Legacy
Legacy Programs
Artists, Athletes, Performers.
Toller always supported young talent especially those with passion, commitment, a strong work ethic, and a desire to reach for the stars. His legacy is growing through initiatives that celebrate, honour, and memorialize the values by which he lived. The work of Toller International draws a direct connection between the spirit of creativity embodied by Toller and its resonance to future generations in Canada and around the world.
We invite sponsorship arrangements and gratefully welcome donations and bequests. You can direct your contribution to any of the Toller legacy projects described below or ask that it be applied to the area of greatest need.
Chasing Destiny Award
“For the artist who dares to live as boldly as they create.”
This award celebrates the spirit of Toller Cranston (1949-2015)— an artist who lived and created without apology, and who painted with the same passion and daring with which he skated.
Presented annually to a member of the Ontario Society of Artists, it honours work and a life that reflect Toller’s fearless vision—bold, masterful, emotionally resonant, and unafraid to defy convention.
This award recognizes not only artistic excellence but also a practice lived vividly, courageously, and with an open heart, embodying the essence of Toller’s extraordinary life.
Award Criteria
The recipient’s artistic practice reflects:
• Courage of Vision – Defying convention, taking creative risks, and creating work that is unmistakably one’s own.
• The Poetry of Movement – Art that carries rhythm, flow, and emotional momentum, as if each stroke were part of a dance.
• The Alchemy of Craft and Imagination – Technical mastery infused with originality, turning skill into something transcendent.
• Generosity of Spirit – Inspiring and uplifting others through mentorship and creative generosity.
• Unyielding Authenticity – Living and creating with integrity, resilience, and a belief in the transformative power of art.
Prizes
• A cash prize of $500 from Toller International
• A copy of Toller Cranston: Artistic Impressions and Toller Cranston: Ice, Paint, Passion, personally dedicated by the author, Phillippa Cranston Baran, who is the founder of Toller International, an organization devoted to celebrating, preserving, and sharing the extraordinary legacy of her brother Toller Cranston.
2026 Toller Cranston Chasing Destiny Award Winner
Winner: Jill Hobson
Painting Title: As One III
Medium: Mixed Water Media On Paper Panel
Statement of Intent: Paintings delve into human relationships, exploring what binds us together. I view people as vessels of connection, sharing personal moments and sensations that range from fractured to hopeful and inclusive.
Website: jillhobson.com
Skate Ontario Moves Like Toller Contest
Every program has a moment — the landing that shook the arena, the step sequence that brought the crowd to its feet, the skate that felt bigger than the scoreboard and landed Skate Ontario athlete Toller Cranston with a bronze medal 50 years ago at the 1976 Olympic Games.
Now it’s your turn to decide which Skate Ontario athlete(s) or team, just like Toller, delivered the moment you’ll never forget.
Welcome to Skate Ontario Moves like Toller, where fans vote for their favourite competitive moment from Skate Ontario athletes — from any competition, any discipline, in the 2025/2026 season.
The Moves like Toller Contest is named for Toller Cranston: CM, OLY, LLD, a two-time Olympian and six-time Canadian champion who is revered for the courage, artistry, and creativity that he brought to every performance. His influence is felt to this day.
From breathtaking free skates to unforgettable debuts, we’re celebrating the performances that moved you and gave you goosebumps and make us all #SkateOntarioProud.
Was it a perfectly timed triple or quad jump?
A comeback skate under pressure?
A dance program that felt like pure magic?
A great performance is about inspiration, passion, commitment.
Because some moments don’t just win medals…
They stay with us forever and make us #SkateOntarioProud
Contest closes after ISU Synchronized Skating World Championships – April 12, 2026.
The Toller Legacy Fund
After retiring from competitive figure skating, Toller moved to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. For more than twenty-three years, he worked tirelessly to explore the limits of his own creativity, to inspire young athletes, and to mentor and support young artists. The Toller Legacy Fund supports young athletes, young artists, and young people everywhere to make the most of their lives. Through partnerships with organizations and individuals, Toller International creates practical and conceptual programs that encourage creativity and innovation.
