Grant and Funding Programs Offered by Beaverbrook Art Gallery (BAG)

The Beaverbrook Art Gallery is New Brunswick’s provincial art gallery, located in Fredericton. Founded in 1959 as a gift from Lord Beaverbrook, it holds a major collection of New Brunswick, Canadian and international art and operates as a non-profit cultural institution. Beyond exhibitions and education, the Gallery plays an active role in supporting artists through prizes, residencies and professional opportunities that include direct financial assistance.

The Gallery administers the Theodore Prize, an annual award of $20,000 granted to an Atlantic Canadian visual artist. The prize recognizes artistic and creative excellence, a strong command of medium and significant recognition from the regional curatorial and gallery community. With clear eligibility rules, a formal application and nomination process, documented deadlines and a professional jury, this award functions as a structured funding program for individual artists in Atlantic Canada.

In addition, the Bruno Bobak Artist-in-Residence Studio hosts exhibition-related and summer creative residencies. Selected artists receive an honorarium of $600 per week to support their work during four- to six-week stays in the on-site studio. The program occasionally covers residency-related costs such as materials, transportation and lodging for visiting artists, and the Gallery may apply or co-apply for municipal, provincial and federal funds to broaden this support.

Beaverbrook Art Gallery’s funding initiatives primarily target professional visual artists from New Brunswick, the wider Atlantic region and, for some residency opportunities, from across Canada and abroad. Artists in all media normally collected and exhibited by public art galleries are considered, and there is no age restriction on the Theodore Prize. Past lists of residents and prize winners show support for emerging, mid-career and established artists, including Indigenous and francophone practitioners and other under-represented voices.

For its prize and residency programs, the Gallery emphasizes professional practice indicators such as exhibitions in public or commercial galleries, critical reception, inclusion in collections and overall contributions to the cultural life of Atlantic Canada. Jury panels are composed of arts professionals, including Beaverbrook curatorial staff and representatives from other public galleries or post-secondary art institutions, ensuring peer assessment and sector alignment.

Opened on 16 September 1959, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery has grown into a central cultural institution in New Brunswick. It was officially designated the provincial art gallery in 1994 and is governed by a board of directors with an executive director and senior staff overseeing exhibitions, collections, education, public programs and institutional advancement. Annual reports and audited financial statements are publicly available, underscoring transparency and accountability in how exhibition resources, prizes and residency funds are managed.

The Gallery works closely with the governments of New Brunswick and Canada, municipal partners, educational institutions, private donors and foundations such as the Sheila Hugh Mackay Foundation, which supports aspects of the residency program. Through these partnerships, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery leverages additional resources for artists while contributing to a broader network of arts funding and cultural development in Atlantic Canada.