The National Creation Fund was created by the National Arts Centre (NAC) and officially opened on November 1, 2017. The Fund invests two million dollars a year in the creation of 9 to 11 compelling and ambitious new Canadian works in theatre, dance, music and inter-disciplinary arts.
If you have questions about the National Creation Fund that have not been answered in our Frequently Asked Questions section, you can contact us at Emily.Calongcagong@nac-cna.ca.
Curatorial Team
Our curatorial team consists of the Fund’s Artistic Producer, members of the NAC Artistic Leadership team, and members of the Canadian performing arts milieu. For each proposal, a curatorial team that includes the Fund’s Artistic Producer, a member of the NAC Artistic Leadership team, and two members from the Canadian performing arts milieu will evaluate how well the project responds to the Fund’s investment criteria.
Artistic Director, English Theatre
Nina Lee Aquino
Nina Lee Aquino is an award-winning Filipino-Canadian director and dramaturg who has tirelessly advocated for the representation and flourishing of IBPoC voices in Canadian theatre. She was the Founding Artistic Director of fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company and former Artistic Director of Cahoots Theatre. She has directed world premieres and revivals at theatres across the country and has won a multitude of awards including the Ken McDougall Award, the Canada Council for the Arts John Hirsch Prize, the Margo Bindhart and Rita Davies Cultural Leadership Award, as well as a Toronto Theatre Critics Award and Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Direction for School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Obsidian Theatre), in addition to two Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Sultans of the Street (Young People’s Theatre) and paper SERIES (Cahoots Theatre). During her tenure, Factory cemented its reputation as a national leader for the development of new work and emerged as a leading training ground for the next generation of diverse Canadian theatre creators.
In addition to serving as the Founding Artistic Director of fu-GEN Asian Canadian theatre company, Nina Lee Aquino is credited with a string of firsts in Asian Canadian theatre: she organized the first Asian Canadian theatre conference; she edited the first (two-volume) Asian Canadian play anthology, and she co-edited the first (award-winning) book on Asian Canadian theatre.
Nina Lee Aquino is currently President of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres.
Over 10 seasons at Factory Theatre, Nina programmed world premiere and Toronto premiere productions from playwrights such as David Yee, Anusree Roy, Marjorie Chan, Yvette Nolan, Kat Sandler, and Jeff Ho, among others; programmed bold and imaginative re-interpretations of classic Canadian plays from Judith Thompson, Colleen Wagner, David French, Linda Griffiths, Daniel MacIvor, Anosh Irani, and Claudia Dey. She fostered relationships with some of the best theatre companies from across the country and brought their productions to Factory Theatre.
Following the March 2020 pandemic shutdown, Nina fully embraced the new digital theatre medium, commissioning and directing new digital and audio theatrical works at Factory and with post-secondary institutions and festivals. Notable digital works include House: The Isolation Version by Daniel MacIvor (Factory Theatre), acts of faith by David Yee (Factory Theatre), Defined by Bone by Mayumi Lashbrook (CanAsian Dance), rabbit hole by David Yee (Ryerson University), and You Can’t Get There From Here, an audio drama series (Factory Theatre).
Nina Lee Aquino co-wrote Miss Orient(ed) and her monologues have been published in Beyond the Pale (edited by Yvette Nolan) and She Speaks (edited by Judith Thompson).
Nina has taught and directed at educational institutions such as Humber College, University of Guelph, University of Toronto Mississauga-Sheridan College, Ryerson University, York University, and the National Theatre School. She is an honorary member of the Canadian Association for Theatre Research and was recently appointed Adjunct Professor at York University’s Department of Theatre. Her leadership has extended into mentoring theatre students and emerging artists. She was also the 2019 winner of the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Margo Bindhart.
Manager of Artistic Planning, NAC Orchestra
Daphne Burt
Daphne Burt is the manager of artistic planning for the Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra. With music director Alexander Shelley, she leads the program planning for the full season of the NAC Orchestra, where her passions are discovering new voices and supporting the work of Canadian artists.
