See the program and recordings of the Art for Social Change NOW 2022 gathering here.

Presenter Biographies

ADONIS HUGGINS

Adonis has long had an interest in the arts. Having graduated from the Community Worker Diploma Program at Toronto’s George Brown College in 1988, Adonis moved to Nova Scotia to pursue a BA in Theatre at Dalhousie University. During the summers of 1998 and 1999, Adonis auditioned and performed in lead roles with a Black theatre company associated with the Nova Scotia Black Cultural Centre. The theatre company was founded to highlight Canada’s racist past and present contemporary issues faced by Black communities in Eastern Canada. The experience would serve as a major influence in Adonis’s later work. 

Adonis returned to Toronto in 1991 to work with a newly formed resident group in Regent Park anxious to develop interventions for hard-to-reach youth and deal with the stigmatization of Regent Park. When engagement through theatre proved challenging, Adonis turned to the popularity of media arts, taking extensive courses in video production and imparting what he learned to the community. For over 30 years, Adonis has developed programs that offer young people opportunities to explore radio/print journalism, audio arts, music, photography, coding and video arts. 

DR. AFUA COOPER

Dr. Afua Cooper is a multidisciplinary scholar and artist. Her contribution to society includes the literary arts, history, humanities, education, and human and civil rights. Her twelve books range across such genres as history, poetry, fiction, and children’s literature. Dr. Cooper served as the Poet Laureate of Halifax Regional Municipality for the term 2018-2020. A review of her book called “The Hanging of Angélique” by Dionne Brand says that it is “the most important piece of Canadian history written in decades…[It] shakes the earth beneath the Canadian nation story. Thorough, original, and masterful, this book is a stunning reclamation of one woman’s life, but it is also a reclamation of Africans in early North American history. Trenchant and engagingly written, this book is brilliant.”

ALBERT MCLEOD

Albert McLeod is a Status Indian with ancestry from Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation and the Metis community of Norway House in northern Manitoba. He has over thirty years of experience as a human rights activist and was one of the founders of the 2-Spirited People of Manitoba.

Albert began his 2Spirit advocacy in Winnipeg in 1986 and became an HIV/AIDS activist in 1987. He was the director of the Manitoba Aboriginal AIDS Task Force from 1991 to 2001. In 2018, Albert received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Winnipeg. He was also a member of the sub-working group that produced the MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ National Action Plan Report in 2020-2021. Albert lives in Winnipeg, where he works as a consultant specializing in Indigenous peoples, cultural reclamation, and cross-cultural training. www.albertmcleod.com

ALLISON YEARWOOD

She is an alumnus of the University of Winnipeg, with a political science and business administration degree, and brings a fresh focus to the business of arts administration. Allison returns to her hometown, Winnipeg, from the Banff Centre, where she was Program Manager at the Indigenous Arts Department. Previously, Allison served as Art and Business Manager at Yamaji Art, an Aboriginal art centre in Australia, and was the General Manager of Collective of Black Artists in Toronto. Allison was the Programming and Events Coordinator at the Northern Life Museum & Cultural Centre in Fort Smith, North West Territories, and was the first non-Indigenous staff member at Urban Shaman Gallery in Winnipeg. Allison advocates for racialized and disenfranchised groups to decolonize institutions of power from the ground up. She is exceptionally skilled on issues of equity and a powerful and transformative voice for anti-racism action. Allison is a proponent of equity justice in media and digital production and has acted as program manager for digital art residencies at Banff Centre. Allison’s institutional critique articulates the creation of safe spaces for underserved communities within the institution. Currently sitting on the boards of aceartinc. and Spiderweb Show.

ANNALEE YASSI

Dr. Annalee Yassi is a Professor in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Global Health and Capacity Building. She is a Specialist in both Public Health and Preventive Medicine, as well as Occupational Medicine. Dr. Yassi’s research focuses on issues and methods in community-based health research; transdisciplinarity; and bilateral intercultural learning in North-South partnerships. She is interested in ethics in global health research, the social determination of health, an ecosystem approach to health, and the use of arts-based methods in health intervention research. Dr. Yassi has published extensively and has received accolades and awards for her work in community-university partnership research in North-South interdisciplinary projects. As a co-investigator in the multi-institutional Arts for Social Change partnership, her team at UBC led the development of an online tool to guide community arts organizations in evaluating their programs, calling attention to the importance of program theory and clarity of objectives, as well was the use of multiple methods to capture desired objectives.

CANDICE LYS, MA, PhD, M.S.M (Civil)

Dr. Candice Lys grew up in a very large Métis family in Fort Smith, NWT and now resides in Yellowknife.  She holds a PhD in Public Health Science from the University of Toronto, a MA in Health Promotion from Dalhousie University, and a BA Honors (with First Class Honors) in sociology from the University of Alberta.  She has nearly 20 years of experience as a community-based sexual and mental health promotion expert and researcher.   

