The Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards Foundation has named its 2026 Emerging Artist Award recipients, distributing $110,000 across 11 artists at the early stages of their careers.

Four of the recipients are Calgary-based. Alison DeRegt is a multi-disciplinary theatre and puppetry artist whose practice draws on eco-punk aesthetics and found materials. Jerome "K-Riz" Henry is a hip-hop and R&B artist known for blending soul, jazz, and reggae into what the jury called "musically sophisticated and compelling" work. Tayte Mitchell is the founding CEO and Artistic Director of Ammolite Opera, Calgary's own opera company. And poet Paula Turcotte, whose debut chapbook was a finalist for the bpNichol Chapbook Award, is currently at work on her debut novel.

Also among the recipients is seth cardinal dodginghorse, a Tsuut'ina multidisciplinary artist and musician whose work centres questions of land, family, and displacement — including the impact of the Southwest Calgary Ring Road on his family's ancestral land on Tsuut'ina Nation.

The remaining recipients span the province, working across music, literary arts, visual arts, and theatre. All 11 were selected from 150 applications in a process overseen by The Banff Centre.

Since its inception in 2003, the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards Foundation has awarded $1,810,000 to 29 Distinguished Artists and 95 Emerging Artists across both its programs.