Arts and Culture Legacy Award

The City of Medicine Hat celebrates the many outstanding contributions and accomplishments related to arts and culture in Medicine Hat through the Arts and Culture Legacy Award.

The Arts and Culture Legacy Award was created in 2026 to serve as a visual memory of arts and culture contributions and achievements, and to ensure individuals receive due recognition for their arts and culture contributions and achievements.

Up to five (5) nominees total per year may be inducted.

The annual submission deadline is July 15.

Inductees receiving recognition will be displayed at the Arts and Culture Legacy Gallery, located in the Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre. They will also be recognized at an induction ceremony, receiving a personal keepsake that will state their name and year of induction.

Learn more about the nominee submission and selection process below.

The award has two categories of inductions for nominations. Inductees may not necessarily be chosen from each category on any given year:

Artist(s)

An artist in any discipline who has made outstanding contributions to the community or received substantial recognition for their art beyond Medicine Hat.

Culture Builder(s)

Individuals who have made exceptional contributions to life and culture development in the community as champions, supporters, patrons, administrators, teachers and mentors.

Nominations will be reviewed by City staff to ensure that the minimum criteria are met using the 
Arts and Culture Recognition Program induction criteria form. Nominations meeting the criteria 
will be forwarded to the Community Vibrancy Advisory Board (CVAB) for consideration.

Nominees may illustrate a combination of the following to be inducted:

  1. Significant local, provincial, national or international recognition
  2. Sustained ambassadorship of Medicine Hat in arts and culture
  3. Longevity of achievement in arts and culture
  4. Contribution towards the betterment of the local arts and culture community
  5. Born in or has lived in Medicine Hat or surrounding area and considers Medicine Hat an important part of their life experience
  6. Excelled in arts and culture as a leader (a performer, artist, creator, builder, administrator, official, media/broadcaster, philanthropist)
  7. Minimum of 10 years of experience in their field and has had outstanding or extraordinary success

  1. Nomination forms are available for public nomination below.
  2. Completed nomination forms will be accepted throughout the year with a cutoff of July 15.
  3. Qualifying nominations will be reviewed by City staff to confirm eligibility and completeness. Following successful review, nominations will be forwarded to CVAB for evaluation.
  4. CVAB may call upon specialists in the appropriate field to assist in the evaluation.
  5. Nominees selected for induction into the Arts and Culture Recognition Program by CVAB shall be publicly presented at a special ceremony.
  6. There shall be no publicity as to the proposed nominees or voting at any time. The only names released to the public shall be those selected to be inducted into the Arts and Culture Recognition Program.
  7. A nominee can be recognized with an award posthumously.
  8. No current member of CVAB can be awarded.

Each nomination must be submitted in writing on the appropriate nomination form and contain, but not be limited to, the following:

  1. Nominator's name, address, telephone, and email address;
  2. A brief biography of the nominee that includes date and place of birth;
  3. Details of the nominee's work, contributions, awards or recognition;
  4. Number of years and dates the Nominee resided in Medicine Hat or surrounding area;
  5. Two letters of support;
  6. The nominator's relationship with the nominee;
  7. The nominee's approval (family representative or agent, if nominee is deceased);
  8. An 8" x 10" portrait format (not landscape format), colour or black and white, professional quality printable JPG image of the nominee. Image must be no smaller than 2MB or 300DPI.
  9. The nomination form must be properly and completely filled out with all the information requested. Incomplete forms may not be eligible for the current year's consideration.

Further information may be required to evaluate the nominee's candidacy. The nominator or other sources will be contacted/researched to assist in this endeavour.

Nominees who are eligible for induction but are not selected will be kept on file for future consideration for a period of five (5) years. During this time, nominations will not need to be resubmitted. All nomination forms, applicable documentation and photos will become the property of the City of Medicine Hat and therefore not returned to the nominator unless specifically requested.

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