2026 PRIX POWERHOUSE

SUBMIT A NOMINATION (Deadline: March 9, 2026, 11:59 pm EST)

La Centrale celebrates the tenth edition of the Prix Powerhouse! Formerly a prize of $10,000, the Prix Powerhouse has been raised to $14,000, thanks to an anonymous donor supporting the award since 2011. In parallel to a duo exhibition in 2026 at La Centrale, each artist will now receive $7,000–a golden opportunity! To celebrate the raise of the prize money, we’re extending the deadline to March 9th at 11:59 pm EST.

We are delighted to announce that this year's jury will be composed of curator and curator Mojeanne Behzadi, curator and art critic Ariane De Blois, and artist Natacha Clitandre, laureate of the 2024 Prix Powerhouse. 

The PRIX POWERHOUSE is a 10 000$ biennial recognition award shared between two Montréal visual artists to celebrate their artistic journey. It is destined to women and gender-diverse people* who have reached the mid-stage in their career and contribute in a significant way to Montréal’s cultural life. This award honors artists who show perseverance and who continue their work by remaining committed in their approach. La Centrale would like to acknowledge the generous contribution of an anonymous donor who, since 2011, has made this award possible.

The award dovetails within La Centrale’s mandate to promote feminist artistic practices and to support under-represented artists in dominant cultural institutions. The centre is a platform for languages in contemporary art carried by feminisms, intersectionality and social justice.

The artist must be nominated by a third party. The person nominating the artist must be the one to fill out the form mentioned above.

*The umbrella term "gender-diverse" refers to people whose gender identity expand beyond the binary or exist within and at the intersections of it. It encompasses identities such as trans, non-binary, Two-Spirits, gender fluid or agender people (amongst others). 

 Award Objectives

• Support mid-staged or established artists ;
• Recognize the strength and singularity of an artistic practice that is influent, but under-represented ;
• Promote the work of two Montréal artists by providing a punctual financial support and by holding a joint exhibition at La Centrale ;
• Celebrate the contribution of artists who identify as women or gender-diverse people to Montréal's cultural environment.

Award description

• A 7000$ grant given to each winner
• A 6-8 weeks joint retrospective exhibition at La Centrale in Fall 2026, with artist fees (CARFAC rates)
• An awards ceremony on the opening night of the exhibition

Admissibility of the nominated artist*

• An artist aged 37 and over who identifies as a woman or from a gender minority;
• An artist in visual art, media art, audio art, performance or installation, including transdisciplinary practices (please note that artists who have a career exclusively in music are not eligible to this prize) ;
• Lives in the Greater Montréal Area by the time of the nomination ;
• Pursues a professional artistic career in a sustained way for at least ten years ;
• Supports an original and influential artistic practice under-represented in dominant cultural institutions.

* The artist must be nominated by a third party. Members of the Administration Board and La Centrale workers are not eligible for the award.

Co-winner of the 2024 Prix Powerhouse, Natacha Clitandre is an artist and has been a cultural worker for over twenty years. From 2017 to 2022, she developed the Slow Tech approach at the feminist artists' center Ada X. Of Haitian and Quebecois descent, she currently lives and works in Tiohtià:ke / Mooniyang / Montreal. Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including at La Centrale galerie Powerhouse, the artist-run centre Verticale, PHI, the Espace culturel Séraphine Louis (Clermont, France), the Maison de la culture Janine-Sutto, the Centre des Arts de la Maison d'Haïti, and the Musée de la civilisation.

An art historian, curator, and author, Ariane De Blois has more than fifteen years of experience in the art world. With a PhD in art history from McGill University (2014), Ariane De Blois has played a key role in curating more than fifteen group and solo exhibitions in Quebec and internationally. She is currently the curator of collections and exhibitions at the Musée d'art de Joliette. Her writings, published in various journals and exhibition catalogs, reflect her acute analysis of contemporary social and artistic issues.

Mojeanne Behzadi is a curator at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. She has previously worked independently and for numerous art institutions, including Artexte and the National Gallery of Canada. She notably helped develop an international speaker series called Art Speaks with founder Lillian Mauer between 2016 and 2023, and conceived Trajectories, a contemporary art podcast produced for the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2022. She recently curated a special edition of Les Nocturnes du MAC for the 60th anniversary of the museum titled A Saturnalia, an expanded program that featured performances, live arts, workshops, music and DJs.