Throughout her career in classical music, including programming for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, she has worked with a long list of conductors and composes alike, including Pinchas Zukerman, Oliver Knussen, Xian Zhang, Joana Carneiro, Howard Shore, Philip Glass, and Ana Sokolovic.,
As artistic manager for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Ms. Burt was a founding member of Symphonic Pops Consortium which, from within the orchestra industry, develops new programs of popular music for North American Orchestras.
Daphne has called Canada home for the past 20 years. She hails from south Georgia, where she learned bassoon and piano, and her childhood delights were old movies, marching band, and her family’s catfish restaurant.
Executive Producer, Popular Music and Variety
Heather Gibson
Heather Gibson is responsible for all non-orchestral music curation, and summer and community programming at the National Arts Centre (NAC). Heather and her team work with artists from all backgrounds -- from the most exciting new artists to the all-time greats -- to bring the best of the world to the NAC's stages, and the best of Canada to the world.
Since joining the NAC team in 2016, Heather has been connecting and elevating artists via innovative and inclusive programs around the globe, including: EXPO 2020 in Dubai, which showcased the breadth and diversity of Canada’s performing arts community and brought 130 artists to the UAE over six months; COP15, the United Nations' biodiversity conference in Montreal; and the Global Network for Women Music Producers, an initiative to support women and non-binary music producers that so far totals 35 members in six countries, offering an international network for producers and a resource for artists and record labels.
Heather’s commitment to the constantly evolving landscape of the arts continues by working to develop emerging performers, and deliver an equitable representation on our stages for women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ2S+ artists. In a direct and immediate response to the Covid-19 pandemic, in March 2020 Heather created the emergency artist relief fund #CanadaPerforms, which provided a season's worth of funding to nearly 700 performing artists and authors, non-profit festivals, and organizations. In the pandemic's first six months, #CanadaPerforms distributed almost a million dollars to arts workers across the country.
Originally from Manitoba, Heather built her career in the performing arts in Halifax, where she was a successful artist manager, co-owner of Halifax's iconic queer listening room The Company House, and producer of multiple festivals and special events, including the Halifax Jazz Festival and In the Dead of Winter Music Festival.
Artistic Director, Indigenous Theatre
Kevin Loring
Kevin Loring is an accomplished Canadian playwright, actor and director and was the winner of the Governor General’s Award for English Language Drama for his outstanding play, Where the Blood Mixes in 2009. The play explores the intergenerational effects of the residential school system. It toured nationally and was presented at the National Arts Centre in 2010, when Loring was serving as the NAC’s Playwright in Residence.
A Nlaka’pamux from the Lytton First Nation in British Columbia, Loring created the Songs of the Land project in 2012 in partnership with five separate organizations in his home community. The project explores 100-year-old audio recordings of songs and stories of the N’lakap’amux People. Loring has written two new plays based on his work with the community including Battle of the Birds, about domestic violence and power abuse, and The Boy Who Was Abandoned, about youth and elder neglect.
A versatile artist and leader Loring has served as the co-curator of the Talking Stick Festival, as Artist in Residence at the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre, as Artistic Director of the Savage Society in Vancouver, as a Documentary Producer of Canyon War: The Untold Story, and as the Project Leader/Creator, and Director of the Songs of the Land project in his home community of Lytton First Nation.
Caroline Ohrt has held a variety of positions in various cultural organizations, acquiring a solid knowledge of the arts ecosystem, management and governance. She has built strong local, national and international professional network which allowed her to present the highest calibre artists from all over the world at the Place des Arts, Danse Danse’s home. While there, she developed many partnerships. She cultivated opportunities for artists and audiences to meet on multiple platforms, whether at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, at the Arsenal art contemporain or virtually. She actively contributed to the growth of the organization and took to heart the support and development of artists, which remains a cornerstone of her work.
