2025 in Review: Read our Annual Report!

February 4, 2026

We are pleased to publish the Hnatyshyn Foundation’s 2025 Annual Report — a document that reflects the Foundation’s commitment to supporting the important role of the arts in Canada, across all disciplines and across all provinces and territories.

Link: Annual Report

Highlights

Across all programs, 32 Canadian artists and curators received direct financial support from the Hnatyshyn Foundation, and two participated in fully-funded on-site residencies.

Eight additional artists received grants in 2025 compared to 2024, with the creation of five Gerda Hnatyshyn Launch Grants and three Saunderson Prize finalists’ prizes.

The Foundation directly invested in the careers of Canadian artists with awards, grants, and residencies totalling over $330,000.

The Foundation hired over 50 arts professionals from all over Canada to serve on the juries that selected this year’s laureates.

“It is a true privilege to be working with staff and board members who have an unflagging dedication to recognizing and advancing the interests of Canadian artists and Canadian culture. I hope that each of you reading this Report can feel, in some meaningful way, the positive impact of the Foundation’s ongoing work. This work seems more important now than it ever has before.”

- Joe Friday, Chair of the Hnatyshyn Foundation

Thank you to all our supporters across the country. Your confidence in the Foundation and the impact of your support are so very much appreciated. And a special thanks to the artists and arts workers whose continuing commitment to their vocation is so vital and so valued.

Reminder

The Foundation is currently accepting nominations for the Gerda Hnatyshyn Launch Grants, the Developing Artist Grants, and the Saunderson Prizes for Emerging Artists.

Details:  https://www.rjhf.com/current-programs

Image credits

Annual report cover: Holly Chang (2025 Saunderson Prize laureate), Garden into Infinity, Exhibition at Blouin Division, 2025. Cyanotypes toned with natural dyes, naturally dyed cotton and silk, batting, glazed ceramics & steel stands. Curated by Laura Carusi. Photo: Darren Rigo. Courtesy of Holly Chang.

Highlight #1, top left to bottom right:

Émilie Camiré-Pecek (2025 Launch Grant laureate), Culture de l’explosion, performance image, 2025. Photo: Jonathan Lorange. Courtesy of Émilie Camiré-Pecek.

Wanning He (2025 Hnatyshyn Foundation – Christa and Franz-Paul Decker Fellowship in Conducting laureate) in performance. Courtesy of Wanning He.

Melia Lin (2025 Joysanne Sidimus Ballet Grant laureate). Courtesy of Canada’s National Ballet School and Melia Lin.

KJ Edwards (2025 DARC Indigenous Residency laureate), Tethers: I Am With You Everywhere, still, 2025. Courtesy of KJ Edwards.

Max Hanic (2025 Launch Grant laureate), Kneeture’s Gift, performance image, 2025 . Photo: Michael Reinhart. Courtesy of Max Hanic.

Highlight #2, top left to bottom right:

Agneya Chikte (2025 Launch Grant laureate). Photo: Ajinkya Chikte. Courtesy of Agneya Chikte.

Haley Bassett (2025 Saunderson Prize finalist), Transience, 2019-2024. Acrylic, oil, thread & vintage seed beads on linen. Courtesy of Norberg Hall and Haley Bassett.

Holly Chang (2025 Saunderson Prize laureate), Ceramic Death Suit, 2024. Ceramic tiles, waxed cord, steel jump rings, cotton cord. Photo: Rafaela Conde. Courtesy of Holly Chang. 

Mallory Lowe Mpoka (2025 Saunderson Prize laureate). Photo: Odeon Davis. Courtesy of Mallory Lowe Mpoka.

Shaharah Gaznabbi (2025 Launch Grant laureate). Photo: Meg Hatfield. Courtesy of Shaharah Gaznabbi.

Highlight #3, top left to bottom right:

Camila Montefusco (2025 Developing Artist Grant laureate). Gala Talent, Atelier lyrique, Opéra de Montréal, 2024. Photo: Tam Photography. Courtesy of Camila Montefusco.

Mathilde Lepage (2025 Developing Artist Grant laureate). Photo: Curtis Perry. Courtesy of Mathilde Lepage.

Eric Liang (2025 Developing Artist Grant laureate). Photo: Averyn Ngan. Courtesy of Eric Liang.

Ricardo B. Beaubrun (2025 Developing Artist Grant laureate). In Vivo : Poésies en scène, 2025, directed by Francine Alepin, assistant director Mélissa Béchard Pelletier. Photo: Patrice Tremblay. Courtesy of Ricardo B. Beaubrun.

Tong Wang (2025 Launch Grant laureate), “Once Upon a Pumpkin” solo recital, 2021. Courtesy of Tong Wang.

Highlight #4, top left to bottom right:

Abbas Akhavan (2025 Mid-Career Award for Excellence in Visual Arts laureate), CAT’S PAW, 2021. Photo: Andy Keate. Courtesy of Catriona Jeffries (Vancouver), The Third Line (Dubai), and Abbas Akhavan.

Dr. Andrea Fatona (2025 Mid-Career Award for Curatorial Excellence laureate). Photo: Bidemi Oloyede. Courtesy of Andrea Fatona.

Shellie Zhang (2025 Saunderson Prize finalist), Can we live here forever? 我们可以一直活在这 里吗?, 2023. Hand-painted bamboo curtain, wire, aluminum alloy, magnets. Photo: Darren Rigo. Courtesy of Shellie Zhang.

Mallory Lowe Mpoka (2025 Saunderson Prize laureate), Architecture of the Self: What Lives With(in) Us, 2021-ongoing. Photo: Alison Postma. Courtesy of Mallory Lowe Mpoka. 

Luther Konadu (2025 Saunderson Prize laureate). Figure as Index, 2019. Archival print. Courtesy of Luther Konadu.