OCAD U President Ana Serrano receives 2026 Fire Horse Award

On June 2, OCAD U President and Vice-Chancellor Ana Serrano was honoured with the 2026 Fire Horse Award at Reel Asian's fifth annual Fire Horse Award Gala and Fundraiser, recognizing her transformative contributions to Canada's media, arts and creative industries.

The award is presented annually to an Asian-Canadian leader whose work has made a profound impact on the film and media arts community. This year’s presentation coincides with the Year of the Fire Horse, an alignment that amplifies the award’s recognition of boldness, independence and the courage to spark transformation. 

“Much like the Fire Horse itself, Ana Serrano represents those who challenge convention, journey into unchartered territory and ignite lasting change within their communities,” said the Fire Horse Award Committee in selecting President Serrano as the 2026 recipient. The award was named and conceived in honour of Reel Asian’s founder and trailblazing producer Anita Lee, whose lunar sign is the Fire Horse.

An award-winning producer, visionary leader and innovator, President Serrano was recognized for a career that has bridged creativity, technology, and cultural leadership, shaping new ways stories are made, shared and experienced. She has continually pushed boundaries in media and expanded opportunities for artists, students, entrepreneurs, and innovators across Canada.

“I am deeply moved to receive this award, and I do not take it lightly,” President Serrano told a crowded ballroom of over 300 people. “I want to honour the previous Fire Horse Award recipients: Keith Lock, Mary Stephen, Paul Wong and Ali Kazimi. To stand in your company is humbling. You made space where there was no space. You insisted that our stories, our forms and our ways of seeing the world matter.” 

For more than two decades President Serrano has expanded the boundaries of storytelling, technology, and leadership—creating opportunities for artists, students, cultural entrepreneurs, and innovators while reimagining what the future of media could be.

Her impact on Canada’s arts landscape is profound. In 1997, she founded the CFC Media Lab, the Canadian Film Centre’s innovation hub, and over the next two decades transformed it into one of the country’s most influential engines for digital storytelling and media experimentation. At a time when immersive media and nonlinear storytelling were still emerging, President Serrano was already producing groundbreaking work such as Late Fragment, North America’s first interactive feature film.

Recognizing that creators would also need new tools to navigate a rapidly evolving industry, she launched IDEABOOST in 2012—Canada’s first digital entertainment accelerator. More than a hundred digital media ventures and countless immersive projects were developed, helping to establish Toronto and Canada as leaders in digital media innovation.

As a board member at the Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts and Culture early in its development, she has been instrumental in cultivating the vibrant Filipino arts scene in Toronto and across Canada.

But beyond the institutions she has built, President Serrano is equally known for the way she uplifts artists. She has been a mentor to generations of creators, offering the kind of thoughtful and individualized support that helps ideas grow into lasting work. 

One example is her collaboration with filmmaker Romeo Candido on the musical web series Prison Dancer, which later evolved into a celebrated award-winning stage production at both the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

Throughout her career, she has also championed equity and inclusion through initiatives such as OPEN IMMERSION, supporting Indigenous storytellers in virtual reality, and Fifth Wave, Canada’s first feminist business accelerator for women entrepreneurs in digital media.

President Serrano’s leadership also extends beyond the arts and into civic life. In 2016, she co-founded DemocracyXChange, an annual lab and conference that brings together artists, thinkers, and changemakers to explore how we can design the kind of society and democracy we want to live in.

Today, as President and Vice-Chancellor of OCAD University, she continues to lead with vision—championing creativity, innovation, and the next generation of artists, designers and digital media makers.