Beginning in 2023, this program is being delivered by TAC in partnership with Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). As a result of COVID, the program was postponed for the period between 2020 and 2023. The 2023 Cohort is made up of arts leaders originally selected to participate in 2020. The program is designed for mid- to senior-level arts professionals who have demonstrated the potential to lead change in their organizations, communities or arts sectors.
Anna Camilleri has been working with performance, image, and text for 25 years, with a history of creation, production, and touring date back to 1994. Since 2005, she has been deeply engaged with tactile and sculptural works expressed primarily through socially engaged, site-specific public artworks (stone, ceramic, glass, mixed media). Anna co-founded arts organization Red Dress Productions (RDP) in 2005, with collaborator and artistic co-director Tristan R Whiston. Current projects include May I Take Your Arm (part of NAC’s English Theatre Collaborations Unit) at the foldA festival of live digital art, Inkling arts-based research project and upcoming performance festival at the Theatre Centre (May 2020), and the Countdown Public Art Project that engages Ontario communities in collaborative art-making to create public artworks that increase the public dialogue about sexual and gender-based violence, and offer remembrance and hope for those affected by MMIWG2S. Anna was 2018 artist-in-residence in the Department of Arts, Media, and Culture, University of Toronto, Scarborough Campus, and is an artist alumni of the juried 2019 Intergenerational LGBT Artist Residency at Artscape Gibraltar Point. Camilleri’s book publications have been recognized with distinctions from the LAMBDA Literary Foundation, Association of Independent Publishers, and the American Library of Congress. www.reddressproductions.org
Prior to joining TAC as Dance Program Manager, Catalina Fellay-Dunbar spent many years as a dance artist, educator and advocate. Her professional dance experience, although varied, has long focused on a personal heritage in Flamenco and classical Spanish dance. Catalina’s academic interests prompted the pursuit of a BFA and MA in Dance Studies at York University, an MA from the Drama Centre at the University of Toronto, and certification in Movement Analysis from the Laban Institute for Movement Studies. As a PhD candidate in Dance Studies at York University, her research examines the intersections between cultural policy and dance arts from fluid, pluralistic perspectives. Catalina comes to the TAC after serving as co-chair of the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists – Ontario Chapter.
Cayley James is an arts administrator and writer based in Toronto. For the past ten years she has worked in the independent arts on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2013, she completed her MLITT in Film and Television at the University of Glasgow. Following graduation, she was part of the programming and coordinating team at Document International Human Rights Film Festival. Scotland’s longest running (and first) human rights film festival! Since returning to Toronto in 2016 she has administered the impact campaigns for award winning documentaries The Messenger and Driving with Selvi, worked with Regent Park Film Festival to program and facilitate educational screenings, and was one-third of the team behind Bechdel Tested (a feminist film and panel series) at the Revue Cinema. Cayley graduated from Humber's Arts Administration & Cultural Management program in 2018. She is currently the Development Coordinator at The Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto.
Bareket Kezwer is a Toronto-based muralist, community engaged artist, curator, cultural producer, graphic designer and eternal optimist.
Her work is motivated by a desire to spread joy, cultivate gratitude, and support the growth of inclusive and connected communities. She programs and facilitates projects that empower people through creative engagement and increase representation of Toronto’s diverse population. In 2017, she founded Womxn Paint, a street art jam celebrating the strength, resilience and diverse stories of womxn. As the initiative’s creative director, she has produced 75 murals by emerging and early career artists, and facilitated an intergenerational community mural as well as a mural camp for youth. She has worked with Arts Etobicoke, Baycrest Health Sciences, East End Arts, Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust, The STEPS Initiative, St. Felix Centre, StreetARToronto, and the Toronto Public Library to facilitate community engaged public art projects across the city of Toronto. In her murals, she works with bright colours and bold patterns to captivate people’s attention and fill them with delight. She is passionate about creating art that both aesthetically and psychologically brightens environments. This is what inspired her to start her ongoing SMILE project—since 2007 she has created SMILEs all over the world, including in Australia, Canada, Cuba, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Singapore, Spain, The Netherlands, USA, and Vietnam. http://www.bareketkezwer.com/ | https://www.womxnpaint.org/
Emily Law is a dance artist, choreographer, & producer. Trained in many styles of dance including contemporary dance and street dance (specifically house and whacking), she is co-artistic director and co-choreographer of Mix Mix Dance Collective with whom she has created 4 street dance theatre works. She co-produces Parks N’ Wreck, a free outdoor street dance festival and is a founding member of the Toronto house dance crew Warehouse Jacks, with whom she has been hosting free house dance sessions at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Over the years, Emily has had the pleasure of working with many wonderful artists and companies, to name a few: Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, The Dietrich Group, Shannon Litzenberger, Tanya Lukin-Linklater, Alias Dance Project, & Marie Lambin-Gagnon.
Her choreographic work has been showcased on companies and in festivals such as Toronto Dance Theatre, The Next Stage Theatre Festival, Toronto Fringe Festival, CanAsian Dance Festival, The Reel Asian Film Festival, Older & Reckless, Guelph Dance, Winterlude (Ottawa), Jeux de la Francophone (Abidjan), Dusk Dances & Fall For Dance North.
Emily was an artist in residence at the Heliconian Club and The Orillia Centre for Arts + Culture. She has been nominated for two Dora Mavor Moore Awards, a Gemini, & the 2017 Premier’s award.
Bridget MacIntosh has held senior cultural policy and programming management positions with the cities of Toronto, Mississauga and Hamilton with portfolios spanning arts, events, public art and cultural planning. Notable accomplishments include creating the City of Hamilton’s Events Office where she led the design and delivery of numerous civic events and extensive community engagement to facilitate 400+ annual creative placemaking, community and tourism events. As the past Producer of the Toronto Fringe Festival she created the Fringe Dance Initiative and Next Stage Theatre Festival. Her current creative producing work includes piloting Mass Culture’s Digital Gatherings to bring together Canadian cultural practitioners to discuss sectoral issues; leading art in public space activation and research in partnership with Art of Festivals; presenting CAPACOA’s Diversity & Drivers of Arts Attendance research and navigation for their Linked Digital Future project in order to foster digital collaboration and readiness in the performing arts sector. Bridget also consults on numerous municipal cultural projects across Ontario. As a passionate arts advocate, Her committee work includes the Canadian Arts Coalition; Project for Public Spaces Placemaking Leadership Council; Toronto Public Space Committee and board service for foldA (Festival of Live Digital Art). She continues to share her cultural producing expertise as a frequent guest speaker at conferences, educational institutions and in 2018 was selected as a Next City Vanguard Fellow. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bridgetmacintosh/
Daniel Mack was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He moved to Montréal, Québec eighteen years later, where he studied community organizing and collective arts practices, specializing in audio production, screen printing and building maintenance. In 2006, he co-founded the Ste-Émilie Skillshare, an artist run centre and social activism hub, with a small group of friends, going on to represent the collective at conferences in Toronto, Kingston and Regina.
Since moving to Toronto in 2011, he has been teaching art making and been regularly featured in textile-based and community arts exhibitions, including YTB Gallery, Artscape Youngplace, the Gladstone Hotel, Pio! Centre for Drawing, fifty-fifty arts collective, Mercer Union and Farside Studio. In 2018, he co-founded Coalition Building, the collective responsible for the Bricks & Glitter arts and activism festival. Daniel operates a residential gardening business and teaches leather work.
Elahe Marjovi is an Iranian-Canadian theatre set/costume designer and arts manager. Before moving to Canada in 2014, she spent a year as a set design assistant on Broadway, and a year as invited Professor of Scenic Design at the University of Tehran. In Canada, her devotion to advocating for artists and the arts inspired her to pursue studies in arts management while working as a freelance theatre designer. She has worked for many Canadian companies including Factory Theatre, Centaur Theatre Company, Black Theatre Workshop, Teesi Duniya Theatre, and the National Arts Centre. Elahe has also worked as the fundraising officer for Tirgan, one of the largest festivals celebrating Iranian art and culture in the world. Elahe’s academic achievements include a bachelor’s degree in Architecture (Beheshti University in Iran), a Master of Fine Arts degree in Theatre Design (University of Kansas) and a Master’s degree in International Arts Management (HÉC Montreal and SMU Dallas). Elahe's works have been recognized both locally and internationally, and she has received design nominations for a Dora Award the Fadjr Theatre Festival. She received a National Award in design excellence from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Elahe has also been awarded grants from Toronto Arts Council, Conseil des arts de Montréal, and Canada Council for the Arts.
Jaime Martino is an award-winning choreographer, making art that challenges narratives and centres queer voices. Following the completion of her Master’s degree in Dunedin, New Zealand in 2009, she co-founded the Aha Dance Collective, a contemporary dance company dedicated to exploring gender and movement through a queer feminist lens. She now choreographs for Momentum Dance Toronto and creates contemporary dance works as an independent artist. Jaime brings her independent artistic practice and ethos into her professional life as the Executive Director of Tapestry Opera, and into the broader opera community. She was a member of the 2019 Opera America Leadership Intensive cohort and is recognized as a leader in pushing for equitable creation and management practices in the opera community. Before shifting back to the arts, Jaime served as Director of Operations for Pride Toronto, steering one of the largest celebrations of queer and trans communities in the world. In 2014, she was officially recognized by the City of Toronto for her contribution to WorldPride, called a “historic and overwhelming success”, and received a Rainbow Warrior award “for outstanding support for international LGBT solidarity and LGBT culture” as awarded by the International Lesbian and Gay Cultural Network. Jaime believes deeply in the power of art to transform lives and the world that surrounds them.
Kevin Reigh has over 14 years of experience working in the arts/not-for-profit sector, having previously worked at dance Immersion, the Canadian Music Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA) and Unity Charity in various administrative, fundraising and outreach capacities. He also founded Mosiah Grant Writing + Creative Communications to help independent artists and smaller not-for-profit organizations navigate the world of grant writing and proposal development.
As a writer and spoken-word artist, Kevin has released one album (Ground Provisions) and a volume of poetry (Love. Universes. All Things.) and has collaborated with numerous musicians and dancers throughout the Greater Toronto Area. Kevin also contributed a spoken-word piece, The Real Deal, to Paranoid Jack’s acclaimed album of electronic and house music, The Last of the Funky Cyborgs, and his work was also included in T-Dot Griots: An Anthology of Toronto’s Black Storytellers.