2011 - 2014

Amir Ali Alibhai (British Columbia)

Governor

Amir Ali Alibhai is well known to most artists throughout the Lower Mainland in BC, and across the province and the country through his work as an artist, curator, educator, volunteer and passionate contributor to the arts for the past twenty years.  
  
Amir was one of the founders and past president of the Rungh Cultural Society, which published Rungh, a magazine of contemporary diasporic South Asian culture (1992-1997), and was part of the initial staff team that established and developed the innovative Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre, working as an arts programmer from 1997 to 2008. He was a cultural planner for the City and District of North Vancouver’s joint North Vancouver Office of Cultural Affairs, where he was responsible for developing granting programs for arts organizations before taking on his current role as executive director of the Greater Vancouver Alliance for Arts and Culture.

He is an active interdisciplinary artist and has practiced as a curator of visual arts and community based arts, working with artists and organizations throughout BC, representing most disciplines and degrees of professional practice.  He has worked as a gallery educator and curator at the Richmond Art Gallery (1989-1996), assistant and guest curator at the Surrey Art Gallery (1995-1997) and as an independent curator/cultural writer since 1989.

As a volunteer, Amir has served on various boards and committees throughout his career, including for several years on the board of ArtStarts in Schools and more recently, the board of the Canada Council for the Arts (2005-2008).  During his term at the Canada Council, he was the board liaison with the Racial Equity in the Arts Committee (REAC), the Public Lending Right Commission (PLR), and also served on the Executive and Governance Committees. Amir holds a bachelor's degree in microbiology (immunology 1985), a bachelor's degree in fine arts (painting 1989) and a master's degree in curriculum studies (art education 2000). His master's thesis was on cross-cultural collaboration.

Erika Beatty (Nova Scotia)

Governor

Erika Beatty is CEO of Symphony Nova Scotia, one of the most broadcast and recorded orchestras in the country. 

Erika (BA ACS: Finance and Economics, UWO) has worked in the arts for more than 20 years and for the past 15 years, has held leadership positions with orchestras in New Brunswick, Mississauga, Niagara and Winnipeg before making Halifax her home in 2007. 

She is also a volunteer board member for Orchestras Canada, served on the Cultural Policy Advisory Committee for the City of St. Catharines and the Regional Municipality of Niagara and has served on juries for the Canada Council for the Arts, the Province of Nova Scotia’s Culture Division and FACTOR.  She is tickled to be one of the event co-chairs for the Bluenose Marathon and volunteers for the Grainery Food Co-op in Halifax’s north end. 

Luc Fortin (Quebec)

Governor

Since 2006, Luc Fortin has been president of the Quebec Musicians’ Guild, a professional association of more than 3200 freelance musicians. A partner of the American Federation of Musicians and member of the International Federation of Musicians, the Guild defends and promotes the economic, social, moral and professional interests of its members. Fortin is also a board member for the Canadian Conference of Musicians, which unites Canadian musicians’ associations who are members of the American Federation of Musicians, and vice-president of the board of the Fonds d’investissement de la culture et des communications (FICC), a venture capital fund that acts as a financial partner for companies that create, produce, distribute and promote cultural products and services. He acts as trustee of the Canadian Musicians’ Pension Fund and has been appointed to the Standing Committee of the Socio-economic status of artists by the Quebec Minister of Culture.

With a masters degree in music from the University of Montréal, Fortin is also a professional musician and manager of his own record label and publishing company. He is currently a municipal councillor for Verchères, Quebec. 

André Leclerc (Quebec)

Governor

Tom McFall (Alberta)

Governor

Tom McFall is the executive director of the Alberta Craft Council, Alberta’s largest provincial arts service organization. The Council operates the second largest public gallery in Edmonton and the only gallery in Alberta dedicated to craft culture. The Craft Council organizes 15 to 20 exhibitions annually for Edmonton, Calgary, provincial and occasionally national or international audiences. The Council also provides a wide range of career and marketing services for emerging and professional craft artists.

Tom’s background is in industrial design and design history and he has taught both subjects at the University of Alberta. He also has extensive experience in curating, writing, lecturing and developing exhibitions, particularly on topics of material culture, regional character and folk as well as fine craft.  Tom is involved in arts advocacy, locally, nationally and internationally. He has been president of the Alberta Cultural Action Network and chair of the Craft Working Group for Trade Team Canada - Cultural Goods and Services. He currently volunteers on the Edmonton Artists Urban Village (PAL affiliate) board, Edmonton Arts Habitat board, the US Craft Organization Development Association board and several projects teams of the Canadian Crafts Federation.