Candice is the Co-Founder/Executive Director of FOXY (Fostering Open eXpression among Youth) and SMASH (Strength, Masculinities, and Sexual Health).  FOXY and SMASH are peer-led, trauma-informed, arts-based sexual and mental health programs that use the arts to facilitate discussion, education, and healing among Northern and Indigenous youth.  FOXY and SMASH have reached over 7000 youth from across the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon over the last nine years, and in 2014 FOXY was the first organization to be awarded the entire $1 million Arctic Inspiration Prize with Candice as its Nominated Team Lead.  Candice is recognized as the 53rd Ashoka Fellow from Canada and was named 2015 Northerner of the Year by Up Here magazine.  She has earned the Meritorious Service Medal (Civil Division) from the Governor General of Canada, a 2020 Indspire Award for Education, and a CIHR Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, among numerous other awards. 

 She is a life partner to Remi, and mom to little humans Luca and Mira and a rambunctious beagle named Maple.

CASSANDRA SPADE

Cassandra Spade (she/her) is a grassroots, human rights activist from the Mishkeegogamang First Nation, located in Northwestern Ontario. Her work is community-driven, with a focus on relationship-building, (re)localization, Youth leadership, community healing and accessibility. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Manitoba with a Major in History, a certificate in Community Economic and Social Development (CESD) from Algoma University and is a graduate from Ojibwemotaadidaa Omaa Gidakiiminaang (OOG) Ojibwe language immersion academy.

GLENN MARAIS

Glenn Marais is an accomplished singer/songwriter with a Juno Nomination and a Socan Number One Award. He is an incredible guitarist and singer with an amazing vocal range, from Delta blues to soul, rock, funk and reggae. He can do it all and is extremely passionate for Delta Blues music and its history, bringing it to life with a Dobro, storytelling songs and ripping blues harmonica playing. Glenn also released a book of poetry, Dance with Fear Live in the Light, and is currently working on a follow-up and a musical play. He is a passionate writer, who has written several children’s stories and two novels to date. He also leads a five piece band of world class musicians that play a fusion of blues rock, funk and reggae. Glenn is a music educator and a philanthropist who uses his music to heal and help teaching character education through his company Music in Mind thousands of people, young and old, inspiring them to get involved locally and globally with his universal motto, “Give to Live”. www.glennmarais.ca. 

JACOB ZIMMER

Born in Cape Breton and growing up in Halifax, Jacob created and produced theatre for fifteen years in Toronto before relocating to Whitehorse to become the Artistic Director of Nakai Theatre. As a process designer and facilitator, Jacob co-creates gatherings for teams working on complex issues and has worked with Banff Centre, Vancouver Foundation and others. Along with his work in theatre, Jacob worked in dance as a dramaturge and has taught and spoken with artists, students and general audiences from coast to coast. Jacob studied theatre at Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts. 

JOSEPH NAYTOWHOW

Read the most up-to-date information about Joseph Naytowhow on his website: https://josephnaytowhow.com/.

JOY K. BALMANA

Joy K. Balmana (she/her) is a (Filipinx/ Ukrainian-Canadian) settler on Treaty 1 Territory and has been engaged with Manitoba’s music and art communities as an artist, curator, facilitator, administrator, a fine arts student, and active/passive viewer for the past 12 years.
While Joy is fresh in her role as Special & Community Events Manager for Assiniboine Park Conservancy – she’s recently held long-held positions as the Opportunities Manager with Synonym Art Consultation, Wall-to-Wall Mural & Culture Festival, and GORGE Queer Arts & Drag Festival and Festival Manager of Holiday Alley. With time in-between, Joy facilities workshops for various art organizations in Manitoba. Throughout her various jobs, Joy dips her toes into media relations, social media management, and content creation, content creation, event coordination, marketing, and sponsorships with a bit of mural and art facilitation on the side. Throughout her working and educational career, Joy has always found excitement in uplifting people around her and providing opportunities to artists and musicians. Joy has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from the University of Manitoba and graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program with a specialty in Public Relations. Joy has worked on a number of art-forward festivals in Manitoba including Nuit Blanche Winnipeg, Culture Days Manitoba, and Kultivation FAMD (Festival of Art, Music, and Dance).

JUDY MCNAUGHTON

Judy McNaughton (Scottish/ Irish/Norwegian) is a cultural animateur and visual artist living in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Throughout her career she has been socially motivated, which has manifested in cultural activism and socially engaged projects. Her programs strive to enrich our cultural ecosystem while highlighting the strengths and beauty that already exist. She serves on numerous panels, juries, boards, and consultation engagements. Her studio practice, including public installations and gallery exhibits, reconsiders notions of discrete separation between the things and beings in the world, and our connection to the world around us. She received a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Regina and a Master of Fine Arts degree through Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Judy has been Northern Artistic Director with Common Weal since 2004.

JULIANA BEDOYA

Juliana is community-engaged environmental artist who supports individuals and community groups to establish their own cultural significance through skill sharing, including all stages of ethically harvesting and processing raw plant materials for art-making and environmental art practice. Respectfully using ancestral skills and traditional knowledge that navigates across cultures, and mainly working with garden trims and invasive plants, her work also aims to support local ecological restoration that fosters native ecology. Plants have been important teachers and have allowed her to explore different technologies to interrelate with the territories she inhabits. Interacting with plants as more-than-human beings who carry intrinsic knowledge has been her entry point for an ongoing search for relationship with the natural world.

