Toronto, November 3, 2026 – Julie Tepperman is the recipient of the $15,000 Ontario Arts Foundation Artist Educator Award. The award is given annually to an Ontario resident who exemplifies excellence in arts education.
About Julie Tepperman
Julie Tepperman is an actor, playwright, and passionate arts educator, deeply committed to working with youth, seniors, and emerging artists, in both academic and community settings. Julie is an alumna of George Brown College’s Theatre Arts Program, where she regularly returns as a guest director. She is a sought-after teaching artist at the Stratford Festival, where she leads Shakespeare workshops for both teachers and students, and frequently facilitates their Teen Playwriting Camp.
Throughout her career, Julie has collaborated with school boards across Ontario, often in partnership with theatre companies. Among her favourite initiatives was a collaborative playwriting project between Young People’s Theatre and the Toronto District School Board. For nearly a decade, Julie’s theatre company Convergence Theatre co-founded and co-ran, “The Passionate Players”, a community theatre program for non-professional adults, particularly seniors.
Since 2022, Julie has volunteered as a guest artist drama teacher at Pauline Jr. Public School. She is incredibly grateful to the Ontario Arts Council for an Artists in Communities and Schools Projects grant, which enables her to expand upon this impactful work through a funded initiative.
“Whether working in public schools from JK to Grade 12, theatre schools, or in community settings, I continue to be energized by theatre’s power to bring people from all walks of life together and build bridges through deeper understanding and empathy in action,” says Julie Tepperman. “I am immensely honoured to receive this year’s Ontario Arts Foundation Artist Educator Award and am profoundly grateful for this unexpected gift which will allow me to continue to do work that I love with the hope of making meaningful differences in the lives of youth.”
From Page to Stage – a joint pilot project between The Toronto District School Board and Young People’s Theatre (2016), featuring arts educator Julie Tepperman.
About the Award
The Ontario Arts Foundation Artist Educator Award recognizes an Ontario resident who exemplifies excellence in arts education, demonstrates a unique approach to their arts education practice, creates meaningful learning experiences for young people, inspires connections to the arts beyond the classroom and continues to maintain an active arts practice.
The Ontario Arts Foundation established and manages the endowment that funds the Artist Educator Award. The Ontario Arts Council is responsible for the selection process. The 2026 award recipient was selected through the Ontario Arts Council’s peer assessment process from the applicants to the Artists in Communities and Schools Projects program.
Previous recipients include Charles Hong (2025), Zoey Roy (2024), and Nathaneal Larochette (2023). See the full list of previous recipients.
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For information, please contact:
Bruce Bennett, Executive Director
Ontario Arts Foundation
Tel: (416) 969-7413 bbennett@oafdn.ca
Established in 1991, the Ontario Arts Foundation (OAF) is passionately committed to building long-term support for the arts in Ontario. In 2025-2026, the OAF paid $5.7 million in endowment income and $630,000 in awards and scholarships.
For more than 60 years, the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) has played a vital role in promoting and assisting the development of the arts for the enjoyment and benefit of Ontarians. In 2024-2025, OAC invested its grant program budget of $52.2 million in 204 communities across 123 Ontario ridings, providing 1,960 grants to individual artists and 1,030 grants to organizations.
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