Ashley Naomi Skye honoured with 2026 Pauline McGibbon Award

Ashley Naomi Skye, who is a sound designer, theatre artist, actor and musician, is the recipient of the 2026 Pauline McGibbon Award. This award is presented to an Ontario-based professional artist in the early stages of their career who has contributed to Ontario’s theatre community, displays unique talent, and has the potential for excellence.

Ashley received the award today during the nomination announcement press conference for the 46th annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards, held by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) at the Elgin & Winter Garden Theatres in Toronto.

About Ashley Naomi Skye

• Ashley Naomi Skye (she/her) is a trans femme sound designer, theatre artist, actor/performer and musician. Her creative process uses a post-modern approach and is influenced by remix culture.
• Ashley completed a mentorship with Keshia Palm through the Black Theatre Workshop’s 2025-2026 Artist Mentorship Program and began training as a sound designer via the Paprika Festival’s Design Lab in 2022, under the guidance of 2020 McGibbon Award laureate Deanna H. Choi.
• Sound design credits include First Born Theatre (Gringas), Crow’s Theatre (The Veil), Guild Festival Theatre (Isle of Demons, The 39 Steps), Theatre Passe Muraille (The Little Prince), Aluna Theatre, Dandelion Theatre, and Shifting Ground Collective (The Drowsy Chaperone) in Toronto, and Centaur Theatre (The Healing), Montreal Fringe (Regarding Antigone), and upcoming remounts of The Veil for Stratford Meighen Forum and Vertigo Theatre nationally.
• Ashley has developed original plays digitrans // analogirl and Hip Hop 100 with the support of Tarragon Theatre’s Greenhouse Festival, Dead Name Theatre, SummerWorks, and Community One’s Rainbow Grant.
• As an actor, Ashley has performed at the Luminato Festival, Buddies in Bad Times’ Rhubarb Festival, and ACTRA Toronto’s inaugural “A Different Lens” initiative.
• As a live bassist, keyboardist and MC, Ashley has performed at Confluence Concerts, Femmepocalypse, and Exit Points. She has released two albums, Synesthesia and Moonlight Museum, independently via Bandcamp, and is currently co-organizing the ambient concert series Wave Pool with Sonia Leung and Yamen Mouhanna.

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The assessors were excited in their selection of Ashley Naomi Skye as laureate. They said, “We chose Ashley for this award because of her distinctive sound practice and her striking clarity of artistic vision. Her work is bold, imaginative, and deeply intentional. We hope this recognition will have a significant impact in supporting her momentum as her practice continues to grow.”

About the Pauline McGibbon Award

• Established in 1981, the award honours former Lieutenant Governor Pauline McGibbon for her support and patronage of the arts. It includes a $7,000 prize and a bronze medal designed by Dora de Pédery-Hunt.
• The award is given each year by the Province of Ontario through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Gaming and is administered by the Ontario Arts Council.
• The award is cyclical in nature: the first year of the three-year cycle, the award goes to a designer, the second year to a director, and the third year to a production craftsperson.
• The winner is selected by a peer assessment jury, which this year consisted of lighting designer Michelle Ramsay (Toronto), sound designer and sonic artist Debashis Sinha (Toronto), and costume designer Samantha McCue (Ottawa), who was the McGibbon Award laureate in 2023.
• Previous winners include production craftsperson Sophie Moynan (2025), theatre director Tawiah Ben M’Carthy (2024), and set and costume designer Samantha McCue (2023). Full list of Pauline McGibbon Award laureates.