Born in Muysca territory (known as Bogota, Colombia) and now gratefully living with her family on the unceded Traditional Territory of the K’òmoks First Nation (Comox Valley, Vancouver Island), she navigates the discomfort of the colonial scar (or open wound) present in these places in addition to the one she carries, inviting a creative conversation that works as medicine. What are the places that love her back? She is constantly longing for that relationship and looking to establish a two-way presence in the land. Alongside this practice, she has worked in the non-profit and public sectors as a curator and arts administrator developing interactive exhibitions, public art installations, and delivering arts programming that activates diverse audiences to support community participation.

KA’NAHSOHON KEVIN DEER

Kanahsohon Kevin Deer is from Kahnawake Mohawk Territory. For the last 30 years involved in Mohawk Language retention and revitalization.  He is also a Faithkeeper at the Mohawk Trail Longhouse which involves knowing sacred songs, dances and rituals. He enjoys discussing and presenting the Iroquoian world views, history and philosophy. He was involved in the Kahnawake Police Commission from 2005 to 2015.  In 1990 he was involved in the Oka Crisis using the power of peace to try to resolve that conflict.  In May 1990 he participated in a ceremony calling for the return of the Peacemaker in Tyendineaga, Ontario.  In 1994 he assisted in the establishment of the new Mohawk community at Kanatsiohareke, New York.  In 2003 he was part of a planning committee of the historic event that involved horses coming across the land from British Columbia to Six Nations to help wipe the tears of the 7 generations and heal the earth. In September 2015 he was deeply involved in the Bretton Woods IV convocation, performing a ceremony to help all participants who gathered to see, hear, and speak more clearly about matters of global financial concern from a Native, First Nation’s perspective. In February 2016, he made a presentation on Native spirituality at the United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week in New York. In August 2016 he did a welcoming and healing ceremony for the World Forum on Theology and Liberation in Montreal.  In November 2016 he traveled to Standing Rock to meet with spiritual leaders and elders.

KARINE LAVOIE

Karine Lavoie has more than 20 years of experience in social circus, first as a trainer in various countries around the world, as a training advisor at Cirque du Soleil, as a speaker and today with Cirque Hors Piste. She also cumulated a solid expertise in social intervention, having worked for more than 10 years with people experiencing homelessness or living in precarious situations. In addition to her involvement in the social intervention milieu, Karine has worked as a circus artist in various events and festivals. After traveling many countries in the world spreading her passion for social circus, she is now fully dedicated to the development of the approach here in Canada with the solid conviction that circus is a strong vector of social transformation in communities. 

Karine Lavoie détient plus de 20 ans d’expérience en cirque social à la fois comme formatrice dans différents pays du monde, conseillère en formation au Cirque du Soleil, conférencière et aujourd’hui comme directrice générale de l’organisme Cirque Hors Piste.  Elle a cumulé une solide expertise en intervention psychosociale, ayant travaillé plus de 10 ans avec les personnes en situation d’itinérance ou vivant en grande précarité. En plus de son expérience dans le milieu de l’intervention psychosociale, Karine a travaillé comme artiste de cirque dans différents événements et festivals. Après avoir parcouru de nombreux pays dans le monde, elle se consacre maintenant entièrement au développement du cirque social au Canada avec la solide conviction que le cirque est un vecteur de transformation sociale dans les communautés.

DR. KIM VAN DER WOERD

Kim van der Woerd is a member of the ‘Namgis First Nation from Alert Bay, BC. Kim is the founding
owner of Reciprocal Consulting, an Indigenous consulting firm specializing in program evaluation and
research. She has 25+ years of experience conducting local, provincial and national program evaluations
managing over 300 projects. Kim completed her PhD in Psychology at Simon Fraser University. Her
dissertation was the recipient of the Michael Scriven Dissertation Award for Outstanding Contribution to
Evaluation Theory, Methodology or Practice, 2007. Kim also received the Canadian Evaluation Society
Contributions to Evaluation in Canada 2014 Award for her mentorship of Indigenous students. More
recently, Kim was awarded the 2018 BC Community Achievement Award, and the 2018 Mitchell Award
through the BC Achievement Foundation; as well as the Indigenous Business Award 2018 for businesses
with 3-10 people. Kim and her team at Reciprocal Consulting are passionate about justice, equity, and
culturally responsive research and evaluation. Kim has also been active in her community serving on
many boards locally and nationally.

LAURA BARRON

Laura Barron is a Vancouver-based musician, writer, facilitator and community artist, gratefully living and working on ancestral, unceded Coast Salish Territory. Her 30-year career as a flutist has brought her from the Yukon to New Zealand, including solo appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and several performances at Carnegie Hall. With a doctorate from McGill, she served for 10 years on the faculties of the Universities of OR, WI & N. AZ, mentoring emerging artists, as she continues to do with ICASC’s Futures:Forward initiative, exploring songwriting, poetry and other interdisciplinary collaborations in the service of climate justice activism.  She has always strived for relevance in her work, and harnesses her experience as a performer and teacher in her role as the Founder / Executive Director of Instruments of Change. This Vancouver-based non-profit leads numerous community arts initiatives that engage with incarcerated women in Canada, at-risk youth in India, educators in Zambia, and many other diverse groups. It is in this capacity that she has been able to have her greatest reach and impact, designing experiences that empower underserved and often marginalized individuals to become instruments of change in their own lives as they find their own creative voices. Laura is also a frequent blogger, most recently about artistic responses to the pandemic, globally, in These Adagio Days. And she brings all of her professional experiences together in her new writing project, Key Changes, a novel based on the healing power of music.

