The CHANEL Culture Fund has named the recipients of its 2026 CHANEL Next Prize, awarding €100,000 each to ten artists working across visual art, performance, design, music, and film.
The fashion house’s Culture Fund is a global programme of initiatives and partnerships that “seek to champion equality of voice and give visibility to global game changers at a time when the arts provide a vital source of inspiration and shifting perspectives on the way we view the world,” CHANEL said on its website.
Announced on January 19 in London, the biennial prize was launched in 2021 and is now in its third edition. It recognizes contemporary practitioners whose work is regarded as reshaping their fields and influencing the future of culture.
This year’s cohort includes artists from ten different countries: visual artist Álvaro Urbano; jazz musician Ambrose Akinmusire; fashion designer Andrea Peña; artist and filmmaker Ayoung Kim; designer Bárbara Sánchez-Kane; sound artist Emeka Ogboh; choreographer Marco da Silva Ferreira; experimental musician Pan Daijing; filmmaker Payal Kapadia; and painter Pol Taburet.
In addition to the unrestricted funding, each winner will participate in a two-year mentorship and professional development program organized in collaboration with CHANEL’s cultural partners, including London’s Royal College of Art. CHANEL said the initiative is designed to provide artists with long-term support rather than project-based commissions, allowing them to pursue ambitious work on their own terms.
“The CHANEL Next Prize creates the conditions for artists to thrive on their own terms,” Yana Peel, CHANEL’s president of arts, culture, and heritage, said in a statement. “Each winner is a trailblazer shaping the now and defining the next with creativity and audacity.”
2024’s edition of the CHANEL Next Prize included artists Tolia Astakhishvili, Ho Tzu Nyen, and Dalton Paula among its winners.
“The CHANEL Next Prize marks the latest chapter in the House’s century-long commitment to the arts—a legacy that began with Gabrielle Chanel’s support of avant-garde pioneers, from Salvador Dalí to Jean Cocteau,” CHANEL said.
