Art Gallery of Guelph announces 2017 Middlebrook Prize for Young Canadian Curators Call for Submissions

The Art Gallery of Guelph (AGG) has launched a call for submissions for the 2017 Middlebrook Prize for Young Canadian Curators. Created in 2013, the prestigious annual prize is given to a Canadian curator under 30. Emerging curators have until April 9, 2017 to submit innovative proposals for an exhibition that will be presented at the Art Gallery of Guelph from September 14 to December 17, 2017. A $5,000 prize is also awarded to the winner, to be announced on May 1, 2017. By supporting and mobilizing Canadian creative talent, the Middlebrook Prize aims to inspire positive social change through creativity in an era of ongoing and unprecedented economic, environmental, social, and cultural challenges.

This year’s curatorial jury is composed of Nancy Campbell, independent curator and writer on contemporary and Inuit art (Toronto), Natasha Chaykowski, 2014 Middlebrook Prize Recipient (with Alison Cooley) and Director, Untitled Art Society (Calgary), and Rhéanne Chartrand, Aboriginal Curatorial Resident, McMaster Museum of Art (Hamilton).

The Middlebrook Prize plays an significant role within the arts sector in Canada. “The Middlebrook Prize is unique in that it focuses support and attention on young professionals at a critical point in their careers,” says Prize co-founder John Kissick. “The applicants, all under 30 years of age, are among the country’s best and the brightest young curators, scholars and artists.” The Prize also advances the Art Gallery of Guelph’s vision, suggests AGG Director Shauna McCabe: “The Middlebrook Prize enables the gallery to serve as a unique catalyst within the wider art ecology, offering an important space for curators to explore the inseparability of art. community engagement and social innovation.”

For more information and submission guidelines please visit bit.do/middlebrook or contact info@artgalleryofguelph.ca. The Middlebrook Prize for Young Canadian Curators is funded by the Centre Wellington Community Foundation’s Middlebrook Social Innovation Fund, The Guelph Community Foundation: Musagetes Fund, and by private donations. For more information regarding past Middlebrook Prize recipients, please visit: http://middlebrookprize.ca/winners/.