Our Board of Directors consists of arts supporters and professionals who direct the operation of our organization.

Celia Smith - Chair

Celia Smith is the CEO of Luminato, Toronto’s international festival of arts and culture. A convener of creativity, Luminato is a catalyst for big, bold contemporary works of art grounded in accessibility, equity and inclusion. She is a strategic leader in the Toronto arts and culture community with proven expertise in directing significant organizational growth, social enterprise and charitable expansion, and executive management of complex, multi-stakeholder environments. Her entire career has been in the arts & culture sector, leading significant non-profit organizations, or in the private sector creating social enterprises.

Ms. Smith has more than two decades in leadership roles across the Toronto arts and culture sector, including President of Artscape, General Manager of The Canadian Stage Company and interim roles at the Canadian Opera Company, Toronto Symphony and Opera Atelier. She is a past Board Member for Luminato, past Board Chair for TAPA (Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts) and Work in Culture, and currently sits on the board of Toronto Arts Council and Musical Stage Company. In 2020, she co-founded LEAN (Leadership Emergency Arts Network) – a grassroots pro bono response network to help Canadian professional non-profit arts organizations deal with the COVID-19 crisis.

Susan Wortzman – Secretary

Susan Wortzman is a partner in the Toronto offices of McCarthy Tétrault and leads the firm’s e-Discovery and information management division, MT>3. One of Canada’s most respected e-Discovery lawyers, Susan’s creativity, legal and business acumen, and commitment to innovation and technology ensure that her clients receive cutting edge services. Susan is an active writer, speaker and educator in the legal community.

In her free time she is a lover of the arts and theatre. Susan was formerly on the boards of Tarragon Theatre and Canadian Stage.  She is a member of the Ontario Cabinet - Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Susan served as the Co-Chair and a committee member of the Art Toronto Opening Night Committee for several years. She is currently a member of the AGO’s Curator’s Circle Committee, and serves a Board Member of the Toronto Biennial of Art.

Michael Herrera, CPA, CA – Treasurer

Michael Herrera has spent a career in service to the not-for-profit sector and public sector, joining George Brown College in 2019 as their Chief Financial Officer.  Prior to joining George Brown,  Michael was the Vice-President, Finance at United Way Greater Toronto for nearly a decade.  He has held similar positions at the Anglican Church of Canada, YMCA of Greater Toronto and National Ballet of Canada. Previously, Michael was a manager at EY and, as an independent consultant, supported arts and heritage organizations through the development and delivery of financial and governance training to a variety of organizations throughout the province.  Michael's community involvement includes past governance roles with organizations such as Crow’s Theatre, Social Planning Council, Toronto Foundation, and Ontario Museums Association. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for The Young Centre for the Performing Arts, Theatre Museum Canada, and Making The Shift - a youth homelessness social innovation lab.  Michael holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto and has been a member of the Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants in Ontario since 1996.

Councillor Brad Bradford

Brad Bradford is City Councillor for Ward 19, Beaches-East York

Elected in 2018 as one of the youngest members of Council, Brad is bringing fresh ideas and positive politics to City Hall. He ran a grass-roots, non-partisan campaign and brings the same values as Councillor, working with residents, community groups, businesses, and government leaders of all backgrounds to build a better Beaches-East York and Toronto. bradbradford.ca

Councillor Alejandra Bravo

Alejandra Bravo was elected as the City Councillor for Ward 9—Davenport in 2022. A Ward 9 resident for over two decades, she first became active in her children’s school in 2000, becoming the Chair of the Davenport TDSB Ward Council.

Alejandra has a 25-year history of leadership with civil society organizations, including extensive governance experience with boards ranging from Art Starts, a community arts organization operating in under-serviced neighbourhoods, to serving on the Toronto Board of Health.

An adult educator and facilitator by profession, Alejandra’s work has been focused on helping communities understand and influence the government decisions that impact them. She was the Director of Leadership and Training at the Broadbent Institute, where she built training capacity across Canada and led the Institute’s work on democratic renewal. She was also the Director of the Power Lab, a leadership learning initiative co-created with the Atkinson Foundation that is focused on local organizing for a more fair economy.

Alejandra was also previously the Manager of Leadership and Learning at Maytree, where for a decade she designed and delivered innovative political and civic training for emerging and diverse leaders.

Alejandra is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Born in Chile, Alejandra moved to Canada with her family as a refugee when she was a child. In addition to English she is fluent in Spanish, French, and Portuguese.

