The Nancy Regan Arts Prize
In 2021, on the occasion of her retirement from the Board and to honor her contribution to CAF, co-founder Nancy Regan (left, with her husband Tom) agreed to CAF establishing the Nancy Regan Arts Prize, an annual award of $2000 given to an individual or team who applied that year for a grant from the organization, or who had produced an outstanding body of work in support of animal rights. All genres of art—including performance, dance, music, craft, film, and the visual arts—are open for consideration.
In 2021, the inaugural Nancy Regan Arts Prize was given to Hong Kong–based graphic artist Joan Chan Wing Yan, whose oeuvre then-CAF President Mia MacDonald called, “a great representation of the kind of work the Nancy Regan Arts Prize and the Foundation supports.” In 2022, the Prize was awarded to the British-born satirist and political artist Sue Coe. Board member Suzanne Pender said: “Sue’s work bears powerful witness to the injustices of our world, with breathtaking artistry, steadfast determination, and compassionate intimacy. Hopefully, one day our world will transform and evolve from the nightmarish reality Sue challenges us to confront.”
“When I received the Outstanding National Activist Award from CAF in 1994, it was shocking. It was stunning, and such a beautiful gift. And now this gift: it’s a bookend to forty years of work. It means a lot to me.”—Sue Coe
“I am grateful and honored to receive this award. It’s a difficult time for many people. I’m hoping with the difficulty comes a higher understanding of suffering, and we can be kinder to all sentient beings.”—Joan Chan Wing Yan