George Murray (Newfoundland)

Governor

George Murray is an accomplished writer and arts administrator living in St. John’s, Newfoundland.  Artistically, he is recognized worldwide as a a poet with five acclaimed books and a publishing record spanning all continents.  He also writes arts journalism for magazines and news papers such as Maisonneuve, the Globe and Mail, The Guardian, the Toronto Star, etc.  In 2009, George was a judge for the Governor General’s Literary Award and has himself been nominated for several prestigious prizes in Canada and the US.  He has spoken and lectured around Canada and the US, notably as a keynote for organizations such as the Ontario Public Library Association and at Princeton University.

As an arts administrator, George has been the executive director of the Association of Cultural Industries of Newfoundland and Labrador, an arts advocacy and policy research organization, since February 2007.  He has sat on numerous national, provincial and municipal advisory panels, boards and committees, and has appeared before all levels of government to give testimony about the impact of government policy on the arts and culture sector in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Previous professional positions include: international communications coordinator for the University of Toronto; communications coordinator for the President’s Office (Memorial University); and policy analyst for the New York City Campaign Finance Board, as well as many positions as an educator of adults and youth.

Arden Ryshpan (Ontario )

Current Treasurer & Chair of the Finance Committee

Arden Ryshpan has worked in the film industry for nearly 25 years in a variety of capacities, with production credits on over 30 feature films and televisions projects. While chair of the National ACTRA Women's Committee, she wrote and presented a paper on the status of female performing artists, which led to the development of a charter of rights for female performers, now endorsed by actors unions in over 50 countries. Arden was on the board of directors of the Dome Theatre of Dawson College and was a faculty member in the drama department. In her previous capacity as eastern regional executive director for the ACTRA Performers Guild, she was one of the union's senior negotiators. After a period of time as assistant director general of the English Program at the National Film Board, she became the on location production liaison for ACTRA Montreal and the STCVQ, representing their interests in their dealings with the Hollywood majors. She was previously the executive in charge of directors affairs for the National Directors Division of the Directors Guild of Canada, where she was responsible for negotiations, lobbying and international representation for Canada’s film and television directors. In September of 2007, she was appointed executive director of the Canadian Actors’ Equity Association. In addition to her membership on the CCA board, she also sits on the Senior Advisory Committee for CARFAC Ontario.

Kathleen Sharpe (Ontario)

Current President & Chair of the Audit Committee

Kathleen Sharpe is a senior manager and administrator in government and the cultural sector.  She has been executive director of the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund since its inception in 1999.  The Fund, a unique program established to support cultural tourism attractions through a combination of grants and loans, has committed over $40 million to almost 400 organizations around the province.  Prior to OCAF, Kathleen was director of the Culture Division of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, a post she held from 1991 until amalgamation of the municipality into the City of Toronto in 1998.  Kathleen’s leadership led to the adoption by Metro Council of its first comprehensive cultural policy, Metro’s Culture Plan, in 1994.  She managed the transition of cultural programs and staff of 150 during the changeover from Metro to the new amalgamated City of Toronto. Kathleen has also held management positions at the Ontario College of Art and Design and The Banff Centre.  Kathleen is chair of Toronto Artscape, president of the Canadian Conference of the Arts and president of SharpeCulture.

Jason van Eyk (Ontario)

Current Chair of the Membership Committee

Jason van Eyk returned to the post of Ontario regional director with the Canadian Music Centre in 2008 after a one-year leave in which he helped establish the University of Toronto ArtsZone – a tri-campus initiative dedicated to improving communication, coordination and collaboration within U of T’s arts community. He originally joined the CMC in 2003, where he is responsible for developing among the public of Ontario an awareness of our country's composers' music, and to seek out opportunities to encourage the appreciation, study and performance of this music.

Jason completed an MBA specializing in arts and media administration at York University's Schulich School of Business in 2000. Since then, he has worked as marketing manager with the Canadian Stage Company and marketing coordinator with Harbourfront Centre. In 2003, Jason received a special commendation in the Pfizer Award for Emerging Arts Managers, a unique national honour.