Cheryl Duvall

Toronto-based pianist Cheryl Duvall has established herself as one of Canada’s foremost contemporary music interpreters, immersing herself in a wide variety of compositional aesthetics and collaborative endeavours. Her lucid sense of contour, evocative sonic and emotional presence, and boundless versatility make her both a dynamic soloist and in-demand collaborator. Duvall's has been presented as a solo performer by the likes of Innovations en concert, Suoni per il Popolo, The National Arts Centre, Bang On A Can, MTU Cork School Of Music (Ireland), University of Huddersfield (UK), and has toured and performed throughout Canada, Japan, Europe, Argentina and the U.S. In 2016 Duvall's artistry was recognized with a nomination for the KM Hunter Award.

She co-founded the “adventurous and smartly programmed” (Musicworks Magazine) chamber group Thin Edge New Music Collective alongside Ilana Waniuk in 2011. Since their inception, they’ve commissioned over 80+ works, mounting lavish multidisciplinary productions while collaborating with leading performers like Charlotte Mundy, Jason Sharp, Ensemble Paramirabo (with whom they recorded an album.) TENMC was awarded the 2020 Friends of Canadian Music Award from the Canadian League of Composers and the Canadian Music Centre for being ‘an important musical innovator, working creatively across disciplines with an unwavering commitment to diverse and equitable programming'. Last year their album of Linda Catlin Smith's music, Dark Flower received numerous accolades including appearances on the BBC and CBC radio stations and year-end lists from tastemakers like the Wire and Bandcamp Daily.

In January 2020, she released her debut solo piano album Harbour, a highly acclaimed recording released on the Redshift Record Label featuring the music of Canadian composer, Anna Hostman. Harbour has been featured on the CBC radio and was chosen as the #1 Modern Composition Recording of 2020 by UK's 'The Wire' Magazine and was nominated for a Juno for Classical Composition of the Year. Her next solo album, Intimes exubérances, featuring an hour long piano solo she commissioned by Québécois composer, Patrick Giguère will be released in April 2024 on the Redshift record label. She also made an acclaimed recording with Bespoken, and worked with the likes of stalwart choreographer Peggy Baker, cellist Paul Pulford, film composer Darren Fung, and Essential Opera. Duvall also regularly performs outside of contemporary music spheres, notably with American violinist Andrew Sords, and accompanying Durham region's Resound Choir as well as the renowned Oakville Choir for Children and Youth, with whom she has toured, recorded and competed internationally (with gold standings). She was appointed the Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Mississauga in February 2022. She operates a full private teaching studio, is a member of the College of Examiners with the Royal Conservatory of Music, and adjudicates piano competitions across Canada.

Duvall holds an Honours BMus and Diploma of Chamber Music from Wilfrid Laurier University, and a Master’s of Piano Performance and Pedagogy from University of Toronto.

Zahra Ebrahim

Zahra Ebrahim is the Co-Founder of Monumental. She is a public interest designer and strategist, and her work has focused on community-led approaches to policy, infrastructure, and service design. She is an established bridge builder across grassroots and institutional spaces, using creative and accessible approaches to facilitate bold, collective changemaking. Prior to this role, she built and led Doblin Canada, Deloitte’s Human-Centred Design practice, focusing on engaging diverse sets of stakeholders to use design-led approaches to address complex organizational and industry challenges. In her early career, Zahra led one of Canada’s first social design studios, working with communities to co-design towards better social outcomes, leading some of Canada’s most ambitious participatory infrastructure and policy programs. Zahra has taught at OCADU, MoMA, and is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto.She is the Vice-Chair of the Canadian Urban Institute, and the Board Chair for Park People. She was recently named Next City’s Vanguard “40 under 40 Civic Leader”, Ascend Canada’s Mentor of the Year, one of “Tomorrow’s Titans” in Toronto Life, and one of WXN’s Top 100 Women in Canadian Business. She is the 2022 Artist-in-Residence at Lake Superior Provincial Park, and Urbanist-in-Residence at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities. 

Roland Gulliver​

Roland Gulliver​ is the Director of the Toronto International Festival of Authors, taking up  the position in February 2020. With over 12 years’ experience at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Roland Gulliver is one of the leading international figures in the literature  sector. In addition to the August Festival, he has led, alongside a fellow programme  director, on the development of a year-round programme of residencies, mini festivals and  standalone events working with a range of communities to offer access and empowerment  through the arts. From graphic novel and hip-hop projects with school students, prison  visits with authors, to producing a Muriel Spark celebration for 2000 people in 2019. At the  British Council in Brussels (2000-2006) he created and delivered a range of multilateral  programmes exploring Britain’s role in Europe with projects, festivals and commissions  engaging British, Belgian and European artists and organisations. This included European  conferences on science, politics and arts, and high-level bilateral conferences involving  ambassadors, business leaders and the UK & Belgian prime ministers. 