LEEANNE IRELAND

LeeAnne Ireland is a mixed-race, Anishinaabe person from the central Ontario area. A graduate from Trent University with a degree in Indigenous Studies, LeeAnne has been the Executive Director at the Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth (USAY) since 2008. LeeAnne primarily focuses on social justice issues facing Indigenous youth living in the Calgary area, and with their involvement, creates programs, tools, and supports that foster healing, well-being, and empowerment. LeeAnne’s goal is to shift the narrative of Indigenous people to showcase the strength, resiliency, and vibrancy that Indigenous possess throughout the world.

DR. LOUISE COMEAU

Louise directs the Conservation Council of New Brunswick’s Climate Change and Energy Solutions program. Dr. Comeau has almost 30 years’ experience in analyzing and developing climate change policy, communications, and solutions-related programming for environmental groups and through her consultancy, Iris Communications. She holds a doctorate in environmental management, focused on environmental ethics and behaviour change from UNB. Louise lives in Keswick Ridge with her partner Tom. She has received two Queen’s citizenship medals for her work in international climate negotiations and creation of Green Municipal Fund and other sustainability programming at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

Louise dirige les solutions du le programme sur le changement climatique et l’énergie du Conseil de conservation du Nouveau-Brunswick. Le Dr Comeau a près de 30 ans d’expérience dans l’analyse et l’élaboration de politiques, de communications et de programmes liés aux solutions en matière de changements climatiques. Elle détient un doctorat en gestion de l’environnement, axé sur l’éthique environnementale et le changement de comportement de l’UNB. Louise habite à Keswick Ridge avec son partenaire Tom. Elle a reçu deux médailles de citoyenneté de la Reine pour son travail dans les négociations internationales sur le climat et la création du Fonds municipal vert et d’autres programmes de développement durable à la Fédération canadienne des municipalités.

MAGGIE MERCREDI

​​I am Denesoline. The legacy of pain has not missed me. Taking care of me was not an easy journey especially when I was told to be a good girl. Seeking those who could help me was difficult when I didn’t have words to express the good bad and ugly. I felt invisible, yet I stayed true even when true was painful, terrifying and wonderful.

Around the time that NACC raised its curtains, I stepped onto the stage for the first time and realized a dream my whole being was ready to share. It was one scene among many that truly spoke to me: I sat on a log as a granny telling a story about a star in the universe in love with a young Dene girl. It was such a beautiful experience as I connected to truth and began a healing through theatre.

I cofounded The Native Theatre Group; was a member of an ensemble of women’s voices; formally trained at the Centre for Indigenous Theatre and the Banff Centre for the Arts. As artistic director, I worked with youth in developing a play. I taught drama sessions and wrote, directed and performed original pieces. I was a jury member for the Tom Hendry Awards 2020 play submissions.

Today I work in bringing awareness of the history and legacy of residential institutions and colonization. However my heart still longs to tell the stories that patiently wait within, a dream still lingering like sage long after the smudge. Mahsi.

MARIE CODERRE

​​Marie Coderre has been in the position of Executive and Artistic Director for the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre (NACC) since September 2012.  In this position she is responsible for delivering a variety of artistic performances and related workshops throughout the Northwest Territories.  Working in Yellowknife, the regional centers, and small communities in the NWT, she has increased the diversity of cultural performances enjoyed by northerners. 

Before joining NACC Marie worked for the Francophone Cultural Association in Yellowknife from 2010-2012.  While at the Association she expanded their reach and initiated several successful festivals and events that were enjoyed by francophones and other community members in Yellowknife.  Marie also did similar work in Inuvik, NT, with the Mackenzie Delta Francophone Association from 2007-2009.

Marie’s leadership style has focused on partnering and working hard to make relevant performing art projects happen.   With an eye for artistic expression, a mind for detail, a passion for the performing arts, and her heart in the North, Marie plans to enjoy her position for many years to come. ead@naccnt.ca.

DR. MARNIE BADHAM

With a 25-year history of art and social justice practice, Marnie is an expert in socially-engaged art, participatory research methodologies, and the politics of cultural measurement. Marnie is a Senior Research Fellow at the School of Art, CAST (contemporary art and social transformation) research group and CVIN Cultural Value Impact Network,  RMIT University, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.

Marnie was recently awarded a 3 year Australian Research Council Linkage Project: Ambitious and Fair: towards a sustainable visual arts sector. With Gunditjmara artist Vicki Couzens, Marnie has co-developed Listening to Country, Listening to Community: towards a co-created framework of value and values for the Dandenong Creek Art Trail (2021). Marnie advocates self-determination in evaluation partnerships: Coming Back Out Ball (2019-2022) with LGTBI+ seniors, Indigenous Traditional Dance Project (2018), and Ngamumu: decolonising motherhood (2021).

