Arts Culture and Heritage Award Program
The City of Oshawa is proud to celebrate the individuals, collectives and organizations that contribute to making Oshawa a great place to live, work and play. Two award programs, the Community Legends Award and the Oshawa Culture Counts Awards, are awarded each spring annually.
Community Legends Award
Each year, a Community Legend Award recipient is selected and recognized by Oshawa City Council. In addition, a temporary display will be available at the Delpark Homes Centre, along with a permanent plaque.
Eligibility
The Community Legends Award recognizes a person of any age or an organization/group who:
- made a significant contribution to an activity, sport or community initiative as a volunteer
- contributed to improving the quality of life of the Oshawa community
- made a significant impact on the Oshawa community at a grassroots level through arts and culture, sports or community initiatives
Review Process
Nominations for the Community Legends Award will be reviewed and selected by the Community Services Committee for recommendation to Council for final approval.
Previous Recipients |
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Culture Counts Awards
The Oshawa Culture Counts Awards celebrate and honour the creative and cultural achievements of the community in three categories:
- Oshawa Culture Counts Professional Artist
- Oshawa Culture Counts Emerging Artist
- Innovation and Creation Champion Award
Selected recipients are acknowledged at a City Council meeting in the spring.
Work Sample Submission Criteria
- Visual, Fine Craft, Multimedia: Include up to five images. All images must be in JPEG format, no larger than 2 MB each. Please include an image list containing the title, dimensions, and date of the artwork.
- Music – performances, technical, or production (all genres): Include up to two songs as a web link to YouTube videos, Soundcloud files, etc.; if an album is submitted, please note two songs you would like the Jury to listen to and for all include appropriate production credits, such as the publisher and performance dates.
- Theatre, Performance, Dance: Include five minutes of a recent work via web link. Please cue media to the starting time, and include appropriate production credits such as the director, writer, and performance dates.
- Writing: Include up to two samples of current work (Word/PDF), no more than ten pages. Please include appropriate production credits, such as the date, publisher, and editor. Please note any passages you would like the Jury to read.
- For an organization or collective, please provide work samples that support the nomination. This could be a web link to the website with notes on the areas you would like the Jury to focus on or PDF/Word files of brochures or other marketing materials explaining the organization's impact.
Eligibility
- Applicants and nominees must be current or former residents of the City of Oshawa, work in the City of Oshawa, or collaborate with an Oshawa-based organization
- An applicant or nominee may be the recipient of only one award per year
- City of Oshawa staff are not eligible for an award but may nominate individuals
- An individual cannot be nominated posthumously
Review Process
Nominations for the Culture Counts Awards will be peer-reviewed and selected by a subcommittee of the Cultural Leadership Council.
For each category noted above, City staff will develop an evaluation matrix and guideline for assessing the recipient of the awards.
Applicants will be required to demonstrate their artistic merit, critical acknowledgement of the work/ initiative, evidence of recognition by the local community, and describe their career path/ organizational background and association to the arts discipline/ initiative.
Oshawa Culture Counts Award: Professional Artist
This award recognizes an established artist of any arts discipline (including performing, visual, cinematic, design, architecture and literary arts) who has demonstrated creativity, originality, professional maturity and artistic leadership in the community.
The following criteria will be used to select the award recipient:
- Artistic merit / interest
- Critical acknowledgments of the artist's work (e.g. exhibition/performance opportunities, publications, reviews, articles, etc.)
- Recognition by local arts community
2022 Recipient |
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Margaret Rodgers Margaret Rodgers has been a leader in the contemporary art community of Durham Region since the 1990s. She is an artist, writer and curator. She was founder of The IRIS Group, taught at Durham and Centennial Colleges, and was Director/Curator at Visual Arts Centre of Clarington. In 2014, Margaret had an exhibit at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery (RMG), Close Ups, which featured photographs from the Thomas Bouckley Collection. Her latest body of work Crosswords, in 2021, explores feminist theory and socio-political issues. Margaret’s artwork has been exhibited in various galleries and her work can be found in public and private collections. Since, 1996 IRIS, a collective of women artists living in the Durham Region has been a forum to share ideas, offer mutual support, and develop community outreach projects dedicated to women’s causes. In 2014, IRIS was the recipient of a City of Oshawa ArtsVests grant program to create links between business and art organizations. In 2015, Margaret and fellow IRIS members developed a community garden project with YWCA residents in Oshawa. |
Previous Recipients |
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Oshawa Culture Counts Award: Emerging Artist
This award recognizes an artist in the early stages of their career in any arts discipline (including performing, visual, cinematic, design, architecture and literary arts) who is skilled and determined to advance their artistic capabilities. This individual understands the value of their gift within the community, and leverages these skills to inspire and enrich the lives of fellow citizens.
The individual must be between 12 to 30 years or have begun their artistic practice within the past five years.
The following criteria will be used to select the award recipient:
- Artistic merit / interest
- Evidence of commitment to artistic practice
- Career path in an artistic discipline
- Critical acknowledgments of the artist's work (i.e., exhibition/performance opportunities, publications, reviews, articles, etc.) (see above comment)
- Recognition by the local arts community
2022 Recipient |
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Bolu Adefemi Bolu is a Canadian singer/songwriter based in Oshawa who emerged as an important new artist. Her internationally acclaimed song “Make It Right”, is a powerful call to action about social injustices. Shortly after performing her song publicly for the first time, Bolu was performing it for media nationwide and around the world. Bolu is already a world changer. This impactful young woman continues to use her voice, determination and many talents to make positive impacts on the world. Bolu was honoured with the Universal Women’s Network Youth award and became their 2020 Youth Ambassador. Also, in 2020, she received the Zimbabwe Young Achievers Award. |
Previous Recipients |
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Innovation and Creation Champion
This award honours an individual, collective and/or organization in the creative and cultural industries who has created or enhanced an event, product, program or partnership in the past year. In addition, the award recognizes work that is unique, transformative, and positive in its impact on arts, culture, and heritage in Oshawa.
The following criteria will be used to select the award recipient:
- The level of creativity and innovation of the event, product, program or partnership
- The community impact of the event, product, program or partnership
- Notable achievements relevant to event, product, program or partnership
2022 Recipient |
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Oshawa Museum For over 60 years, the Oshawa Museum (OM) has celebrated the history of Oshawa with engaging events, inspiring exhibitions, and an immense collection of archival materials. Nestled on the shores of Lake Ontario, in beautiful Lakeview Park, the OM shares the story of Oshawa from Indigenous inhabitants to present day. The OM is managed by the Oshawa Historical Society. The OM strives to tell a more inclusive history of the community, one that includes people, places, and events that have not been included in previous local histories. In the fall of 2021, the OM developed a video project, highlighting the rich Hanukkah celebrations as told by members of Oshawa’s Jewish community. The OM partnered with Empty Cup Media, an award winning Oshawa based film company, to film and produce a ‘microdoc’, “Traditions & Celebrations: The Story of Oshawa’s Jewish Community”. The research used in this project will be included in a new book on local history that the staff of the Museum are currently researching and writing. The focus of this book, expected in 2024, is to tell the stories that were unwritten and untold previously. |
Previous Recipients |
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