Arts Culture and Heritage Award Program
Community Legend Award
Each year, a Community Legend Award recipient is selected and recognized by Oshawa City Council. In addition, a temporary display will be available at the Delpark Homes Centre, along with a permanent plaque.
Eligibility
The Community Legend Award recognizes a person of any age or an organization/group who:
- made a significant contribution to an activity, sport or community initiative as a volunteer
- contributed to improving the quality of life of the Oshawa community
- made a significant impact on the Oshawa community at a grassroots level through arts and culture, sports or community initiatives
Nomination Form
Nominations for the 2025 Community Legend Award are now closed.
Review Process
Nominations for the Community Legend Award are reviewed and selected by the Community and Operations Services Committee for recommendation to Council for final approval.
2025 Recipient |
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Lisa Weiss
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Previous Recipients |
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Culture Counts Awards
The Oshawa Culture Counts Awards celebrate and honour the creative and cultural achievements of the community in three categories:
- Oshawa Culture Counts Professional Artist
- Oshawa Culture Counts Emerging Artist
- Innovation and Creation Champion Award
Selected recipients are acknowledged at a City Council meeting in the spring.
Work Sample Submission Criteria
- Visual, Fine Craft, Multimedia: Include up to five images. All images must be in JPEG format, no larger than 2 MB each. Please include an image list containing the title, dimensions, and date of the artwork.
- Music – performances, technical, or production (all genres): Include up to two songs as a web link to YouTube videos, Soundcloud files, etc.; if an album is submitted, please note two songs you would like the Jury to listen to and for all include appropriate production credits, such as the publisher and performance dates.
- Theatre, Performance, Dance: Include five minutes of a recent work via web link. Please cue media to the starting time, and include appropriate production credits such as the director, writer, and performance dates.
- Writing: Include up to two samples of current work (Word/PDF), no more than ten pages. Please include appropriate production credits, such as the date, publisher, and editor. Please note any passages you would like the Jury to read.
- For an organization or collective, please provide work samples that support the nomination. This could be a web link to the website with notes on the areas you would like the Jury to focus on or PDF/Word files of brochures or other marketing materials explaining the organization's impact.
Eligibility
- Applicants and nominees must be current or former residents of the City of Oshawa, work in the City of Oshawa, or collaborate with an Oshawa-based organization
- An applicant or nominee may be the recipient of only one award per year
- City of Oshawa staff are not eligible for an award, but may nominate individuals
- An individual cannot be nominated posthumously
Nomination Forms
Nominations for the 2025 Oshawa Culture Counts Awards are now closed.
Review Process
A sub-committee of the Cultural Leadership Council (C.L.C.) will review and evaluate the nominations received and make a recommendation for each award to the Economic Development Services Committee (E.D.S.C.). The E.D.S.C. will review the recommendations by the C.L.C. and make a recommendation to City Council for approval of the award winners.
For each category noted above, City staff will develop an evaluation matrix and guideline for assessing the recipient of the awards.
Applicants will be required to demonstrate their artistic merit, critical acknowledgement of the work/initiative, evidence of recognition by the local community, and describe their career path/ organizational background and association to the arts discipline/initiative.
Oshawa Culture Counts Award Professional Artist
This award recognizes an established artist of any arts discipline (including performing, visual, cinematic, design, architecture and literary arts) who has demonstrated creativity, originality, professional maturity and artistic leadership in the community.
The following criteria will be used to select the award recipient:
- Artistic merit/interest
- Critical acknowledgments of the artist's work (e.g. exhibition/performance opportunities, publications, reviews, articles, etc.)
- Recognition by local arts community
2024 Recipient |
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Amy Shackleton Amy Shackleton is an Oshawa-based artist who earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from York University in 2008. Her artworks have been exhibited across North America and are held in public collections including the Town of Cobourg, Museum of Dufferin, Colart Collection and Facebook Canada. Within Oshawa, her work has been shown in partnership with The Robert McLaughlin Gallery at the Oshawa Centre in 2020 and at South Oshawa Community Centre in 2023-2024. Both murals included an augmented reality component created with Julian Brown. As a skilled urban landscape painter, Amy’s paintings portray hypothetical futures that show the harsh reality of climate change, yet strive to offer a glimpse of hope by imagining a future where humanity and nature co-exist. Amy’s inventive technique, described as “drip painting with a twist”, has earned her a huge social media following. She applies paint with squeeze bottles and works with gravity to manipulate the falling drips by rotating her canvas. |
Previous Recipients |
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Oshawa Culture Counts Award Emerging Artist
This award recognizes an artist in the early stages of their career in any arts discipline (including performing, visual, cinematic, design, architecture and literary arts) who is skilled and determined to advance their artistic capabilities. This individual understands the value of their gift within the community, and leverages these skills to inspire and enrich the lives of fellow citizens.