She has also held multiple positions in the world of contemporary arts, including with other dance organizations such as Compagnie Marie Chouinard and, more recently, at the Domaine Forget in Saint-Irénée. With a background in art history, Caroline has advised visual arts collectors and carried out assignments at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. She is recognized widely as a person in constant dialogue with the forces that shape contemporary creation.
Recognized for her innovative strategic vision, she is actively involved in the community through her participation on prominent boards and juries. She is vice-president of the Conseil des arts de Montréal and a board member of the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal. Her advice is highly valued for her keen understanding of the cultural milieu and artistic realities.
Artistic Director, French Theatre
Mani Soleymanlou
A 2008 graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, Mani Soleymanlou has lived in Tehran, Paris, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, and has worked with such acclaimed directors as Alice Ronfard (Les pieds des anges), Brigitte Haentjens (L’opéra de quat’sous), Claude Poissant (Rouge gueule, The Dragonfly of Chicoutimi), Serge Denoncourt (Projet Andromaque, Les trois mousquetaires), Olivier Kemeid (Furieux et désespérés), Denis Bernard (Ce moment-là) and Eric Jean (Variations sur un temps).
He is best known as the founding artistic director (2011) of the Montreal-based theatre company Orange Noyée. His distinctive artistic practice investigates notions of community identity (Un/One, Deux/Two, Trois/Three) and social relationships (Ils étaient quatre, Cinq à sept, 8). He pursued this approach more recently in Neuf [working title] and Zéro presented in fall 2019 in Montreal and Ottawa, and also in various artistic collaborations over the years: Lapin blanc, Lapin rouge, Les Lettres arabes II, and À te regarder, ils s’habitueront. Mani Soleymanlou was part of the impressive team behind Gabriel Dumont’s Wild West Show (premiered at the NAC in October 2017), as director and co-artistic director.
Performing Arts Curator, Facilitator and Consultant
Erin Clark
Erin Clark is a performance artist, author and world champion athlete. Erin is internationally trained in aerial dance, theatre and performance.
In NYC, as part of the aerial comedy duo Flaming Mermaid Broken Star (2013-2015), Erin created the persona of "International Sex Icon" to explore the relationship between disability and sexuality, power and social status.
When she left NYC, Erin continued to perform as an International Sex Icon across social media using selfies to play with her place/role/positioning in physical and digital space. Her self-portraits and short films, focused on de-sentimentalizing her physical body and it’s shapes and movements, have been featured in digital art spaces such as Deaf Poets Society and Corporeal Khôra.
While living in Spain, Erin added pole sports to her aerial repertoire and became a two-time national champion (2017, 2018), and the wheelchair parapole world champion in 2018, setting an undefeated world record. She documented and published the training and competition process as an act of resistance to the ways that her accomplishments as a disabled person were being co-opted and tokenized.
Erin became a paragliding pilot where she transformed a broken wheelchair into one that can fly. She wrote the story of her life and flying wheelchair in If You Really Love Me, Throw Me Off the Mountain (EyeCorner Press, 2020). During the Disability Filibuster broadcast in 2021, Erin performed a live reading of her book for seven, unbroken hours while lying in bed. She was accompanied by ASL interpreters and live captions.
Erin is an award-winning nonfiction writer and the co-author of the upcoming The Breakup Artist (Audible). Her essays on disability tropes and representation in arts and entertainment have appeared in CBC, Gay Mag, and Refinery29.
performing artist, producer, director
Sylvia Cloutier
Iqaluit, Nunavut
Sylvia Cloutier originally from Kuujjuaq, Nunavik (Northern Quebec) living in Iqaluit, Nunavut, is a mother, performing artist, producer, director, well known for performing Inuit throat singing and drum dancing. She has collaborated with many artists all over the world including Think of One from Belgium; Tafelmusik, a Toronto based baroque orchestra; Montréal based DJ Geronimo Inutiq and the National Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Cloutier is the co-founder of a performance company Aqsarniit producing shows that promote Inuit culture for special events such as the Nunavut Celebration at the Museum of Civilization in April 1999, Toonik Tyme and Alianait festival in Iqaluit, Canadian North’s Nunavut Day Gala in 2007, fashion shows for the Government of Nunavut promoting the high fashion seal skin products.
