St. Catharines celebrates its 2026 Arts Awards recipients

The City of St. Catharines celebrated arts and culture excellence and recognized the accomplishments and contributions of the community last week at the 2026 St. Catharines Arts Awards.

St. Catharines announced its 2026 Arts Awards recipients during a special event at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. The night opened with a welcoming from Karl Dockstader and a poetry reading by Shannon Kitchings, the City’s Poet Laureate and cultural ambassador. Attendees were also treated to an interactive art activity lead by Julia Blushak.

“This is a night where we celebrate, congratulate and offer thanks to our nominees and Arts Awards recipients,” said Mayor Mat Siscoe. “Your accomplishments have done so much to strengthen our community and have brought us great pride and so much joy.

“The artistic talent here continues to grow our cultural sector and make St. Catharines the vibrant centre of culture in the Niagara region.”

The 2026 St. Catharines Arts Awards winners are:

• 2026 Arts in Education Award
  Mike Griffin
• 2026 Emerging Artist Award
  Kosar Dakhilalian
• 2026 Established Artist Award
  Jon Shaw
• 2026 Patron of the Arts Award
  Anne and John Carruthers
• 2026 Jury's Pick Award
  Nicole Joy-Fraser
• 2026 Making a Difference Award
  Dienye Waboso Amajor

Earlier this year, the City invited the community to submit nominations to any Arts Award category and received close to 30 nominations. A jury reflecting the diversity of St. Catharines’ arts community reviewed all nominations to create the short list of 28 finalists and to select the 2026 Arts Awards recipients.

Since 2005, the City has celebrated more than 80 artists, businesses, individuals and organizations with Arts Awards who have demonstrated excellence in artistic creation and contribution to the arts in St. Catharines.

Learn more about the St. Catharines Arts Awards on our website.