UBU: Lasso the Moon
Empowering Young People to Dream Big
In the spirit of Toller’s courage, creativity and unwavering perseverance, UBU celebrates resilience, individuality, and the transformative power of self-expression. Through art, education, and community programs, UBU supports strategies to create safe spaces for young people to explore their potential, share their stories, and find support. UBU encourages youth to creating an authentic life, rise above societal pressures, prioritize mental wellness, and find empowerment in their unique skills, talents and capacities. Be bold. Be brave. Be creative. UBU.
The Toller Cranston Memorial Fund
The Toller Cranston Awards
Canadian Olympic Foundation
Toller was a force in the world of Figure Skating. He inspired generations. The Toller Cranston Memorial Fund was created by the Canadian Olympic Foundation in 2017 to honor his legacy, support the development of young athletes, inspire them to believe in their own potential, and live in harmony with the Olympic ideals both on and off the ice.
In a unique collaboration, the Canadian Olympic Foundation and Skate Canada originated the Toller Awards in 2017. Named in honour of Toller, the awards recognize courage, creativity, and expression in young skaters in the Junior and Novice levels at Nationals. To date there have been well over one hundred Toller award winners and they continue to shine on the national and international stage.
To support the Toller Awards, go to:
Donate Now – Canadian Olympic Foundation
or contact:
The Toller Cranston Memorial Fund
Canadian Olympic Foundation
250 Yonge St, Suite 3000
Toronto, ON M5B 2L7
Children’s Art Foundation
The Mission of the Children’s Art Foundation, a non-profit created by Hannah McCurley in 2010, is to help kids develop creativity through drawing and writing, to have fun, and to stay in school. She says, “Toller will be remembered by the people in San Miguel, especially the children. His extraordinary creativity, talents and generosity fuel the fire within that propels them to dream and reach for a different future for the better.”
World Figure Sport, Lake Placid, NY
Created in 2015, World Figure Sport upholds, protects and expands the knowledge, art and competition of Figure and Fancy Skating worldwide. WFS elevates skating by uniting fine, performing, decorative, and recording arts. For World Figure Sport, skating is simply to be human. Through an innovative series of classes, competition and events, skaters develop abilities on and off the ice—glide and balance, but also patience, perseverance, mindfulness, curiosity, effort, and a pure love of skating. You can contribute to the Toller Cranston Legacy Scholarships.
Yo Inc
Toller Cranston understood his own skills, experiences, and attitudes and he used them to make a living and to make a life. Yo Inc. is a program that takes young people through an innovative process of thinking of themselves in new ways. Through this understanding, they identify and organize what they need to start a business, build a career, get a job, or manage a project. The interactive Program is grounded in the concept of inclusion and the belief in the talents and capacities of people. The unique program is adapted from Smart Options and Ndrico Veten created and owned by Baran & Baran.
The Biblioteca Pública, San Miguel de Allende
Toller’s extensive personal library of books on art, architecture, design, and history was donated to the Biblioteca Pública where it has become a valuable permanent resource.
The Toller Cranston Books Collection
The estate of Toller Cranston, a renowned Canadian figure skater, winner of an Olympic medal in ice-skating, and active member of the San Miguel artistic community until his death in 2015, donated his entire art book collection to the Biblioteca.
This catalog contains close to 1,000 volumes dedicated to arts in all its forms and eras: from archeology to contemporary art, from Egyptology to modernity. Toller Cranston’s legacy is now part of the collection of the Biblioteca and is accessible to everyone in our community.
This collection is located in the Sala Ingles and is housed in new bookcases funded by the Toller Cranston Foundation and gifts of individual Canadians through Amistad Canada.
Passing the Torch
Toller International is developing projects for talented youth—artists, athletes and performers—grounded in the Olympic values of sportsmanship, fair play, dedication and commitment.