Jason recently has expanded his interests into writing and teaching. As a writer, he has focused on urban sound and music issues in his two contributions to the Coach House Books’s uTOpia series. He currently serves as new music columnist for the Wholenote magazine, as well as a contributor to numerous music industry publications. As teacher, he has served as a faculty member for the Regent Park School of Music, a sessional lecturer in arts management with the University of Toronto, and team-developed the Business of Arts Program for the Cultural Careers Council Ontario.

Jason currently sits on the board of governors of the Canadian Conference of the Arts, the Advisory Council of the University of Toronto Scarborough Arts Management program, the Advisory Committee of ArtsBuild Ontario, the Provincial Arts Service Organization Coalition, and convenes the Toronto New Music Alliance. He most recently served as music discipline chair for the 2010 ArtsVote campaign. 

Clothilde Cardinal (Quebec)

Governor

Clothilde Cardinal is co-artistic and general director of Danse Danse.

After completing her undergraduate studies in communications at UQAM and receiving a graduate diploma in cultural management from Hautes Études Commerciales in Montreal and the University of Ottawa, Clothilde knew that she was destined to pursue a career in arts management and the performing arts.

As the coordinator for several theatre companies (Les Deux Mondes, Carbone 14 and UBU), she received a personal grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to analyze various models of cultural production in Europe.  In 1993, she was appointed as coordinator for Francophone Theatre at the Canada Council. This position allowed her to travel across Canada and better familiarize herself with the realities of artistic production in the country.

Artistic production  is what interests Clothilde the  most . In 1995, she joined the team at the Festival de théâtre des Amériques. She also served as the artistic director of the Théâtre de la Ville in Longueuil, where she helped launch Les Fenêtres de la création théâtrale. In 2000, she partnered with Peter Des Marais to create Danse Danse, an international contemporary dance showcase based in Montreal.

As a volunteer, Clothilde has served as president of the Carré des Lombes and Cahiers de théâtre Jeu; administrator of Système D/Dominique Porte; vice-president of the Regroupement québécois de la danse (RQD); president of Chantier Territoires; and in 2009, president of États généraux de la danse. She was also as a member of the Advisory Committee for Dance at the Canada Council (2005-2006 and 2010).

She has coordinated and produced several writing and research projects for Maison Théâtre, the Canada Council and the MCCCQ. She has sat on selection committees for Rideau, CINARS, Canada Dances (2007) and the Ontario Dance Platform (2010). Clothilde has also participated in many performing arts festivals and showcases in Canada and abroad.

Ivan Habel (British Columbia)

Governor

Ivan Habel is currently general manager for Green Thumb Theatre, a company specializing in touring new productions for youth across the country.  Ivan’s previous experience includes director of planning and education at the Stratford Festival, director of production at the Shaw Festival and various positions with Live Entertainment including production manager, technical director and concerts production supervisor.  He has also worked with and for Opera Atelier, Canadian Stage and the National Arts Centre among others.  He has worked in or toured into most provinces and internationally in a variety of art forms.  A graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, Ivan’s work has included experience in design and production as well as management positions.  He has served on several juries for the British Columbia Arts Council , the Canada Council for the Arts and the City of Vancouver, including several multi-disciplinary assessment committees.  Ivan is currently active in advocacy efforts for increased and stable funding for artists in BC and participates on several committees for PACT including the Labour Relations Committee, the Membership Taskforce and other activities.  He has previously served on the board and executive for the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT) and as director of the International Performing Arts for Youth (IPAY) Association.

Nicole Matiation (Manitoba)

Governor

Nicole Matiation is the executive director of On Screen Manitoba (the provincial professional association for the film and television industry). This past year, she was project manager, Manitoba for Culture Days, implementing the first annual Culture Days, a highly successful event with over 26,000 participants attending some 150 activities in Manitoba.

Nicole has an MA in media arts from Concordia University and has held communications, development, programming and management positions in the arts sector for 20 years. This includes work at the National Film Board of Canada in Montreal coordinating an in-house film festival and a video distribution project using animated shorts to teach English and media literacy to adults in Eastern Europe. Recently, Nicole had a term contract with Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Tourism as the cultural industries consultant and a term contract with Manitoba Education to develop the curriculum for a grade 12, 20th century history course using film.