Ms. Cloutier was the producer for a television series Inuit Piqqusingit with Inuit Communication Systems Limited in 2000 learning about Inuit survival skills across Nunavut. She has also been involved as a motivational speaker for youth events and has worked extensively with creating training for youth in creative projects while addressing social issues such as video production, the development of murals, social theatre, music, dance and circus.
She was the Artistic Director of Qaggiq theatre company in Iqaluit, project manager at the Northern village of Kuujjuaq and collaborator with Social Hip Hop projects with the Blueprints for life team working in Inuit communities in Nunavik and Nunavut. In 2009, Mr. Cloutier was managing the social Circus program CIRQINIQ as the Recreation advisor for Arts & Culture at the Kativik Regional Government, a program developed for youth in Nunavik in collaboration with Cirque du Soleil’s social circus department Cirque du Monde.
She joined her Excellency Governor General Michaëlle Jean on the state visit to Norway and Ukraine in 2009 and was named “Woman of the Year” by Pauktutiit, the national Inuit women’s organization and later received an award for “Outstanding young woman of the year” by Qullit Nunavut women’s organization in 2013. Sylvia is the producer and co-director of TULUGAK bringing together Inuit performing artists from Canada and Greenland since 2011. She is currently a television Producer at Inuit Broadcasting Corporation in Iqaluit.
Artist, Producer and Disability Consultant
Shay Erlich
Shay Erlich (they/them) is a disability justice world builder living in T:karonto. Their work both creatively and professionally reimagines a disability-centered world where disabled people are empowered to love themselves and live free from stigma, shame, and ableism.
They are a champion of disability inclusion in the arts and media sector – working with organizations such as the City of Toronto Arts and Culture department, Canada Media Fund, DAWN Canada, the National Arts Centre – National Creation Fund; where Shay is a disability-arts curatorial advisor. Shay hosts trainings and develops professional development programs for arts organizations that facilitate the development of meaningful disability inclusion in the field. This includes leading Designing Accessible Futures, a first of its kind leadership development program for emerging disabled artists which also reported on the barriers emerging disabled artists face. Additionally Shay has provided accessibility support to a number of arts festivals across Tkaranto including Luminato Festival, the CoMotion Festival, and the Contact Dance International Film Festival. They are also currently involved with a number of projects as a disability dramaturg developing artistic and creative access to live performance. Shay’s writing on the arts can be found in many publications including The Dance Current, alt.theatre, and The Cripsters.
Shay holds both a BA and MA in Child and Youth Care from Toronto Metropolitan University, and is an accomplished scholar on disability justice and Child and Youth Care practice. They spoke at the 2021 Ontario Child and Youth Care conference as the keynote on their work with the Cyborg Circus Project (2018-2021), a disability-justice informed community arts and social service organization for disabled young people. Shay has also developed curriculum on disability justice and Child and Youth Care for Toronto Metropolitan University and Humber College. Their work on disability and Child and Youth Care can also be found in a number of Child and Youth Care publications including a chapter in Child & Youth Care Across Sectors: Canadian perspectives (2019). Shay and co-presenters were also the first to develop a workshop on Medical Assistance in Dying and Child and Youth Care practice on the implications of Bill C-7 on Child and Youth Care as a profession.
Their body of work also includes a significant dance career. Shay was a co-choreographer and dancer of A Provocation on Wheels I and Safe Words (I didn’t say broccoli) with The Cyborg Circus Project. The film version of A Provocation on Wheels I was part of the festival circuit as a selected short at the Contact Dance International Film Festival, the ReelAbilities Film Festival (Toronto), and the Chinook Festival. Shay’s work with other dance companies includes Heart2Heart by Political Movement, and SPUR of the Moment Shakespeare Collective. Shay has participated in many prestigious residency and artistic development opportunities including The Inkling Incubator (2019), New Blue Kaeja d’Dance Creative Risk Residency (2019) and Dancing Disability Lab (2020). Recently Shay was the inaugural Accessible Futures artist in residence with North York Arts where they choreographed and produced a short dance film Landscapes: Love Letters to Willow which will debut on the festival circuit in later 2023.
