Created in 1987, the Fondation vaudoise pour la culture aims to honor and reward personalities from the cultural world of the canton of Vaud and to give them the material means to pursue their work. Once a year, the Fondation vaudoise pour la culture awards prizes to cultural personalities from the canton of Vaud or living in the canton of Vaud. 

These prizes are awarded on the basis of research carried out by the Foundation's Board of Trustees in complete independence, without any competition, application or other solicitation and without making any demands on the artist. Since 1987, the Foundation has awarded more than 250 prizes in the fields of music, literature, theater, visual arts, design, applied arts, dance, photography, film, video and intangible heritage.

The Emerging Talent Award recognizes emerging talent with strong development potential. It was previously awarded to Diana Akbulut (Daya Jones, a lecturer in the Bachelor in Contemporary Dance) in 2020, as well as in 2015 to Baptiste Gilliéron, an actor who graduated from the Bachelor in Theatre in 2009. In 2019, the actress Tiphanie Bovay-Klameth, who graduated from the Bachelor in Theatre in 2007, won the Vaud Cultural Prize.

Picture ©David Melendy for Natures mortes, project in progress by Cie Moost