IMAGINE Arts Incubator 2024/25

Applications now open!

At the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts (ā€œthe Isabelā€) at Queenā€™s University, we embrace the essential need for human creativity. 

  • The Isabelā€™s IMAGINE Arts Incubator has been developed to foster creativity and innovation and to enable Kingston and national professional artists, creators, and educators to explore, invent, collaborate, and produce.
  •  The IMAGINE Arts Incubator is designed to assist artists in developing works by learning new vocabularies, methodologies, and paradigms of inclusive cultural engagement and entanglement, multi-platform performance delivery, creation, collaboration, creative placemaking, audience engagement, and access to the arts.
  • The Isabel initiated the IMAGINE Arts Incubator program to support creation-based residencies, filming/recording/streaming initiatives for original works, socially engaged arts projects tackling the issues of our time, and creative placemaking for community engagement in the arts.
  • Embracing Indigenization-Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Anti-Racism, and Accessibility (I-EDIAA), the IMAGINE Arts Incubator program encourages cross-disciplinary and intercultural collaborations, supporting the work of artists.
  • The IMAGINE Arts Incubator provides an excellent opportunity for professional artists and creators to immerse themselves in artistic research and development to explore new collaborations, styles, concepts, and performance practices.

Apply now at

Deadline to apply: Sunday, Dec 1st, 2024, at 11:59PM

under "Start Online Application Form" select IMAGINE Arts Incubator 2024/25.

Read about the 2023/24 recipients

Bader & Overton Canadian Piano Competition 2023

Established at ¾ÅŠćÖ±²„ to foster Canada's top talent and provide professional development support to young Canadian musicians who aspire to a concert career.

Jonathan Mak - First Prize: The Isabel Overton Bader, Clifford Overton and Francoise Landry Prize for $20,000 CAD, a future engagement to perform a concerto with the Kingston Symphony Association, and a future engagement to perform a recital at the Isabel.

Elijah Orlenko - Second Prize: The Margaret Foster and Katherine Foster Prize for $6,000 CAD.

Paul Williamson - Third prize: The Marion Dick Memorial Prize for $4,000 CAD.

Elijah Orlenko - The Bader Family Audience Prize: $1,000 CAD.

Bader & Overton Canadian Cello Competition 2020

Bryan Cheng - First Prize: The Marion Dick Memorial Cello Prize for $20,000 CAD, a future engagement to perform a concerto with the Kingston Symphony Association, a future engagement to perform a recital at the Isabel.

Leland Ko - Second Prize: The Clifford Overton Prize for $6,000 CAD.

Andreas Schmalhofer - Third prize: The Margaret Foster and Heather Dick Prize for $4,000 CAD.

Andreas Schmalhofer - The Bader Family Audience Prize: $1,000 CAD.

Isabel Overton Bader Canadian Violin Competition 2017

Yolanda Bruno - First Prize: The Marion Dick Memorial Violin Prize for $20,000 CAD, a future engagement to perform a concerto with the Kingston Symphony Association, and a future engagement to perform a recital at the Isabel that will be recorded by CBC Radio 2.

Katya Poplyansky - Second Prize: The Clifford Overton Prize for $6,000 CAD.

Lucy Wang - Third prize: The Margaret Foster and Heather Dick Prize for $4,000 CAD.

Yolanda Bruno - The Bader Family Audience Prize: $1,000 CAD.