A three-time Canadian Screen Award winner and International Film Music Critics Association Award nominee with over 100 composition credits to his name, Darren Fung (馮浩明) is a highly influential composer who is well-respected in the film, television and concert worlds. His work on Niobe Thompson’s The Great Human Odyssey and Equus: Story of the Horse received widespread critical acclaim, winning the 2016 and 2019 Canadian Screen Awards for Best Non-Fiction Music, and has been presented in concert with orchestras across Canada. His diverse credits include re-envisioning Canada's beloved Hockey Theme for TSN, the theme music for CTV’s Canada AM, numerous orchestral arrangements for artists and orchestras internationally, and film scores that have been heard at prestigious film festivals around the world, including Toronto, Cannes, and Sundance.
In addition to composing, Darren serves on the Board of the Screen Composers Guild of Canada, the public policy leadership development program Action Canada, and as a Program Advisor for the Canadian Film Centre's Slaight Music Residency. In a feeble attempt to counteract the sedimentary lifestyle of a composer, Darren wakes up way too early rowing with the Los Angeles Rowing Club and stays up way too late playing hockey. He is rather awful at both.
Assistant Professor, SOTA McMaster, artist activist scholar
Syrus Marcus Ware
Syrus is a Vanier Scholar, visual artist, activist, curator and educator. Syrus uses painting, installation and performance to explore social justice frameworks and black activist culture. His work has been shown widely, including in a solo show at Grunt Gallery, Vancouver (2068:Touch Change) and new work commissioned for the 2019 Toronto Biennial of Art and the Ryerson Image Centre (Antarctica and Ancestors, Do You Read Us? (Dispatches from the Future)) and in group shows at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Art Gallery of York University, the Art Gallery of Windsor and as part of the curated content at Nuit Blanche 2017 (The Stolen People; Won't Back Down). His performance works have been part of festivals across Canada, including at Cripping The Stage (Harbourfront Centre, 2016, 2019), Complex Social Change (University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, 2015) and Decolonizing and Decriminalizing Trans Genres (University of Winnipeg, 2015).
He is part of the PDA (Performance Disability Art) Collective and co-programmed Crip Your World: An Intergalactic Queer/POC Sick and Disabled Extravaganza as part of Mayworks 2014. Syrus' recent curatorial projects include That’s So Gay (Gladstone Hotel, 2016-2019), Re:Purpose (Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2014) and The Church Street Mural Project (Church-Wellesley Village, 2013). Syrus is also co-curator of The Cycle, a two-year disability arts performance initiative of the National Arts Centre.
Syrus is a core-team member of Black Lives Matter - Toronto. Syrus is a co-curator of Blackness Yes!/Blockorama. Syrus has won several awards, including the TD Diversity Award in 2017. Syrus was voted “Best Queer Activist” by NOW Magazine (2005) and was awarded the Steinert and Ferreiro Award (2012). Syrus is a PhD candidate at York University in the Faculty of Environmental Studies.
Executive Director, Canadian Dance Assembly
Karla Etienne
Montréal, Québec
Karla Etienne is the Executive Director of the Canadian Dance Assembly and guest curator at Mandoline Hybride, a dance organization based in Gaspésie. She is a dance artist who has worked with Zab Maboungou/Compagnie Danse Nyata Nyata for more than 20 years. The first graduate of the organization's Programme de formation et d'entraînement artistique et professionnel en danse (PEFAPDA) and an accomplished dancer, Karla has been a part of Zab Maboungou's major works, including the emblematic Mozongi, winner of the Grand Prix du Conseil des arts de Montréal in dance, particularly for "the amazing performance of its performers" in 2015. She has collaborated as a dancer in projects by George Stamos, Kimberley de Jong, Katya Montaignac, Sophie Corriveau and Priscilla Guy.
