The Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts are Canada’s foremost distinctions for excellence in visual and media arts. These awards were created in 1999 through a partnership of the Canada Council for the Arts and the then Governor General of Canada, Roméo LeBlanc, who committed Government House to hosting the gala ceremony to honour the laureates at Rideau Hall, in perpetuity. The Canada Council funds and administers the awards.
As a result of a $1.5 million donation to the Canada Council from The Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation, the Saidye Bronfman Award became a Governor General’s Award, reserved for fine craft artists as of March 2007. The name “Saidye Bronfman Award” is retained under the overall banner of the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts.
http://www.canadacouncil.ca/prizes/ggavma/ic127235956842343750.htm