## Breadcrumb 1. [Home](/index%2Ephp/) 2. [News and Stories](/index%2Ephp/news) 3. [Announcing the recipients of the 2026 Akin Career Launcher Call For Artists!](/index%2Ephp/markdownify/node/4264) March 10, 2026 # Announcing the recipients of the 2026 Akin Career Launcher Call For Artists! ![Akin Studios](/sites/default/files/styles/1_5_1_large/public/2025-04/Akin%20Studios.jpg.webp?itok=0_gGWk_V) rgb(255,255,255) OCAD University’s RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers is excited to announce **Chimemelie Okafor** and **Veronika Bondarenko** as the recipients of the **2026 Akin Career Launcher Call For Artists!** ![2026 Akin Career Launcher recipients](/sites/default/files/2026-03/2026Akin_CLRecipients.png) **Chimemelie Okafor bio:** Chimemelie Okafor (b. 2003) is a Nigerian multidisciplinary artist and designer based in Toronto. She is currently studying Drawing and Painting at OCAD University. Working primarily with oil paint, she also explores drawing and collage. Her practice is rooted in storytelling, using colour, patterns, and surreal imagery to explore the complexity of the human experience through her own lens. [**Website**](https://chimemelieokafor.format.com/) [**Instagram** ](https://www.instagram.com/chi.mejo/) **Veronika Bondarenko bio:** Veronika Bondarenko is a Toronto-based painter completing a BFA in Drawing and Painting at OCAD University (2026). Her practice explores colour, pattern, and organic structure through process-driven painting and drawing. Working through repetition, layering, and erasure, she develops dense abstract surfaces that reference natural growth systems, insects, seeds, and mythic imagery. Her paintings unfold slowly through accumulation and revision, allowing forms to emerge rather than be predetermined. Through this sustained process, Bondarenko approaches painting as a temporal medium in which perception, atmosphere, and symbolic associations develop through engagement with material. Alongside her studio practice, she teaches community art classes and is active in artist-run exhibitions and collaborative projects in Toronto. [**Website**](https://veronikabondarenko.format.com/) [**Instagram**](https://www.instagram.com/_veronikabondarenko/) ## Other Recent News [### 2027 Critical Distance Centre for Curators Projections Program Call for Artists OCAD University’s RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers (CEAD) and Critical Distance Centre for Curators (CDCC) have partnered to co-create CDCC Projections Program Career Launcher. Four (4) to five (5) selected emerging artists will receive $690 to exhibit work in a single channel, projection-based screening program that will be displayed at the CDCC in March 2027. 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October 30, 2026 ](/news/2027-critical-distance-centre-curators-projections-program-call-artists) [### 2027 Critical Distance Centre for Curators Projections Program Call for Curators OCAD University’s RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers (CEAD) and Critical Distance Centre for Curators (CDCC) have partnered to co-create the CDCC Projections Program Career Launcher. One (1) emerging Curator will receive $1,700 to curate a single channel, projection-based screening program of work from the OCAD U community. The Projections Program will be displayed at the CDCC for six-weeks in March 2027. September 27, 2026 ](/news/2027-critical-distance-centre-curators-projections-program-call-curators) [### 2027 DesignTO Exhibition Stantec Window Gallery Call for Artists DesignTO, Stantec Window Gallery and the RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers are excited to announce a public window gallery exhibition Career Launcher. One (1) exhibition proposal will receive a total of $1,230 to show their work as part of the 2027 DesignTO Festival. September 20, 2026 ](/news/2027-designto-exhibition-stantec-window-gallery-call-artists)