Other art-research includes curation projects on the aesthetics and politics of food Clarendon Creative Progressive Dinner Party (2018) and Bruised Food: a living laboratory with Francis Maravillas at RMIT Gallery (2019) and a series of creative cartographies registering emotion in public space EmpowerHER: a women’s map to the city with Thompson Rivers University (2018), Five Weeks in Spring: an emotional map of Lilydale at Yarra Ranges Gallery (2018) and Pedestrian Poetics for Public Space (2021) with Tammy Wong Hulbert. Her first monograph The Social Life of Artist Residencies: connecting with people and place not your own will be published in 2022.

Marnie is Chair of International Art Space – spaced artist residency program in Western Australia and Artistic Advisor to Bus Projects in Melbourne..

MAUDE LEVASSEUR

Maude Levasseur lives and works in Tiohtiá:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal. She comes from a settler background and takes her responsibility seriously in not reproducing harmful cycles but working towards dismantling colonialism and White Supremacy. Maude is currently the Director of the Arts Engagement department at the National Theatre School of Canada. She has studied in Film Studies, Poetry, and  Sociology. She founded La Société Textile, a micro school around fiber arts, with her best friend. She teaches embroidery since 2016 and has been knitting since forever.

MEGAN STEWART

Megan Stewart is a theatre artist residing and working in Epekwitk (Prince Edward Island), the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people.  A director, producer, dramaturge and performer, much of her practice centres upon large-scale collaborative theatre projects and community-engaged creation. She has established several outdoor theatre festivals and performance events on PEI, including the inaugural March of the Crows for Art in the Open in 2011 (with Jamie Shannon & Harmony Wagner), and the Island Fringe Festival with Sarah Segal Lazar in 2012. She is the artistic director of The River Clyde Pageant, a non-profit organization presenting outdoor, community-engaged performance and art events in New Glasgow, PEI, which she co-founded in 2016 with Ker Wells. 

In addition to co-directing and producing each summer’s River Clyde Pageant, recent projects include co-directing/co-instigating The Soley Cove Legacy Project in Economy, Nova Scotia; playing Mayor Steph in the Bell Fibe TV1 series Aww Shucks; and co-creating and leading The Flock for Art in the Open 2020. She is currently working as director and dramaturg for Leah Abramson’s Songs for a Lost Pod, a song cycle and stage show presented by Music on Main and the PuSh Festival in Vancouver in February 2022. She is a graduate of Simon Fraser University’s MFA program in Interdisciplinary Arts.

MIRANDA BOUCHARD

Miranda Bouchard (she/her) brings 14+ years of experience and study in the non-profit arts, culture and heritage sector to her work as Artistic Director at Thinking Rock Community Arts. Her roots and residence in the rural Algoma District of Northern Ontario inform her multifaceted work as a project collaborator, contributor and champion. As a community artist, independent curator and arts manager, Miranda aims to create and hold spaces for dialogue, sharing and learning; increase access to and engagement in the arts; and connect artists and audiences. She’s studied studio art, art history and nonprofit management at the White Mountain Academy of the Arts (Elliot Lake, ON), the University of Guelph (Guelph, ON), the Institute of Fine Arts, Lahti University of Applied Sciences (Lahti, Finland) and Ryerson University (Toronto, ON), and has apprenticed with Ruth Howard and Jumblies Theatre (Toronto, ON).

MOASHELLA SHORTTE

Executive Director, Moashella “Michelle” Shortte, is a Mother, Artist, Entrepreneur, Advocate, Innovator, and Community Leader. Although Ms. Shortte began her career with a focus on early education and quality learning spaces, she has most recently turned her attention to highlighting the need to make room for youthful wisdom in all spheres of society and to lobby for young creatives to be given all tools necessary for reaching their maximum potential as valued contributors in their communities.

Moashella received her first post-secondary training from Mount Saint Vincent University with a degree in Child and Youth Study and later earned a Management development certificate through the Management Development for Women program, a joint project between Mount St. Vincent and St. Mary’s Universities.

During her time at the Mount, Moashella worked as a research assistant as well as coordinator at the university’s curriculum resource library. Upon graduation she secured a position at the East Preston Day Care and family resource center – nationally recognized for its impact on the community – moving from educator to program coordinator and finally taking on the role of Executive Director, succeeding the organization’s founder and only other ED. After serving in that position for 5 years Moashella moved to Montreal. During her time there she worked as a private contractor designing and delivering educational programs and professional development training for early learning establishments both in Montreal and Nova Scotia.

