Baltimore's Sondheim Art Prize Will Name Its 2026 Winner Tonight

The yellow Sondheim Art Prize title wall stands between two exhibition galleries at the Walters Art Museum.

One Baltimore-region artist will leave the Walters Art Museum tonight with a major career investment. The 2026 Janet & Walter Sondheim Art Prize will be announced during a free reception and ceremony Thursday, August 27, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The Sondheim Art Prize Baltimore 2026 award carries a $30,000 fellowship.

This year's finalists are Thea Canlas, Leigh Davis, Brandon Donahue-Shipp, Curran Hatleberg and Danni O'Brien. Their work has been on view at the Walters since June 25 in a dedicated exhibition that continues through September 13. The installation gives visitors time to encounter the full group before and after the winner is named.

The five artists work across different materials, research methods and visual languages, which makes the award more than a single-medium contest. The selection process asks jurors to identify an original practice in conversation with contemporary art beyond Baltimore and an artist positioned to make a meaningful leap with the support.

Jurors Lauren Haynes, Jinny Khanduja and Shellyne Rodriguez selected the recipient after reviewing the finalists' work and speaking with the artists. Every finalist receives a $3,000 award, while the larger fellowship is designed to create time, capacity and visibility for the winning practice.

The prize is presented by Create Baltimore in partnership with the Walters Art Museum and supported by the Maryland State Arts Council. It is named for Janet and Walter Sondheim, whose cultural and civic work helped shape Baltimore. The 2026 program is the 21st edition, placing tonight's result inside a long-running effort to keep ambitious visual artists working in the region.

PowerPage's guide to Love Groove Festival follows another Baltimore event where local creators share space with national attention. The Sondheim ceremony works at a different scale, but the civic question is related: what does it take for artists to build lasting careers here? Tonight's award supplies one concrete answer—money, museum visibility and public recognition—while the exhibition keeps all five finalists in view.