Recent KOAC Artist in Residence honoured with accolades

There’s a sense of pride and contentment in the air at KOAC as we celebrate the achievements of our former artist-in-residence! At the recent 2023 Celebration for the Arts hosted by Mayor Gondek and Calgary Arts Development, it was announced that Tara Vahab has been honoured with the Mamdani Arts Leadership Award.

This award was established to recognize and reward the integral role of board members who lend their expertise, talent and time to support the work of arts organizations and festivals that make Calgary a vibrant and creative city. This award honours an arts volunteer board member who goes above and beyond to support the logistics, programming, operations, or culture of the organizations they choose to support.

Board chair at LOUD Art Society (LAS), Tara’s leadership skills include steering LAS to attain CRA charity status, developing operational strategies, engaging volunteers, mentoring youth and advocating art therapy.

Indeed, it has been quite the year for Tara! Right around the time she was accepted to KOAC’s art residency program, she was named as a shortlisted candidate for the Alberta’s Arts Ambassador award, to begin her projects and enhance her artistic practice.

Then, about a month after starting her residency at KOAC Tara received an Alberta Foundation for the Arts individual artist project grant to complete her project at KOAC and just before Tara completed her residency at KOAC, she was also awarded a Calgary Arts Development individual project grant to start another exciting project which is about women, healing, and songwriting.

These distinguished accolades are truly a testament to Tara’s exceptional talent, initiative and vision, and serve as a source of great satisfaction for all of us at KOAC… nurturing our already pointed commitment to our Artist in Residence program and its aim to have a positive influence on both the careers of our resident artists and on the community, we live in.