here

    Juried award review process:

    • Award applications will be reviewed by a jury of professional artistic peers and North York Arts representatives
    • Award recipients will be notified in Mid-November
    • Award recipients will be publicly recognized on North York Arts’ platforms and other media outlets
    • Note: NYA will NOT be providing feedback on submissions

    Accessibility Support

    If you require accessibility assistance to complete this application, please get in touch with our Program Lead, Declan David by October 29th: programs@northyorkarts.org

    If you would like more information on the Grow North Awards or to have the opportunity to ask any questions, North York Arts will be hosting an information session on October 21st at 6pm (EST). For more information visit our website.

    We would like to thank Northcrest Developments, Toronto Arts Foundation, To Live, and North York Arts Programming Committee for their support and feedback in the creation of this program.

    SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Friday, November 6th at 5pm

  • Artist Information

  • Which award are you submitting for?*
  • Are you applying as an individual or collective?*

  • Submission Materials

  • Your application must include:

    • Samples of past works
      • Important: All submitted materials combined should take no more than 5 minutes to review. This includes time spent watching, reading, or listening.
    • Your CV
    • 2 professional references
    • A 2-page cover letter that explains:
      • Your artistic history and achievements
        • Tell us about your past projects and their impacts.
        • Describe any future projects you have on the horizon and the rationale behind them
        • Feel free to share whatever you’d like about your journey as an artist.
      • Your artistic practice
        • What inspires your work?
        • What makes your work unique?
        • What are your goals as an artist?
      • Rationale for applying
        • What interests you about this award?
        • How has your work contributed to the vibrancy and inclusivity of the North York community?

    ***The cover letter can also be presented in the format of a video or audio recording (3 minutes max)

    We recognize that tools like ChatGPT and other AI platforms can be powerful resources for improving accessibility and helping applicants organize and clarify their ideas. These tools can support your process—but we encourage you to use your own authentic voice when completing this application. The jury is eager to get to know you—your perspective, your experiences, and your work. While AI-generated content can be helpful, it can also unintentionally create distance between the applicant and the reader. We value sincerity, individuality, and personal insight, and these are best conveyed in your own words.

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  • Data Collection

    North York Arts is strongly committed to equity and inclusion in our programs. With this in mind, we have set out specific programming goals in our strategic plan to better serve our communities. We want to prioritize allocating funding to members of communities that have been historically marginalized. To ensure that we do so, we are collecting data on how our participants self-identify. This is completely optional but we appreciate your input. That being said, we also understand that some artists may feel pressure to relate their applications back to the hardships of their marginalization, if that is not something that is true to your work or don’t want to share,, please do not feel obligated to include that information. We don’t want this process to feel like an exploitation of identity, rather we want you to feel uplifted and supported during this process.
  • Gender Identity (select all that apply)
  • Ethnicity & Race (select all that apply) If you’re comfortable, we encourage you to be specific about how you identify, this helps North York Arts better serve our communities
  • Are you a Immigrant, Newcomer, or Refugee to Canada? (select all that apply)
  • Do you identify as part of the 2SLGBTQ+ community?
  • Do you identify as part of the Deaf and Disabled community?

  • Feedback

  • Outreach Questions

  • How did you hear about this program?
  • Did you know about North York Arts before this program?

  • Personal Information and Privacy Act (PIPA) Statement

    We collect only the personal information that we need for the purposes of providing services to our clients.  We protect personal information in a manner appropriate for the sensitivity of the information. We make every reasonable effort to prevent any loss, misuse, disclosure or modification of personal information, as well as any unauthorized access to personal information

  • Applicant Declaration

  • By checking the box below:

    I confirm that the information I have provided in this submission for the 2025 Grow North Awards is true, accurate and complete in every respect.

    I understand that providing false information may result in the termination of my submission, the inability to apply to NYA granting programs in the future, and/or legal liability to me and/or the members of the group on whose behalf I am submitting this application.

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