Artist: Mirna Chacin and Practice

artist: For Mirna Chacin, a photographer who emigrated from Venezuela to Canada in 2011, the award represented more than financial support it gave her an important sense of creative validation necessary to push her practice forward, according to NOW Magazine. It made me feel that I had acquired the legal' right to be visual artist in my new home, she says. Each artist has received 500 to 1,500 to cover costs associated with supporting a healthy artistic practice from supplies and equipment to space and events.A Neighbourhood Arts Network initiative, this awards program aims to address the challenges that all artists experience in practicing and presenting their work, but with the added scope of how newcomer artists uniquely face barriers related to language, cultural literacy and access to funding. This fund helped to restore my eroded confidence and provided the positive feelings I needed to push myself into pursuing a professional visual arts career in Canada. The broad span of artistic disciplines and subject interests represented in this year's group of 23 winners showcase the diverse global backgrounds that could potentially influence Toronto's art scene in the future. Recipients in previous years have been able to utilize these awards as further momentum for fruitful creative production, public exhibitions and mentorships. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.