The Plein sud Grant aims to support research and innovation in contemporary art in Québec. It is intended for emerging artists, defined as those with ten years or less of professional practice. The recipient is awarded a $5,000 grant, which includes a solo exhibition integrated into Plein sud’s annual programming.

This exhibition benefits from all standard conditions offered by the centre, including exhibition fees, a per diem, professional artist fees, technical support for installation, as well as coverage of transportation and travel expenses. A printed publication of approximately twenty pages, featuring a theoretical text on the artist’s practice and the exhibition, is also produced to accompany the event.

Since 2021, the Plein sud Grant has been awarded every two years

The awarding process

Each edition involves the formation of an independent jury made up of three individuals recognized for their expertise in contemporary art. The names of the jurors are announced at the same time as the grant recipient.

Each juror nominates three artists, for a total of nine candidates. From this pool, three finalists are selected based on the quality and relevance of their artistic practice. The jury then chooses the recipient of the Plein sud Grant. The two other finalists each receive an amount of $500 in recognition of their artistic work.

History

Created in 1995, the Plein sud Grant succeeds the Duchamp-Villon Prize, later known as the Duchamp-Villon Grant. This initiative was launched—and continues to thrive—thanks to the sustained support of Mr. Charles S. N. Parent, its founder, and has been further enriched over the years through numerous one-time donations.

Since its inception, the grant has supported the work of many artists, including: Paul Landon, Stéphane La Rue, Emmanuel Galland, Christian Barré, BGL, Hugues Dugas, Catherine Bolduc (2001), Manuela Lalic (2002), Bertrand R. Pitt (2003), Éric Lamontagne (2004), Natascha Niederstrass (2005), Martin Désilets (2006), le duo d’artistes Cooke-Sasseville (2007), Frédéric Lavoie (2008), Véronique La Perrière M. (2009), Jérôme Bouchard (2010), Cynthia Dinan-Mitchell (2011), Simon Bilodeau (2012), Étienne Lafrance (2013), Chloé Desjardins (2014), Michelle Lacombe (2015), Gabrielle Lajoie-Bergeron (2016), Philippe Caron Lefebvre (2017), Janick Burn (2018), Pascale LeBlanc Lavigne (2019), Eve Tagny (2020), Michaëlle Sergile (2021) et Joyce Joumaa (2023).

Acknowledgements to Donors

Acknowledgements to Donors
Plein sud warmly thanks Mr. Charles S. N. Parent, Vice President at National Bank Financial and long-time donor since the creation of the Grant; Mr. Bruno Grenier, lawyer at Grenier Verbauwhede Avocats and Chair of Plein sud’s Board of Directors; as well as Ms. Huguette Beaudry and Mr. Jean Beaudry, for their ongoing financial support of the Plein sud Grant.