The Canada Council for the Arts Announces the 2024 Winners of the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts

Ottawa, March 6, 2024 – The Canada Council for the Arts today revealed the names of the 2024 winners of the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts (GGArts). This year, eight individuals are being honoured in recognition of their exceptional careers and remarkable contributions to visual arts, media arts and fine crafts.

Each of the winners, chosen by peer assessment committees, will receive a $25,000 prize and a bronze medallion. In addition, artistic video portraits of the winners have been created by professional filmmakers from Canada.

2024 GGArts winners   

Saidye Bronfman Award

• Louise Lemieux Bérubé, fine craft artist (Montréal, Quebec)  

Outstanding Contribution Award

• Michelle Jacques, curator (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan)

Artistic Achievement Awards

• Shuvinai Ashoona, visual artist (Kinngait, Nunavut)
• Barbara Astman, visual artist (Toronto, Ontario)
• Dominique Blain, visual artist (Montréal, Quebec)
• Marjorie Beaucage, creative documentary filmmaker (Duck Lake, Saskatchewan)
• Don Ritter, visual, sound and media artist (Montréal, Quebec)
• Greg Staats, visual artist (Toronto, Ontario)

2024 peer assessment committee members

Saidye Bronfman Award

• Lisa Hageman Yahgujanaas, fibre artist (Massett, British Columbia)
• Susan Low-Beer, ceramic and multimedia sculptor (Toronto, Ontario)
• Thierry Plante-Dubé, Chief Executive Officer for Centre Materia, the Maison des métiers d’art de Québec (MMAQ) and the Institut québécois d’ébénisterie (IQE) (Québec City, Quebec)

Artistic Achievement Award and Outstanding Contribution Award

• Mario Doucette, visual artist (Moncton, New Brunswick)
• Dominique Fontaine, curator (Montréal, Quebec)
• Kay Higgins, artist and cultural worker (Vancouver, British Columbia)
• Kevin McKenzie, visual artist and assistant professor at Brandon University (Brandon, Manitoba)
• Midi Onodera, moving image artist (Toronto, Ontario)

The Awards

Saidye Bronfman Award

Established by the Bronfman family in 1977, the Saidye Bronfman Award is the most prestigious distinction in fine crafts in Canada. Every year, the Canadian Museum of History acquires either a single work or a series of works by the winner. 

Outstanding Contribution Award

The Outstanding Contribution Award is given to an individual or a group of individuals who have made an exceptional contribution to visual arts, media arts or fine crafts in a volunteer or professional capacity.

Artistic Achievement Awards

The Artistic Achievement Awards are given to artists in recognition of their body of work. It honours their contribution to contemporary visual or media arts.

Partners

Video portraits

You can now watch original video portraits of each of the winners. These short portraits were commissioned by the Canada Council for the Arts in partnership with the Independent Media Arts Alliance and created by filmmakers from Canada.

Exhibition of the works

The Canada Council for the Arts is pleased to partner with the National Gallery of Canada in celebrating visual and media arts and artists. The Gallery will present an exhibition to showcase the work of the 2024 GGArts winners.

About the Canada Council for the Arts

The Canada Council for the Arts is Canada’s public arts funder. The mandate of the Canada Council is to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts.

The Canada Council’s Art Bank operates art rental programs and helps further public engagement with contemporary art through exhibition and outreach activities.

The Canada Council’s investments foster greater engagement in the arts among international audiences and within Canada. This contributes to the vibrancy of a creative and diverse arts and literary scene and supports the presence of this scene across Canada and around the world.

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