In 1996, Nicole founded Freeze Frame Media Arts Centre for Young People with her partner, filmmaker Pascal Boutroy. The non-profit bilingual organization produces media arts projects for and with young people including an annual international film festival. Co-director from 1996-2000, Nicole was the sole artistic/executive director from 2000 to 2008.

A committed volunteer, Nicole has mentored several young workers. She is the chair of the Arts and Cultural Industries Association of Manitoba and the liaison between the Event Planning Committee and the Marketing Planning Committee for The Winnipeg Art Gallery’s 2012 Centennial Celebration.

Skip Kutz (Saskatchewan)

Governor

Skip Kutz, Saskatchewan musician and university educator, has studied with Guy Fallot of the Paris Conservatory and Warren Benfield, principal bass of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. As a performer, he has played with many ensembles including the Orchestre Jeunesses Musicales (Mount Orford, P.Q.), the Congress of Strings (Saratoga Springs, NY) as well as the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. As a contemporary journeyman bassist, he has performed with Colin James, the Mamas and Papas, Almeta Speaks, Sierra Noble and many other artists across Canada.

Skip has been active in the arts advocacy field as well, serving as the three-term president of the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance representing 65 arts organizations in the province. In this role, he shepherded the Status of the Artists Act to second reading in the provincial legislature, as well as negotiating a major increase in Saskatchewan Arts Board funding.  He has also served as the president of the Saskatoon Musicians’ Association, president of CJUS-FM (University Radio) and as a board member of 25th Street Theatre. In 2008 and 2009, Skip was asked to lend his expertise in the area of jazz as one of the jurists for the Juno Awards. He has also been a jurist for the Saskatchewan Arts Board and FACTOR on several occasions.

Over the years, Skip has performed on CBC Radio and TV, Global Television, CTV and on more than 30 recordings. In addition, he was the executive producer for the Saskatoon Symphony’s anniversary CD, Passionscape, featuring the compositions of Neil Currie.

He continues to perform and is currently a faculty member at the Gabriel Dumont Institute at the University of Saskatchewan.

Ex-officio

Denise Roy

Past President and Chair of the Nominating Committee

Liz Barron (Manitoba)

Liz Barron has been involved with self-directed contract work for the last 15 years. Liz ‘retired’ from the federal government in 1991. Her background includes management and marketing skills in the not-for-profit and private sectors. She partners with other like-minded businesses and has extensive background in Aboriginal and diversity issues within the cultural sector.

Currently operating a Winnipeg-based arts consulting business, her mission is to enhance the health and viability of Canada’s cultural sector by implementing training and development workshops, better business practices, improving youth at risk learning opportunities and expanding diverse cultural markets. With key skills in the development of Aboriginal youth based learning programs in broadcasting and IT, Liz has written and designed video production workshops, e-commerce websites and media literacy skills for youth. Since 1995, Liz has served small, medium and large organizations in the private and public sectors from Vancouver to Halifax, and has assisted numerous individual artists and entrepreneurs in the cultural and business communities. She has sat on juries for the Manitoba Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards (three consecutive years) and on the CBC Radio ‘Best Of’ jury. 

Liz is one of the original founders of Urban Shaman Gallery, an Aboriginal contemporary artist run centre, where she worked as the curator and executive director for numerous years.

Michel Beauchemin (Quebec)

Michel Beauchemin has been the executive secretary for the Association québécoise des autreurs dramatiques (AQAD) since 1996.  The AQAD’s mandate is to defend the moral, socia, professional and economic interests of playwrights, librettists, writers of adaptations and French-language translators from Quebec and the rest of Canada, who are active in theatre and opera.  He is also the director for two independent organizations branched out from the AQAD to fulfill more specific aspects of its mandate: the Société québécoise des auteurs dramatiques (SoOAD), a management collective which perceives copyright dues for public representations or reproductions on all medias for authors members of the Société, and Auteurs dramatiques en ligne (ADEL inc), a virtual library and bookstore where the general public may read and buy hundreds of franco-canadian authored plays.

