Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts Announces the 2026 Project Support Award Winners (Part 2)

Barbara Lemaire, President of the Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts, recently announced the recipients of the 2026 TFVA Project Support Awards.

TFVA committee members chose the following projects after researching and carefully considering many others. These awards provide support funding for visual arts activities within the GTA that demonstrate excellence, originality, creativity and artistic merit.

Congratulations to awardees whose work will impact Torontonians, artists, and the city’s visual arts scene. Since TFVA was formed twenty-eight years ago, they have supported 85+ worthy projects within the GTA.

Founded in 1998, the Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts is an independent, membership based, non-profit organization that promotes knowledge of the visual arts to its members through an extensive education program, and provides support and recognition for artistic achievement to artists and art organizations in the GTA and surrounding area.

TFVA awarded five Project Support Awards this year, and is proud to announce two of the five Project Support Award Recipients:

Magenta Foundation – June Clark: A Legacy in Photos, to support an emerging BIPOC curator to archive and digitize photographer June Clark’s vast negatives, culminating in co-curating a show at the Daniel Faria Gallery and the NIA Centre for the Arts, opening spring 2027.

June Clark: A Legacy in Photos preserves and champions the legacy of June Clark, a seminal Black Canadian female artist. Spanning over 50 years, Clark’s vast archive of black-and-white photography captures the lives of immigrant and racialized communities, Harlem’s cultural vibrancy, and her personal journey.

TFVA will fund the emerging curatorial fellow Abisola Oni, who will work with Daniel Faria from the Daniel Faria Gallery and Alicia Hall for NIA Center for the Arts in the culminating shows of this project. The curator’s responsibilities will include establishing a comprehensive research database and digitizing over 2,000 negatives and contact sheets. This project will modernize and safeguard her body of work, ensuring it remains a vital resource for scholars, artists, and the public.

Magenta Foundation is a non-profit organization and charitable arts publishing house supporting photographers and visual artists.

Website: www.magentafoundation.org
Instagram: @magentafoundation

Photo: June Clark, Magenta Foundation

ArtHeart Community Art Centre – Mobile Arts Program

ArtHeart’s mission is to bring art-making access to the Regent Park community, the site of Canada’s first and largest public housing development, for children, youth, adults, seniors, and families. The Mobile Arts Program will provide free art workshops at Daniels Spectrum, bringing residents together and providing social cohesion. TFVA will fund the community arts facilitators.

Website: www.artheart.ca
Instagram: @artheartto

Photo: Courtesy of ArtHeart Community Art Centre

Our sincere thanks to the 2025-26 Project Support committee for their hard work, and congratulations to all the Project Support Award recipients.

Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts
Contact: Charlotte Durand, externalrelations@tfva.ca
Website: tfva.ca | Instagram: @tfva.ca