Annie Pootoogook, winner of 2006 Sobey Art Award.
The National Gallery of Canada is taking over as the organizing institution of the Sobey Art Award, generally regarded as the country's most prestigious prize for contemporary artists 40 years old and under.
The change, announced Wednesday, takes effect for the 2016 edition of the annual prize. Previously, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax was the organizing institution. Funding for the award will still be provided by the Sobey Art Foundation, whose chair, Rob Sobey, said in a prepared statement the new deal with the NGC will "build on [the prize's] significance and elevate Canadian contemporary art across the country and around the world."
The structure of the prize is to remain the same , but with Josée Drouin-Brisebois, the NGC's senior curator of contemporary art, as permanent jury chair and the annual exhibition of works by the five finalists alternating each fall between the NGC in Ottawa and art institutions across the country. Drouin-Brisebois was a guest member of the 2015 curatorial panel.
Founded in 2002, the Sobey awards $50,000 to a winning artist each year, with $10,000 to each of the other four finalists. The short list of five is culled by a jury from a long list of 25 usually announced each April. Previous Sobey Art Award winners include Annie Pootoogook, David Altmejd, Nadia Myre and Raphaëlle de Groot.