In support of her work, Moashella lends herself to the betterment of our society in a variety of ways. Three years ago, she co-founded Learning4YoungMinds a company that offers online and in-person workshops on teaching empathy and socialization to young children, anti-racism training for educators and student support workers, writing support for BIPOC youth and the promoting and encouraging Self-love and self-acceptance for everyone. With her sister Solitha Shortte, she founded the Atlantic Scholarship Organization with the mission of removing some of the financial barriers, and other obstacles that most marginalized students face when trying to access post-secondary education. She has written and published a positive affirmation children’s book and contributed a chapter in an anthology about healing from childhood trauma. She is one half of the duo that founded the Confronting Racism Discussion Group – a WIBA program, as featured on the CBC Doc series, and is now nationally recognized for its unique approach to addressing racism and its devastating effects on the black community. Most recently Moashella has been supporting a group of young BIPOC writers as they prepare to pen a history book on their experience as black English-speaking youth in Montreal. And here in Nova Scotia, she will be continuing to put in work for the fight against racism in all learning environments by serving on NSCC’s Afrocentric ECE Advisory Committee as well as the strategic plan and branding strategy committee for ANSMA.

NATASHA BLACKWOOD

Natasha Blackwood is the coordinator of First Light Centre for Performance and Creativity in St John’s. She has been working in St. John’s, Newfoundland for twelve years on meaningful projects such as Eastern Owl, Jazz East, and Spirit Song Festival. She started as a member of First Light, and in recent years has moved into a leadership role on the arts team. First Light is a not for profit organization in St. John’s that offers a variety of programs and services to support the urban Indigenous community, in the areas of social support, community programs, and social enterprises. Natasha coordinates the Centre for Performance and Creativity, a new social enterprise where First Light is working to convert a 100-year-old United Church into a world class Indigenous Arts Centre.

PAOLA GOMEZ

Paola is a trained human rights lawyer, community organizer, public speaker, artist facilitator, writer and dreamer. A member of PEN Canada’s Writers in Exile and an advocate, Paola is involved in causes such as ending violence against women and forced migration. Paola is the co-founder and Director of Muse Arts and the Creator, Director and Producer of HAPPENING Multicultural Festival. Paola’s work with refugee and newcomer communities have been greatly recognize in Canada, where she arrived as a refugee. Paola is the recipient of 2008 Amina Malko Award from the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture, 2009 Vital People from Toronto Foundation for her community building initiatives, the 2016 Constance E Hamilton, Human Rights Award from the City of Toronto and the 2018 Champions of Change Award; excellence in the Arts from the Skills for Change.

PEACE AKINTADE

Peace Akintade is an African Canadian Interdisciplinary Poet, Public Speaker, and Thespian residing in Saskatoon Saskatchewan. Forestry Farm’s “Artist-in Residence.” Former 2020-July 2021 Saskatchewan Youth Poet Laureate, Co-coordinator of Write Out Loud, a Saskatoon-based Youth Poetry Community, and board member of the Tonight it’s Poetry Community. Part of the Youth Speaker’s Bureau for the Office of the Treaty Commissioner. One of the 21 Black Playwrights chosen for Obsidian Theatre’s 21 Black Future Project. Her play “Madness with Rocks’ ‘ can be found on CBCArts and CBCGem. Her other works can be found in the History Folklore Society, Kindred Cities, CBC, Global News, SaskArts, the Saskatchewan Writers Guild, the Voices of Today Anthology, “Birthday Party” Anthology, Leaders Post, TOAST, and SaskCulture.

Her poems touch on the impact of slavery in her village, colorism, growing up in Kuwait, Nigeria, and Canada, and relearning her culture in the face of colonization.

ROSEMARY GEORGESON

SAHTU DENE AND COAST SALISH INDEPENDENT ARTIST ROSEMARY GEORGESON: Rosemary Georgeson was born and raised in the commercial fishing industry, spending the first half of her life fishing around Galiano Island and the Salish Sea, sometimes as far as Prince Rupert. Since leaving the industry, she has worked in the arts community as a writer, storyteller and researcher. Recognized in 2009 by the Vancouver Mayor’s award for emerging artist and in 2014 as the Vancouver Public Library’s Storyteller in Residence, Rosemary’s work is deeply rooted in her family history on Galiano Island.

Photo is courtesy of Jessica Hallenbeck.

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SKYE LOUIS

Skye is a Goan-Torontonian printmaker and arts educator based in Calgary.  Themes in Skye’s work include human connection, empowerment, and accessibility as well as decolonial theory and globalized consumer capitalism. Their prints are playful, bold, and often made with vibrant colour and unconventional materials. As a printmaker, Skye is interested in experimental processes and material transformation. As an arts educator, Skye focuses on making complex ideas and skills accessible through hands-on, interactive processes. 

Skye collaborates frequently with community groups. Skye is proud to have worked with and learned from organizations such as the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Neighbourhood Arts Network, Scarborough Arts Council, ArtReach Toronto, Inkstorm Screenprinting Collective, and the Anti-Racist Organizational Change project. They are a current member of Calgary Arts Development’s Artist As Changemaker cohort and Alberta Printmakers.

TIM BORLASE

Tim has been actively involved in promoting and sustaining the arts and culture of Labrador for more than 40 years He was a program specialist for art, music, drama, Labrador studies, and social studies with the Labrador School Board for 28 years. He then became the Director of the Labrador Institute of Memorial University from 2002-2006 where he involved the university in responding to the educational, cultural and research needs of Labradorians.  He is the author of numerous publications on the heritage and culture of Labrador including The Labrador Inuit, Songs of  Labrador the first pan Labrador songbook,Tusanittut, a book of nursery rhymes and songs in Inuktitut, It Can Be Done (2016)an online handbook about how to write a community play based on the community of Mud Lake, The First Treaty is with our Earth Mother(2018) Grade 3 Treaty Education for New Brunswick schools and The IkKaumajammik Project (2019) original scripts created by five Inuit  communities in Labrador for the Nunatsiavut government..  

