Governor's Arts & Heritage Awards Nominations

The Governor’s Arts & Heritage Awards are among the most prestigious honors bestowed by the Governor. The Awards were established in 1966 to recognize individuals and artists for their significant contributions to the creative vitality of Washington state. Since inception of the program, 150 individuals and organizations have received Arts Awards, and 51 individuals and organizations have been honored with a Heritage Award.

In 2010, WSAC was forced to temporarily suspend the Awards due to budgetary uncertainty and staffing capacity. With a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Awards program is resuming in 2012. We’ll post more information about that soon.

To be eligible for either the Arts or Heritage Awards, individuals or organizations must be current Washington residents or have resided in the state during the time the contributions were made, and not be a previous Governor’s Arts Award or Heritage Award recipient.