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.

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. 

Celia Smith is the CEO of Luminato Festival Toronto, Canada’s leading international festival of arts, culture and creativity. Luminato is a catalyst for big, bold contemporary works of art grounded in accessibility, equity and inclusion that connects communities across the GTA and around the world through exceptional works of art.  

Since 2007 Luminato has launched the summer in Toronto with a big, bold, contemporary arts festival that has welcomed over 10 million locals and visitors, shared the work of over 17,000 artists, and commissioned 100+ new works across artistic disciplines.  

In these challenging times, we believe that art is our tool, our method, and our opportunity. Art starts conversations. Art changes minds. Art opens hearts. Art is powerful.   

Celia is a savvy and strategic leader with 25 plus years’ experience in leadership and city-building in Toronto, with proven expertise in directing significant organizational growth of mission-led organizations and executive management of complex, multi-stakeholder environments. With depth of experience leading nonprofit and private sector organizations, she is known for her effective management style and has mentored hundreds of individuals who now work in leadership roles across diverse sectors.  
 

In addition to leading Luminato Festival Toronto as CEO, she is chair of the Toronto Arts Council, a co-founder of The League of Toronto Festivals, faculty at Schulich School of Business, and co-founder of LEAN (Leadership Emergency Arts Network), a national pro-bono response to help arts organizations across the country during COVID.    
 

Celia was formerly the Chief Operating Officer of TAS, a community-focused mixed-use private developer; President of Artscape, a non-profit housing and community hub creator; and General Manager of the Canadian Stage Company.  

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 

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. 

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. 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. 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’. Their 2023 release, Dark Flower, featuring the chamber works of Canadian composer Linda Catlin Smith has recently been featured on the BBC and CBC radio and was listed in the top 10 Modern Classical releases of 2023 by UK’s ‘The Wire’ Magazine. Her 2020 debut solo piano album Harbour, featuring the music of Canadian composer, Anna Hostman 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 2nd solo album, Intimes exubérances, featuring an hour-long piano solo by Québécois composer, Patrick Giguère was released in April 2024. Cheryl is also the Artistic Director for The Chamber Music Society of Mississauga, the collaborative pianist for Durham Region’s Resound Choir and is a passionate music educator. She is the current Chair of the Music Committee for the Toronto Arts Council. 

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 visual arts and theatre. Susan was formerly on the boards of Tarragon Theatre, Canadian Stage, and the Toronto Biennial of Art.  Susan served as the Co-Chair and a committee member of the Art Toronto Opening Night Committee and was also a member of the AGO’s Curator’s Circle Committee. She is currently a Board Member of the Toronto Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Foundation, and the Art Canada Institute.  

Michael Herrera is the Chief Financial Officer at George Brown College. He provides senior level leadership and comprehensive financial technical expertise relating to the financial operations of the College. Michael has spent a career in service to the not-for-profit sector, having worked with social services, religious and arts organizations. Most recently, Michael was the Interim Treasurer at the Anglican Church of Canada. He has held similar positions at YMCA of Greater Toronto and National Ballet of Canada.

Previously, Michael was a manager at EY and, as an independent consultant, he 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 Social Planning Council, Toronto Foundation, and Ontario Museums Association. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Crow’s Theatre and on the Finance and Property Committee of Sherbourne Health Centre. 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.

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 is the Director of the Toronto International Festival of Authors, taking up the position in February 2020. He is one of the leading international figures in the literature sector with over 12 years’ experience at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, where he created festival programmes of over 600 events across 18 days, representing more than 60 nations. In addition to the August Festival, he led, alongside a fellow programme director, 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. His programming has explored the potential of the live performance from pop-up readings to staged performances, creative writing masterclasses to reading workshops, literary afternoon teas to late night cabaret programmes, alongside commissions for sound installations and WhatsApp digital stories. Alongside creating spaces for authors and audiences to engage in discussion on the contemporary issues affecting society, politics and culture.