Tim has been instrumental in the development and delivery of the Melville Music Festival, the Heritage Fair, the Arts Smarts program in Labrador, the North Coast Sports Meet, and the High SchoolDrama Festival. Tim is also a founding member and director of the Mokami Players, an adult theatre group in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. While in Labrador he oversaw the Happy Valley-Goose Bay Arts Council, a volunteer group which brings in visiting performers. He is also the founder and organizer of the Labrador Creative Arts Festival (1975), an event which involves about 4500 students annually from many Labrador communities in the presentation of their original scripts on issues of concern and workshops with professional artists.
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TRACI FOSTER

Traci Foster is a trauma informed disability artist, theatre maker, somatic educator, and acting/voice coach and director.  She was Canada’s first certified Fitzmaurice Voicework™ instructor (2006) and is one of Canada’s lead practitioners of the work. She explores and develops her work through somatic voice with a focus on where awareness, intuition and action intersect within the anomalous body. Traci is the recipient of the 2015 YWCA’s Woman of Distinction Jacqui Shumiatcher Arts Award. 

Traci is the founder (2009) and artistic director of Listen to Dis’ Community Arts Organization Inc., Saskatchewan’s first and only disability-led arts organization. She has worked with her company of actors with disabilities for twelve years developing a portfolio of multi-disciplinary creative projects and a new web series aimed at increasing professional opportunities. These actors now perform innovative, original work across the province tackling issues of sensuality and disability, the desire to belong, ableism, and the political right to live in one’s body. In 2021 Traci and her company – The Other Ordinary –completed a radio play, a short film, and two music videos. 

For enjoyment, Traci enjoys love, life, nature, all animals, and all art, especially the stuff that makes her laugh, cry, or squirm. For pleasure, she enjoys Edward, her beloved partner, Cleo, Peep and Luna, her beloved cats and Leita Lou her beloved service dog.

VANESSA RICHARDS

Vanessa Richards, born in Vancouver, is an interdisciplinary artist and facilitator combining a passion for communities and culture into unique socially-engaged projects. She has devised and delivered initiatives with universities, unions, cultural organizations, and health care providers in Canada and the UK.

In performance she has worked in music, film, and television. In theatre she’s been nominated for a Jesse Richardson Theatre Award.

Her poetry and critical works have been anthologized in the UK, Holland, United States and Canada. She was the founder and song leader of a drop-in community choir open to all voices for 11 years and which inspired her approach to song based facilitation.

One of her pleasures is to advance imaginative thinking across disciplines. Towards that, she has sat on a number of advisory committees, including the RADIUS Fellowship at Beedie School of Business SFU, the City of Vancouver Black History Month Citizen’s Advisory, and the Hogan’s Alley Working Group. She is a volunteer mentor for a collective of Black youth cultural co-operatives, Solid State Industries. 

At Simon Fraser University she is an Associate of the SFU  Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, an instructor in the Community Capacity Building Certificate. In the realm of social enterprise, she is a co-producer/facilitator for the Social Venture Institute with Hollyhock Leadership Institute. 

In 2018, she received the City of Vancouver’s Mayor’s Achievement Award for her work in the realm of civic imagination.

She believes in us.

WILL WEIGLER

I am a Settler Canadian, born and raised on the territory of the Multnomah peoples in what is now Portland, Oregon. For the past 15 years I have been a visitor on traditional territories of the Coast Salish Peoples. I am a theatre director, playwright, producer, and storyteller, and have written five books on different approaches to co-creating theatre with people in communities about the issues that matter to them. Much of my arts-based community engagement work is focused on advocacy for social justice, reducing stigma, giving voice to marginalized communities, and using performance to promote peer education about the legacy and impact of colonialism and the importance of supporting Indigenous communities and cultural resurgence. I have a PhD in Applied Theatre from the University of Victoria and am a graduate of the National Theatre Institute and Oberlin College in the US. https://www.willweigler.com/.

JOSH RUTH

Josh Ruth is an uninvited settler living on Treaty One Territory. His work is to support artists, who he feels are highly undervalued change agents in society. As Managing Director of Art City, an artist-run centre that offers free programs across Winnipeg, he is in service of anyone seeking opportunities to express themselves creatively, especially children and youth. He currently serves as Treasurer on the Urban Shaman Contemporary Aboriginal Art Gallery Board of Directors.

Music was his first love, and he is a co-founder of Corn Beef & Cabbage, a neo-futurist theatre group based in his home state of Ohio, as well as the Winnipeg-based drawing collective Places for Peanuts. Josh has been a practicing visual artist. More recently, Ruth has turned his focus to writing, storytelling and audio projects.

Josh is working actively for the infiltration of art into all imaginable facets of society.

JUDITH MARCUSE, LL.D. (Hon.)