Sally Lee

Sally is a passionate, civic-minded arts leader who has been working in the sector for over three decades, including involvement in grassroots artist-run groups, mid-size organizations, and larger cultural institutions across several disciplines including visual and media arts, theatre, music, dance, and literature. She is currently the Executive Director of the Canadian Independent Screen Fund for BPOC Creators. She also sits on the Boards of Wavelength Music and the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival and is actively involved in the Advisory of the Reel Asian International Film Festival, where she previously served as ED. Other previous leadership experience includes serving as Executive Director of CARFAC Ontario, board membership at the Images Festival and the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre (CFMDC), and management positions at the Toronto International Film Festival and Soulpepper Theatre Company.

As an independent consultant, her practice has included strategic planning, project management, program and policy design and planning, organizational development, leadership training, fundraising, and succession planning for several organizations. Sally has been an active member of the independent DIY music community since the early 90s, playing bass in a number of bands, including current outfit Long Branch.

Sean Lee

Sean Lee is an artist and curator exploring the assertion of disability art as the last avant-garde. His methodology explores crip curatorial practices as a means to resist traditional aesthetic idealities. Orienting towards a “crip horizon”, Sean’s practice explores the transformative possibilities of accessibility as an embodied politic and disability community building as a way to desire the ways disability can disrupt. Sean holds a B.A. in Arts Management and Studio from the University of Toronto, Scarborough and is currently the Director of Programming at Tangled Art + Disability. Previous to this role, he was Tangled’s inaugural Curator in Residence (2016) as well as Tangled’s Gallery Manager (2017). Sean has been integral to countless exhibitions and public engagements throughout his tenure at Tangled Art + Disability.  In addition to his position at Tangled Art + Disability, Sean is an independent lecturer, speaker, and writer adding his insights and perspectives to conversations surrounding Disability Arts across Canada, the United States and internationally. Sean currently sits on the board of CARFAC Ontario, Creative Users Projects, and is a member of the Ontario Art Council’s Deaf and Disability Advisory Group and Toronto Art Council’s Visual Arts / Media Arts Committee.

Lindsey Lickers

Lindsey is an Onkwehon:we (Kanien’kéha)/ Anishinaabe (Ojibwe- Missisakis) artist & community developer originally from Six Nations of the Grand River with ancestral roots to the Mississauga’s of Credit First Nation. She specializes in painting & beading as well as Indigenous arts and culture facilitation, governance, community and program development. Her traditional name is ‘Mushkiiki Nibi’, which translates to ‘Medicine Water’, she is turtle clan.

Lindsey is a graduate of OCAD University and has sat on a number of community boards and committees in the Toronto area over the last 15 years. Some of her past committee work has been for the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto and the Institute for Research and Development on Inclusion and Society (IRIS). She is currently a member of the Toronto Arts Council and Steps Public Art- Indigenous Advisory Committees.

In 2017, Lindsey was shortlisted and awarded a public arts project for the Region of Waterloo’s LRT System resulting in a permanent public instillation for the Block Line stop that speaks to the historical stewardship of the land base of Waterloo and the importance of agriculture from a First Nations perspective. Lindsey also received an International Women’s Day- Leadership in the Arts award in 2019 from the City of Toronto.

She is currently the Community Safety Liaison for the Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA), providing advocacy, awareness and capacity building supports for Indigenous women & families, as well as service providers, in the area of human trafficking and gang involvement. She currently practices out of both Toronto and Six Nations of the Grand River.

Victoria Mata

Victoria Mata ​is a Venezuelan-Canadian settler in T’Koronto. ​Poly-lingual ​choreographer, dance artist and activist with a background in expressive arts therapy. Mata’s career was first sculpted by pedagogic, self-directed training, which proceeded with internationally renowned residencies and choreographers at ​the Banff Arts Centre, Counter Pulse, African American Art & Culture, Centro de Investigación Coreográfica del Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes de México, The Biggot Foundation, Ballet Creole, Aluna Theater and Teatro Delle Radici. ​Mata’s sensibility to inclusion and border stories is due to her eclectic upbringing in three continents before the age of fifteen. Intersectional, multi-framed community-arts and the abolishment of violence against women are some of Mata’s passion. She has intricately weaved these themes in her MFA in Contemporary Choreography and is foundation for some of her recognitions such as being a recipient of the Metcalf Foundation, a finalist of the Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award and 7 Dora nominations. Mata deeply believes in the arts as core and tangible mode of sustaining and transforming paradigms of exclusion. Currently, Mata is developing a full-length production called Cacao | A Venezuelan lament, which​ illuminates the vibrant and resilient stories of cacao farmers in Venezuela whose labour and sweat are behind every bite of chocolate consumed worldwide. Victoria is Chair of TAC's Community Arts Committee.