Karla Etienne has a degree in environment and cultural management and continues to contribute as a performer, mentor, advisor and new philanthropist to artists and arts organizations. Interested in community philanthropy, she is co-founder and co-chair of Philanthropic Conversations in Culture.
Her commitment is recognized today, notably for the renewal of cultural policies concerning equity in the field of art, on all levels of practice, management and dissemination with the institutions and organizations that are responsible, including the Conseil des arts de Montréal. In 2021, she received the Nyata Nyata Stellar Award for service to the greater dance community.
ted witzel (he/him) is a queer theatre-maker and artistic leader from toronto / tkaròn:to, and is the artistic director of buddies in bad times theatre. primarily a director, ted is also variously a dramaturg, curator, teacher, writer, translator, designer, and performer. he has worked with theatres and cultural organizations across canada, the uk, germany, and italy.
ted was a guest curator for the 2023 edition of the summerworks festival and is a member of the theatre committee at the toronto arts council. he recently completed a four-year tenure as artistic associate and laboratory director at the stratford festival, where he oversaw the company’s research and development programs. ted holds a masters of arts management from SDA bocconi and an MFA in directing from york university and canadian stage. in 2018, he was selected as an artistic leadership resident at the national theatre school, and was a member of the banff centre’s 2019 cultural leadership cohort. he has been artist-in-residence at harbourfront centre, buddies in bad times (toronto) and institut für alles mögliche (berlin).
recent directing credits include: sunny drake’s every little nookie (stratford festival), susanna fournier’s what happens to you happens to me (canadian stage), elizabeth rex (theatre@york), the scavenger’s daughter (buddies/paradigm) and LULU v.7 // aspects of a femme fatale (buddies/red light district).
The National Advisory Committee is a distinguished group of artists and arts professionals who together represent a diversity of disciplines, languages, cultures and regions. The Advisory Committee will advise the National Creation Fund team, but will not make decisions about National Creation Fund investments.
As Artistic Director of the annual world music conference Mundial Montreal, Derek developed touring opportunities throughout North America and Europe, including Canada's World Routes Network (2010-21). He received the National Arts Centre Award for Distinguished Contribution to Touring in 2018. Toronto based, Derek served as Music Curator of Luminato Festival (2010-16) and Music Programmer at Harbourfront Centre (1985-2003). Other projects include guest curator for the National Arts Centre’s Canada Scene (2017). Derek is a passion advocate for creative approaches in music as a tool for breaking down cultural barriers.
General and Artistic Director, MAYDAY
Mélanie Demers
A multidisciplinary artist, Mélanie Demers founded in Montreal her own dance company, MAYDAY, in 2007, exploring the powerful link between the poetical and the political. Les Angles Morts (2006), Sense of Self (2008), Junkyard/ Paradise (2010) and Goodbye (2012) have all been created from this perspective. With MAYDAY remix (2014), she deepened her engagement with cross-genre works and hybrid forms. Her fascination with the interplay between word and gesture crystallized with WOULD (2015), which won the CALQ Prize for best choreography. In 2016, Mélanie Demers began a new creation cycle with Animal Triste and Icône Pop; both works are touring internationally. In 2017, Mélanie Demers was invited to work as a guest choreographer at the Skånes Dansteater in Malmö (Sweden) for the creation of Something About Wilderness in collaboration with Laïla Diallo. Now that the choreographic relay Danse Mutante has hit the stage, it is time for La Goddam Voie Lactée, Confession Publique (2021) and Cabaret Noir (2022) to enter the spotlight. To date, Mélanie Demers choreographed over thirty works and was presented across Europe, America, Africa and Asia.