The individual must be between 12 to 30 years or have begun their artistic practice within the past five years.
The following criteria will be used to select the award recipient:
- Artistic merit/interest
- Evidence of commitment to artistic practice
- Career path in an artistic discipline
- Critical acknowledgments of the artist's work (i.e., exhibition/performance opportunities, publications, reviews, articles, etc.)
- Recognition by the local arts community
2024 Recipient |
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Emily Rocha Emily Rocha is a soprano who has past and upcoming performances in Germany, Portugal, Austria, France, Switzerland, England, Romania and North America, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall. Emily will join the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio for the 2024-2025 season. This summer she will be a Vocal Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival. In 2021, Emily earned her Honours Bachelors of Music of the University of Toronto Voice Performance program and in 2023 she earned her Masters of Music degree of the University of Toronto’s Opera School. She has offered dazzling performances in “M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le…”, “Disobedience”, “A Tale of Two Cities”, “Die Zauberflöte”, “Le Nozze di Figaro”, “Don Giovanni” and “The Tender Land”. In a workshop for the new opera “Melancholia” (Karlsson, Vavrek), premiered in the fall of 2023 at the Kungliga Operan, she sang excerpts as Justine. Emily was a District Winner in the Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition (Tulsa District), and 2nd Prize Winner at COC Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition 2023 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. She has also won an Encouragement Award at the Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition 2023 (Illinois District), the 2023 UTSO Concerto Competition with Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder, 1st Prize in the Toronto Mozart Competition and U of T’s prestigious Ivan Alexandor Chorney Opera Scholarship (2022).
Kalista Wilson Kalista Wilson, at just 19 years old, is an accomplished individual known for her incredible talents and achievements. She is a singer, actress, model and a full-time university student. In 2020, she was recognized as a Juno Nominee as a member of Girl Pow-R. Her involvement as the national anthem singer for the Toronto Raptors over the last four years, as well as The Toronto Marlies and TFC, has made her a familiar face at major sporting events. She also proudly served as the anthem singer for her hometown team, the Oshawa Generals, and as the anthem singer for the City of Oshawa’s Canada Day celebrations. Moreover, Kalista's compassionate nature is reflected in her regular donations of time and her incredible voice to local charities and causes, including The Concert to Feed the Need Durham (2019- 2023), highlighting her commitment to making a positive impact in her community. Kalista’s acting career has included lead roles and guest appearances in TV shows and movies on prominent networks such as CTV, Family Channel and the Oprah Winfrey Network. Her upcoming projects include “Near or Far” on CBC Gem in the spring of 2024. |
Previous Recipients |
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Innovation and Creation Champion
This award honours an individual, collective and/or organization in the creative and cultural industries who has created or enhanced an event, product, program or partnership in the past year. In addition, the award recognizes work that is unique, transformative, and positive in its impact on arts, culture, and heritage in Oshawa.
The following criteria will be used to select the award recipient:
- The level of creativity and innovation of the event, product, program or partnership
- The community impact of the event, product, program or partnership
- Notable achievements relevant to event, product, program or partnership
2024 Recipient |
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Oshawa Tourism Oshawa Tourism introduced the blockbuster event Convergence in 2023, which transformed downtown Oshawa into a vibrant hub of entertainment and celebration. This event was created in collaboration with local artists and businesses. This free, family extravaganza unfolded across two dynamic stages—one dedicated to emerging artists, showcasing the incredible talent here in Oshawa, and another featuring established bands, headlined by The Strumbellas. Along with the musical performances, there was something for everyone—a wrestling ring, vendor markets, food trucks and art exhibitions. The goal of Convergence was to bring together 5,000 people for a day of shared joy and camaraderie. All expectations were exceeded, and more than 15,000 attendees were drawn in. The event supported local restaurants and businesses with an influx of visitors to Oshawa’s downtown. |
Previous Recipients |
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