Paulina O’Kieffe-Anthony

Paulina O’Kieffe-Anthony is an award winning artist, curator, arts educator and creative consultant and the current Executive Director of SKETCH Working Arts.  Her high level accomplishments include being featured in When Sisters Speak, co-curating Scarborough: The Backbone as part of Toronto's Year of Public Art, co-producing the Spoken Soul Festival, and representing Toronto as a 2x national team finalist in the Canadian Festival Of Spoken Word. In 2019 she was a TEDx speaker and in 2020 an excerpt of her play How Jab Jab Saved the Pretty Mas was featured as part of Piece of Mine's Black Women in Theatre Festival. 

Her work and leadership in the community sector was recognized as she was the recipient of the Toronto Community Foundation Vital People Award and again when she was recognized as one of 150 Black Women Making Herstory (as featured on CBC) for her contribution to building the arts scene in Toronto.

Devyani Saltzman 

Devyani Saltzman is a Canadian writer, curator and arts leader with a deep practice in multidisciplinary programming at the intersection between art, ideas and social justice. She was most recently Director of Public Programming at the AGO, working across all disciplines, where she significantly increased engagement across broad and diverse audiences and shaped the museum as a forum for discourse, reflecting community and the narratives of Torontonians. Saltzman was previously the Director of Literary Arts at the Banff Centre, as well as a founding Curator at Luminato, North America's preeminent multi arts festival. She is a published author and her work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, National Post, The Atlantic and Tehelka, India's weekly of arts and investigative journalism. She is the Vice Chair of the Writers’ Trust of Canada, and sits on the Board of Directors of the Ontario Association of Art Galleries and Nova Dance. Saltzman has a Masters Degree in Anthropology and Sociology from Oxford and currently consults across the sector.

Tania Senewiratne

Tania Senewiratne worked for a Broadway producer in NYC for 10 years. In that capacity she worked on over 30 theatrical productions on Broadway, off-Broadway, on tour in North America, in London, on tour in the UK, in Canada, in Australia and throughout Asia. In Canada, she was the General Manager/Producer at Obsidian Theatre, the Executive Producer at Soulpepper Theatre, and an instructor at the School of Performance at Toronto Metropolitan University.  Currently, she is the Associate Dean for the Visual and Performing Arts Program at Sheridan College.    

Michael Sinclair

Michael Sinclair ​is the General Manager of Obsidian Theatre Company, Canada’s largest culturally specific theatre company.  Prior to assuming the position at Obsidian, he was very

active in the theatre community, being a professional stage manager for over 20 years, a job which took him across the country from PEI to Vancouver and internationally to Barbados. In that time, he worked in commercial, festival, large regional and local theatres, and touring internationally, nationally, regionally and schools but working mainly in the Toronto area.

A graduate from Concordia University majoring in Accounting, Michael worked for a Chartered Accounting firm before branching out into the theatre business, but always had a love for the theatre as he was involved in community theatre while still pursuing his accounting career.  He is on the board of Stage Managing the Arts (SMArts), and a member of Canadian Actors Equity Association (CAEA), Stage Management Committee. Michael is Chair of TAC's Theatre Committee.

Robin Sokoloski

Robin Sokoloski (she/her) has been working in the arts and culture sector for eighteen years. Currently, as the Director of Organizational Development of Mass Culture, Robin is working with academics, funders and arts practitioners to support a thriving arts community by mobilizing the creation, amplification and community-informed analysis of research.

For 10+ years, Robin was the Executive Director of Playwrights Guild of Canada. Last fall, Robin co-taught a course at Centennial College entitled, Arts Policy, Equity and Activism. Robin is currently developing a fourth-year university course on Cultural Entrepreneurship for MacEwan University. A cultural entrepreneur herself, Robin has assisted in growing Mass Culture from an idea into a thriving national charitable arts organization within a five-year period. Her experience in governance, financial management, and network mobilization greatly contributes to all of her work and volunteerism in the arts.

Devyani Saltzman - Past President  

Arts Advisory Panel

● Margaret Atwood

● Atom Egoyan

● Norman Jewison

● Molly Johnson

● Karen Kain

● David Mirvish

● Joyce Zemans