The Metcalf Foundation has announced the five winners and their protégés for the 2025 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prizes / Les Prix Johanna-Metcalf des Arts de la scène (Johannas). Each winner receives a cash award of $25,000, and each protégé received $10,000.
In addition, each of the remaining 10 finalists receives a prize of $2,000, with a total of $195,000 in prizes. The winners were announced at a ceremony at Toronto’s Gardiner Museum on May 5, 2025.
The Johannas recognize mid-career Ontario-based artists who have made a significant impact in the fields of dance, theatre, and music/opera, as well as in the public eye, and are engaged in ongoing innovative practices. The prize is named in honour of Johanna Metcalf, who led the work of the Metcalf Foundation, founded by her father-in-law George Cedric Metcalf as a charitable foundation in 1960, for more than four decades.
Winners & Protégés
“We’re thrilled to celebrate such a talented group of artists through the Johannas this year. Their work exemplifies the resilience, creativity, and bold vision that define Ontario’s artistic landscape,” said Owen Pallett, 2025 Johannas Chair, in a statement. “As Chair, I’m honoured to be part of this process and excited to see the incredible impact these winners and their protégés will continue to have on the future of the arts. To know that the artistic practice is alive and well in Ontario, and that we’re supporting these trailblazers, is incredibly inspiring.”
- Kevin Lau, composer (Ottawa, Ontario) with protégé Michelle Lorimer, composer;
- Alain Doom, playwright and actor (Ottawa, Ontario) with protégé Dillon Orr, director;
- Sarah Gartshore, playwright and director (Sudbury, Ontario) with protégé Adam Francis Proulx, theatre creator and puppeteer;
- Weyni Mengesha, director (Toronto, Ontario) with protégé Luke Reece, poet, playwright, and director;
- d’bi.young anitafrika, dub poet, playwright, dramaturge, and scholar (Brampton, Ontario) with protégé Sashoya Simpson, writer, storyteller, and theatre practitioner.
The remaining ten finalists for the 2025 Johannas were: Penny Couchie, Christine Friday, Donna Grantis, Haviah Mighty, Lua Shayenne, Louis Simão, Vanese Smith, Adrian Sutherland, Marni Walsh, and Naishi Wang.
Artists are nominated for the Johannas by their peers, in partnership with the Ontario Arts Council. Artists who have been producing and showing work for at least 10 years were eligible to be nominated.
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