Founder and Executive Director, ICASC. Founder and Artistic Producer, Judith Marcuse Projects. Senior Fellow, Ashoka International. – Judith Marcuse has worked in the arts for over five decades as a dancer, choreographer, director, producer, educator, consultant, writer and lecturer. Trained in dance in Canada, the US and in England, she performed for more than 20 years with Canadian and European companies, including with the repertory dance company she founded in 1980 which toured across Canada and abroad for 15 years.  She has created more than 100 touring dance/theatre/film works and produced six large-scale arts festivals. For the last 20 years, her internationally-recognized work has focused on community-engaged art for social change (ASC), including three 6-year projects with youth. She teaches, speaks and consults internationally. In 2007, Marcuse founded the International Centre of Art for Social Change (ICASC). More recently, she has led a six-year study of ASC in Canada while also teaching undergraduate courses and establishing a two-year graduate program in the field. She is a recipient of major awards, including an honorary doctorate. In 2019, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Network for Arts and Learning. 

RYAN VELTMEYER

I am a professional community developer, entrepreneur and musician with 20 years of experience. I use a collaborative, cross-sector approach to build communities through youth and arts engagement. I believe in the power of creativity and innovation to activate human potential, and create economic and social prosperity in communities. I co-founded Youth Art Connection in 2012, a registered charity building communities of young creatives through workshops, community hubs, festivals, public forums and leadership development. My long term goal is to help build the social and physical infrastructure to help solve problems faced by young creatives in building businesses and community leadership projects. I believe making our communities and province a better place for young creatives to grow businesses and projects will help revitalize, grow and in some cases save our communities and local economy.

SALLY NJOROGE

Sally Njoroge, inspired by many artists, expresses herself through spoken word poetry, DJ-ing, and any position where she can uplift others. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, and a Minor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from Mount Royal University. Sally has worked with various grassroots organizations in Calgary including: ReFreshed, Uproot YYC, Afros In Tha City, Icarus Sounds, Afro Beat Calgary, Haven YYC, and Expressions. She’s also worked with the Crescent Heights Community Association in re-imagining community engagement through arts and place-making. Her most recent role is at Trico Changemakers Studio, where you’ll find her working on the Artist as Changemaker Project and the Changemaker Conversations Project. Her vision is to discover innovative avenues for various communities to experience arts and culture.

SEANNA CONNELL

Seanna Connell is an arts educator, non-profit director, overall go-getter, and a national leader in the field of community-engaged arts with 30+ years of experience in spearheading art for social change initiatives. Co-Founder & Executive Director of ArtBridges (2008 – present), Founder & Legacy Program Coordinator of ArtHeart Community Art Centre (1991 – present) and Mentor with the International Centre of Arts and Social Change’s FUTURES/forward Program (2020 – present). Expertise in not-for-profit charitable project / organization set-up, capacity-building, development and management. Espouses an asset-based and collaborative approach and embraces resilience. Leads the Legacy Program at ArtHeart and documents promising practices, policies and processes, lessons learned and org values to foster sustainability. A community-engaged arts practitioner with experience working in numerous environments including drop-ins for homeless, children’s homes, and al fresco with curbside art activity kits. Dedicated to bridging opportunities for people to access the arts and art making for the benefits of health & wellness, coming together – belonging and inclusion, education, creative expression and joy. A lifelong learner that enjoys throwing pottery on the wheel, drawing, and walking with family, friends, and dogs – even if in masks and at a physical distance. sconnell@artbridges.ca.

TANYA ROACH
Tanya Roach is a writer, Inuit throat singer and Executive Director for Yellowknifemiut Inuit Kattujiqatigiit organization. She has written for magazine publications like Up Here, the Writer’s Union of Canada and the Literary Review of Canada. She was a cultural consultant for the TV series High Arctic Haulers. With her traditional Inuit throat singing she has performed for Canadian music festivals, museum exhibitions and television productions. As a proactive member of her community she looks to revitalize traditional Inuit art forms in a modern context.

KIM GILKER

Uninvited settler on unceded First Nations’ lands, working-class (confused), feminist, proud granddaughter of labour activists in the Nelson/Slocan area of BC: Kim has activism bred in the bone. With over a decade in communications and community engagement, Kim began working at Judith Marcuse Projects organising and promoting art for social change work. Passionate about grassroots social and environmental justice activism, and the important role arts can play, it was a natural progression to then move on to coordinating and managing community engagement and programs for Judith Marcuse Projects (JMP)/ICASC and the ASC! research project (2013-2019), hosted at Simon Fraser University.

AQUIL VIRANI

Aquil Virani is an award-winning visual artist, graphic designer and filmmaker of Indian and French origin, currently based in Tkaronto (Toronto). Aquil completed his undergraduate degree at McGill University (Philosophy, Marketing) with a major scholarship and worked in Communications for several years before focussing full-time on his design business and art career. His work has been supported financially by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council and the City of Ottawa, in addition to the Silk Road Institute, the Michaelle Jean Foundation, the Canadian Museum of Immigration, TakingITGlobal and the Government of Canada. Learn more at aquil.ca.

Register for the gathering here.