In 2019, RBC will be concluding the RBC Canadian Painting Competition, which has been delivered in partnership with Canadian Art over the last 20 years. Moving ahead, RBC wants to explore new and effective ways to support the visual art community in Canada. RBC remains committed to the visual arts through its Emerging Artist Project, a program that helps artists bridge the gap from emerging to established, and supports organizations that advance artists’ careers.
“After two decades, it’s a natural time for us to redefine our commitments to the visual arts,” said Matt McGlynn, Vice President, Brand Marketing, RBC. “This decision was not taken lightly—and many factors were taken into consideration.”
In many ways, the RBC Canadian Painting Competition led the way for the array of emerging-artist prizes seen today on the Canadian art scene. When the RBC Canadian Painting Competition first began in 1999, it was one of only a few prizes supporting emerging artists in Canada. Today, there’s the Sobey Art Award, the William and Meredith Saunderson Prizes for Emerging Artists, and many more.
“We remain deeply committed to working with Canadian Art and art institutions like the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Musée des beaux-arts de Montreal, among others,” says McGlynn. “Through the RBC Art Collection we will also continue to support Canada’s vibrant art community, with our curatorial team focusing on acquiring more works from emerging Canadian artists and lending these important works to museum exhibitions.”
Among the artists recently added to the RBC collection are Roula Partheniou, Maggie Groat, Joseph Tisiga and Nicolas Grenier. There, they join works by iconic Canadian artists like General Idea, Kent Monkman and Iain Baxter&, among others.
Canadian Art’s partnership with RBC continues to evolve, bringing vital support to publishing initiatives and fostering the next generation of art writers.