Executive Artistic Director, Dreamspeakers Festival Society
Christine Frederick
Christine Sokaymoh Frederick is Executive Artistic Director of the Dreamspeakers Festival Society and producer of the annual Dreamspeakers Indigenous Film Festival (DIFF) and the Rubaboo Arts Festival. She is Cree-Métis with forty years of artistic experience. She is the first Indigenous Associate Artist of the Citadel Theatre and served on many artistic boards including the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, the Edmonton Arts Council and Alberta Foundation of the Arts. She is the recipient of the 2007 Esquao Award in Arts and the 2016 Mayor's award for Excellence in Artistic Leadership.
Manager, City Cultural Events Programming Unit at the City of Toronto
Jeanne Holmes
Jeanne Holmes is Manager of the City Cultural Events Programming unit at the City of Toronto, responsible for key programs like Nuit Blanche Toronto, Cavalcade of Lights, Doors Open and several other large-scale public events. Prior, Jeanne was the Artistic Director of the Canada Dance Festival, Producing Director of Dancemakers and the Centre for Creation in Toronto and was the Dance Programmer at Harbourfront Centre, responsible for the dance curation in the World Stage international performance series and the Artistic Direction of the Centre’s annual contemporary dance series.
Executive and Artistic Director, ArtSpring
Howard Jang
Howard Jang is an internationally respected arts leader, and he is currently the Executive and Artistic Director of ArtSpring, a performing and visual arts centre on Salt Spring Island, B.C.
Before moving to Salt Spring Island, Howard was the Vice President, Arts and Leadership at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. He has also held leadership positions with the Arts Club Theatre, Ballet BC, Winnipeg Symphony and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. He also served as Professor of Professional Practice at the SFU School for the Contemporary Arts, and Director of the SFU Woodward’s Goldcorp Centre for the Arts.
He has been an active member of several volunteer boards and committees and served as Chair of Tourism Vancouver in 2011/2012 and was a member of the Board of the Canada Council for the Arts from 2012-2016.
Artistic Director, Carte blanche
Christian Lapointe
Christian Lapointe is an artist based in Quebec City. He is the artistic director of Carte blanche and the author of a cycle of plays collectively known as Théâtre de la disparition. He has directed more than 25 productions.
In Canada, his work is regularly included in the programming of the Carrefour international de théâtre de Québec, the National Arts Centre and the Festival TransAmériques—where, in 2015, he gave a nearly 70-hour performance on the work of Antonin Artaud.
He is the instigator of Constituons!, a vast citizen project to test theatre as a popular forum.
Natalie Lue is the Director of the Vancouver Civic Theatres. Previously, she was the CEO of the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, and before that the Vice President, Production and Visitor Experience for the Toronto International Film Festival and on the build team for TIFF Bell Lightbox. Natalie has been a member of several not-for-profit Board of Directors and is currently a board member of the Canadian Arts Presenting Association. Natalie Lue is an inaugural Fellow of the Toronto Arts Council and The Banff Centre Cultural Leaders Lab programme.
Debbie Patterson is a Winnipeg playwright, director and actor. Trained at the National Theatre School of Canada, she is a founding member of Shakespeare in the Ruins (SIR), served as Theatre Ambassador for Winnipeg’s Cultural Capital year, and as Artistic Director of the Popular Theatre Alliance of Manitoba. She was the Carol Shields Writer in Residence 2012 at the University of Winnipeg and Playwright in Residence at Theatre Projects Manitoba in 2013/14. She served as Artistic Associate at Prairie Theatre Exchange (PTE) from 2012 to 2018 and was a member of the PTE Playwrights Unit.
She was honoured with the United Nations Platform for Action Committee’s 2014 Activist Award and the Winnipeg Arts Council Making a Mark Award in 2017. She was twice shortlisted for the Gina Wilkinson Prize. She is a proud advocate for disability justice through her work as founding and current Artistic Director of Sick + Twisted Theatre.