He is also, amongst other things, the coordinator of the Table des créateurs sur le droit d’auteur and of the DAMIC (Droit d’auteur / Multimédia-Internet / Copyright) and the co-president of the Creators’ Rights Alliance (CRA).  Finally, he is a member of the Comité permanent sur l’amélioration des conditions socioéconomiques des artistes, created in June of 2004 by the Quebec Minister of Culture and Communications, Mrs. Line Beauchamp, as well as a member of the board of governors for the Conseil québécois de l’Association littéraire et artistique internatinoale for Canada (ALAI). He was until recently the vice-president of the Coalition for Cultural Diversity.

Rose Bellosillo (Ontario)

Current Secretary & Chair of Awards Committee

Rose Bellosillo is currently the director of development for Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival. She has worked with groups such as the Forest City Gallery in London, the Royal Ontario Museum Foundation, Red Sky, Native Women in the Arts, b current, the Centre for Instructional Technology Development and the Toronto Arts Council in the areas of organizational planning, resource development and communications, general management, event planning, research and policy.

As a proud advocate and supporter of arts and culture, she sits as a board bember for the Images Festival for Independent Film and Video and is involved in the TAC’s Toronto Arts Online working group and the Toronto Festivals network. She has acted as an advisor for various initiatives of Canadian Heritage, the Ontario Arts Council and the Cultural Careers Council Ontario, served as a board member of the Philippine Women’s Centre of Ontario and on the steering committees of the Arts Management Series for Euclid Canada/the Centre for Cultural Management and the Arts in a Pluralist Society Initiative of the University of Toronto. Rose is a recipient of the 1997 Warner Lambert Prize in Arts Administration from the University of Toronto.

Tim Borlase (New Brunswick)

Current Chair of the Arts and Education Committee

After graduating in 1974 with a bachelor of arts (honours) in theatre from the University of King's College, Halifax; Tim Borlase then earned a bachelor of education in social studies from Dalhousie University in 1981. He was awarded a master's of education in fine arts and native education from the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education in 1980.

Mr. Borlase was a program specialist for art, music, drama, Labrador studies, and social studies with the Labrador School Board for 28 years. He was the director of the Labrador Institute of Memorial University from 2002-2006 where he involved the university in responding to the educational, cultural and research needs of Labradorians. He is also the author of numerous publications on the heritage and culture of Labrador.

Mr. Borlase has been actively involved in promoting and sustaining the arts and culture of Labrador for more than 30 years.  He is the founder and organizer of the Labrador Creative Arts Festival, an event which involves about 4500 students annually from many Labrador communities in the presentation of their original scripts on issues of concern and workshops with professional artists. He has been dedicated to the Association of Cultural Industries both as its president and one of the authors of the cultural policy for the entire province.

In 2005, Mr. Borlase retired to New Brunswick where he continues to work on cultural policy and the Labrador Creative Arts Festival. He teaches part time at a new Performing Arts School at the Capitol Theatre, studies French, sings with the Université de Moncton choir and has joined the Moncton Music Festival Committee.

Rudy Buttignol (British Columbia )

Current Chair of the Governance Committee

Rudy Buttignol is the president & CEO of Knowledge Network Corporation, British Columbia’s public educational broadcaster. He also serves as a contributor and moderator at the documentary co-financing forums in Toronto, Leipzig and Amsterdam.

Buttignol is the president of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, Foundation, chair of the Gemini Rules & Regulations Committee, and past chair of the board of directors. He is vice-chair of the Association of Education Broadcasters of Canada; Chair of the International Advisory Council of the Toronto Documentary Forum; a member of the board of g

overnors of the Banff Television Foundation; and serves on the advisory councils of DokLeipzig and the European Television Management Academy in Strasbourg.

From 2000 to 2006, Buttignol was TVO’s Creative Head of Network Programming, and Commissioning Editor and Creative Head of Independent Production from 1993 to 1999. Buttignol founded TVO's award-winning series The View From Here, and commissioned documentaries such as Manufactured Landscapes, The Corporation, Dying at Grace, Hitman Hart; Hardwood; Diamond Road; and Yo-Yo Ma: Inspired by Bach.

From 1975 to 1993, Buttignol was an independent producer, director, and writer. His documentary work includes Jack Bush; Neon: An Electric Memoir; Art Off This Earth; and Soviet Space: The Secret Designer.

Buttignol was born in Pordenone, Italy. He is a graduate of the faculty of Fine Arts at Toronto’s York University and a nine-time Gemini award-winner. In 2007, Buttignol received the inaugural Outstanding Industry Achievement Award from the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival.