Two New Staff Members Join Toronto Arts Council
TAC welcomes artist and filmmaker Tash Naveau as new Indigenous Arts program manager and writer Tabassum Siddiqui as Interim Communications Manager
TORONTO, March 5, 2019—Toronto Arts Council is pleased to welcome two new staff members to its team.
Tash Naveau is TAC’s new Indigenous Arts Program Manager, responsible for the management of the Indigenous Arts program, designed to increase participation in and access to TAC funding for Indigenous artists, while increasing the creation and presentation of Indigenous art in the city.
Naveau is an independent artist and media maker, with an MFA from Ryerson University in Documentary Media. Her past experience in advocacy, administration, media-making and project coordination has taught her the value of building community from within, as well as supporting the voices of artists within communities. That work has included coordinating and assisting for short-form film projects and editing videos for non-profit organizations and projects within the local Indigenous community.
Naveau is keenly interested in collaborative processes within her own art-making and the combining of mediums in projects. From the Deer Clan, she is from the Anishinaabe community of Mattagami First Nation, Ontario, and is of mixed Dene and eastern European heritage. She begins work at TAC on March 6.
Naveau is replacing Isidra Cruz, who recently left TAC to pursue other professional interests.
Tabassum Siddiqui is TAC’s new Interim Communications Manager, responsible for overseeing communications plans for the Council and Toronto Arts Foundation.
Siddiqui is a multimedia journalist with more than 15 years of experience as a reporter, editor, and producer for newspapers, magazines, digital and radio. She has written, edited, and produced for most major Toronto media outlets, including the CBC, Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, Maclean's, Toronto Life, NOW Magazine, and many more. Her communications experience includes roles as senior media relations officer at York University and senior publicist at Dundurn Press.
Siddiqui has deep roots in Toronto’s arts and culture scene, particularly as a longtime music critic who serves on the Polaris Music Prize and Prism Prize juries and appears regularly on the weekly ‘q This’ music panel on CBC Radio’s flagship arts program, q.
Siddiqui started on February 5 and is filling in for TAC Communications Manager Sarah Gladki, who is on parental leave through to early 2020.
Tash Naveau: tash@torontoartscouncil.org, 416-392-6802 x 223.
Tabassum Siddiqui: tabassum@torontoarts.org, 416-392-6802 x 217.
Contact information:
Susan Wright, Deputy Director: susan@torontoarts.org
For more information about Toronto Arts Council, please visit our website.
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About Toronto Arts Council
Toronto Arts Council (TAC) is the City of Toronto’s funding body for artists and arts organizations. Since 1974, TAC has played a major role in the city’s cultural industries by supporting a very broad range of artistic activity. From the emerging artist to the most established, from celebrated institutions to arts that challenge convention, TAC is typically the first funder to offer support. Today, TAC grants lead to exhibitions, performances, readings and workshops seen annually by over 9.5 million people. Through our ongoing funding, TAC cultivates a rich engagement between artists and audiences. It is proud to reflect Toronto’s vibrancy through the diversity of the artists, arts communities and audiences that it serves. For more about Toronto Arts Council, visit www.torontoartscouncil.org.