An artist who created a monumental garden rooted in memories; a filmmaker who told the story of a barrier-breaking hockey player; a writer who took a playful look at stock photography; and a musician whose record explores ambition, love, nostalgia, and growth — those are the winners of this year's Edmonton Arts Prizes.
The Edmonton Arts Council distributed $100,000 in prizes at a ceremony at the Garneau Theatre on May 4, with $15,000 going to each winner and $5,000 going to each of two runners-up in four categories.
Rapper ARDN, who won the City of Edmonton Music Prize, expressed gratitude for all who "keep pushing the culture forward in Edmonton" as he accepted the award for his album Keep Your Eye on The Sparrow. The album also received a JUNO nomination in January.
"There's a lot of talent that hasn't been tapped into," ARDN told an appreciative crowd. "There's a lot of stories that haven't been told. To be a part of that, to be able to contribute to it, means a lot."
The runners-up for the music prize were Cikwes for Nehiyaw Iskô, and Joe Nolan for Luv in the New World.
Multidisciplinary artist Elsa Robinson received the Eldon + Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize for her art installation The Garden. The piece reflects Robinson's Jamaican heritage and culture, using a mixture of media ranging from fibre to stone.
Surrounded by family members, Robinson included in thank-yous her mother for telling her to forget about paying off the house and to focus on her happiness. She also thanked the Edmonton arts community for "pushing me to work harder and harder and to dig deeper and deeper" to do her best work.
Runners-up in the visual arts category were AJA Louden for Enoch's Fireweed, a tufted tapestry depicting an Afrofuturist vision of hope, and Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet for a painting inspired by her grandfather's land called when chokecherries are ready on top the hill.
"Elsa gathers up the past: memories of her childhood, the experiences of her community, and tales from her ancestors that are often ignored or purposely forgotten," reads the description for Elsa Robinson's installation, The Garden. (Art Gallery of St. Albert)
Documentary filmmaker Adam Scorgie of ScoreG Productions was awarded the City of Edmonton Film Prize for his film Tootoo. It tells the story of Jordin Tootoo, the NHL's first Inuk player, covering his experiences with addiction, loss, and healing.
"From the ice to the darkest moments off it, this is a story about survival, accountability, and the power of ending generational trauma," a for-your-consideration blog post reads. Tootoo is also up for Best Documentary Program at the Canadian Screen Awards, taking place from May 27 to 31.
Scorgie called Tootoo's life "a one-in-a-billion story," and noted that the hockey player only agreed to do the film to help others overcome the struggles that claimed his brother. Though he has won many film awards, Scorgie said it was "amazing that we have this in our hometown."
Runners-up for the film prize were comedian Simon Glassman for his horror-comedy Buffet Infinity, and Colin Waugh for The Secret Long Tree Society, his documentary on a group of urban horticulturalists aiming to grow trees that last a millennium.
Author Jennifer Bowering Delisle was the winner of the Robert Kroetsch – City of Edmonton Book Prize for Stock, a poetry collection riffing on the strange titles of often stranger stock photographs.
"It really became a dialogue between me and the stock images," Delisle said as she accepted the award. Her book of lyric essays, Micrographia, was the winner of the same prize in 2024.
The runners-up for the book prize were Conor Kerr's novella Beaver Hills Forever and Jason Purcell's poetry collection called Crohnic.
Next year's ceremony will include a fifth prize — the Edmonton Dance Prize, made possible through a collaboration between the Edmonton Arts Council and the Dancer Transition Resource Centre. Submissions will open this fall.