The National Gallery of Canada (NGC) invites nominations of small-scale artists-run centres and community-focused galleries from cities and towns across Canada for the 2025 Lacey Prize. The biennial honour recognizes the essential contributions of these art organizations to the vitality of Canada’s visual arts sector, providing financial assistance to support them in fulfilling their mission.
The first-place winner will receive $50,000 and two runners-up will each receive $20,000. The deadline to submit nominations is Sunday, October 12, 2025, at 6 p.m. EST. The Lacey Prize is now in its fourth edition since its inception in 2019.
Nominators can be any member of the visual arts community (including artists, curators, critics, professors, dealers, students, programmers, administrators, board members, organizations, etc.) who are not directly involved with the organization being nominated at the time of the nomination.
The Lacey Prize celebrates artist-run centres and spaces and the remarkable work they do in championing visual arts in Canada, such as their commitment to emerging, innovative and experimental practices. It also recognizes the crucial role they play within their local communities while extending their reach nationally and beyond, fostering advancement in contemporary art. The three winners will be selected by an independent jury and announced in November 2025.
The Lacey Prize also cultivates a more active relationship between these centres and the NGC, with a contemporary art curator travelling from Ottawa to visit the winning centre and local artists. It is funded through a gift by Dr. John Lacey and his late wife Naomi, and supported by the National Gallery of Canada Foundation.
Previous Lacey Prize recipients
Union House Arts, located in Port Union, Newfoundland and Labrador, was the recipient of the Lacey Prize in 2023. C’cap (previously known as Blinkers Art and Project Space), located on the land space marked as Treaty One Territory also known as Winnipeg, in Manitoba, was the winner of the 2021 edition. Hamilton Artists Inc., located in Hamilton, Ontario, and known as “The Inc.”, was the recipient of the inaugural Lacey Prize in 2019.
Did you know? There are more than 180 artists-run centres in the visual and media arts, contemporary craft and architecture throughout Canada.
How to apply
For additional details about the nomination process and to download the nomination form, visit gallery.ca. No self-nominations will be accepted.