Victoria Mata (Chair) ​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. 

Cole Forrest is an Anishinaabe filmmaker, film programmer and curator from Nipissing First Nation. They have written and directed films that have been screened at film festivals including imagineNATIVE, TQFF, TIFF Next Wave, and the Vancouver International Film Festival. Cole has created films through imagineNATIVE, National Film Board, and Canada Council for The Arts. Cole is a recipient of the Ken and Ann Watts Memorial Scholarship, imagineNATIVE Director’s Lab, and of the James Bartleman Indigenous Youth Creative Writing Award. They are the 2019 recipient of the imagineNATIVE + LIFT Film Mentorship and a 2020 Artist in Residence as a part of the Sundance Native Filmmakers Lab. Cole is a 2023 participant of the Reelworld E20 Program and the 2024 emerging curator-in-residence at Images Festival. Cole has supported programming at festivals including TIFF, imagineNATIVE, VIFF, Yorkton Film Festival, and Fabulous Festival of Fringe Film. They are a graduate of the Video Design and Production program at George Brown College. Cole is currently writing their first feature film. They are grateful to represent their community in all artistic pursuits.

Eva Hellreich is passionate about providing underserved communities access to resources, knowledge and networks that enable and sustain self-empowerment through creative leadership and community building. They bring over 6 years of arts and funding administrative experience spanning non-profit, community arts, festivals and government funders, as well as experience as a youth and adult educator. In addition to ample experience with program development and service delivery, they are also an active Board member of Mayworks Festival of Working People where they support festival curation and fiscal governance. Eva is enthusiastic about sharing their passion for project management, collaboration and creative problem solving with community engaged artists and organizations through skill and resource exchanges, collaboration, and peer mentorship.

Kristina McMullin (she/her) is an arts administrator and speaker with an activist’s heart. She spent five years working as the Communications Manager at Tangled Art + Disability, and now has a freelance practice centered on building communities through virtual experiences. Kristina is the co-producer and co-host of Crip Times, a podcast series featuring engaging and unapologetically crip conversations with artists, academics, and activists from across North America. She is a Research Assistant at Cripping Masculinity, a project investigating how Deaf, Mad, and Disability-identified Trans and cis men, and masculine non-binary folks use fashion as a way of enacting their identity. Additionally, she holds a mentorship role at IOTA where she works with artists to develop virtual environments for their work. Kristina’s independent speaking and lecturing practice focuses on working with organizations to holistically build capacity for access in operations. Organizations include Kickstart Arts, Museum of Toronto, Musagetees ArtsEverywhere Festival, The British Council of Canada, Flux Factory, and more.

Spencer Phillips. A dedicated champion of the arts, Spencer brings over 16 years of experience building community programs, delivering cultural events & festivals, and managing various creative spaces within in the Greater Toronto area. In 2014, he founded Wimbo Media – a Toronto-based boutique communications firm, partnering exclusively with non-profit, cultural organizations and social enterprises to achieve greater impact through effective brand strategy, graphic design, and content strategy. At Artscape Daniels Launchpad, Spencer oversees program initiatives and community partnerships aimed at supporting the next generation of creative entrepreneurs.  In recent years, Spencer has managed Artscape Weston Common – a community cultural hub located in central West Toronto, and has overseen programming and communications at UrbanArts – a Local Arts Service Organization (LASO) providing opportunities for diverse cultural expression, artistic development, and employment to members of urban communities. Currently serving as a Director on the Board of SKETCH Working Arts, Spencer is committed to working collaboratively with culturally diverse and underserved communities to ensure greater access to arts and culture. 

Cheyenne Scott is Coast Salish of the Saanich Nation and a theatre artist with a focus on developing new Canadian works. Through impactful personal expression and storytelling, her work is an exploration and celebration of her Indigenous heritage. Currently based in Toronto, she strives to inform settlers with truth and, more importantly, honour the people of her community by creating vibrant characters that are full of life and hope. Having learned theatre through a colonial process, she is working to indigenize her practice. She is invested in the powerful voice of the youth and supporting their growth; Cheyenne previously worked teaching musical performance at elementary schools through Arts Express, and Assistant Directing and Outreach Coordinating for The AMY Project, a free education program for young women. Her interactive poem UHKE received the Best New Media Award from the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival. Additionally, she received a Dora Award for Outstanding Ensemble for her participation in Passion Play.

Flora Shum is a Hong Kong born-Tkaronto/Toronto based artist, educator, and cultural worker. She co-runs Paperhouse Studio, where she carries forward the vision for paper as a medium, and leads arts-based programming for underserved communities. She is one half of duo collective—AURA, and coordinator and artist support for CARFAC Ontario, supporting access and advocacy for artists’ legal needs. Her artistic practice is experimental and collaborative by nature, with roots in papermaking, printmaking, and book arts, extending to found objects, sculpture, and installation. Her art utilizes these mediums to explore alternative histories and archives, alchemy, multiples, mass-production, cyborgs, and slow labour.

She has exhibited locally and internationally, including Toronto (ON), Whistler (BC), New York (NY), Hong Kong, Kinngait (NU), and London (UK). Flora has facilitation experience at OCAD University, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto Public Library, University of Toronto, Central Technical School (Toronto, ON.), Peter Pitseolak School (Kinngait, NU.) and Attagoyuk Ilisavik (Pangnirtung, NU.).