She lives a wheelchair-enabled life in Winnipeg and in a cabin on the shore of Lake Winnipeg with her partner and collaborator, Arne MacPherson. She is the matriarch of a family of artists.
Artistic director of Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre, Mike Payette is an actor and director whose work has appeared at some of Canada’s finest theatres as well as many great companies in his hometown of Montreal. Prior to joining Tarragon, this two-time Montreal English Theatre Award (META) recipient, was the Artistic and Executive Director of Geordie Theatre, and was earlier the co-founding Artistic Director of Tableau D’Hôte Theatre and past Assistant Artistic Director for Black Theatre Workshop. Frequent guest artist at the National Theatre School of Canada, he has served on several board including the Quebec Drama Federation, la Maison Théâtre, MAI and on the Executive of PACT.
Described as a “new music visionary” (National Arts Centre), composer Andrew Staniland has established himself as one of Canada’s most important and innovative musical voices. Important accolades include 3 Juno nominations, an ECMA award, the 2016 Terra Nova Young Innovators Award, and the National Grand Prize winner of EVOLUTION presented in 2009 by CBC and The Banff Centre. As a leading composer of his generation, Andrew has been recognized by election to the Inaugural Cohort of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists Royal Society of Canada.
In September 2016, the National Arts Centre Foundation announced its first-ever national fundraising campaign to support the creation of new Canadian work. To date, the Foundation has raised more than $25 million from private donors – money that will fuel the National Creation Fund.
THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE AND THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE FOUNDATION thank the individuals and organizations listed below – as well as many other generous Canadians – for their contributions to the Creation Campaign, which supports the National Creation Fund.
Gail Asper, O.C., O.M., LL.D., and Michael Paterson
Lewis Auerbach & Barbara Legowski
The Azrieli Foundation
Barry M. Bloom
Pierre Boulet and Rosemary Thompson
Kimberley Bozak and Philip Deck
Bonnie and John Buhler
Adrian Burns, LL.D., and Gregory Kane, Q.C.
Alice and Grant Burton
The Canavan Family Foundation
The Right Honourable Joe Clark, P.C., C.C., A.O.E., and Maureen McTeer
Michel, Anju, Roman and Angelica Collette
Debbie Collins
Earlaine Collins
Barbara Crook and Dan Greenberg, Danbe Foundation
Thomas d’Aquino and Susan Peterson d’Aquino
Christopher Deacon and Gwen Goodier
Ian and Kiki Delaney
Amoryn Engel
Mohammed A. Faris
Susan Glass and Arni Thorsteinson
Dale Godsoe, C.M.
Shirley Greenberg, C.M., OOnt
Reesa Greenberg
Peter A. Herrndorf and Eva Czigler
Dr. Dianne Kipnes, C.M. & Mr. Irving Kipnes, C.M.
Ambassador Bruce Heyman and Vicki Heyman
D'Arcy L. Levesque
Cathy Levy and Martin Bolduc
The Honourable John Manley, P.C., O.C. and Mrs. Judith Manley
Dr. Kanta Marwah
M. Ann McCaig, C.M., A.O.E., LL.D.
Grant J. McDonald, FCPA, FCA and Carol Devenny
Heather Moore
Jane E. Moore
Janice and Earle O’Born
Gail O'Brien, LL.D. & David O'Brien, O.C.
Onex Corporation
The Amir & Yasmin Virani Family Foundation
Helle Ottosen and Wade Smith
Power Corporation of Canada
Karen Prentice, Q.C.
The Alan & Roula Rossy Family Foundation
John and Jennifer Ruddy
J. Serge Sasseville
Barbara and Don Seal
Daniel Senyk and Rosemary Menke
The Late Mitchell Sharp, P.C., C.C. and Jeanne d'Arc Sharp
Alexander and Zoe Shelley
Dasha Shenkman OBE, Hon RCM
Carolyn and Scott Shepherd
Phil and Eli Taylor
Robert N C Tennant
Kenneth and Margaret Torrance
Donald Walcot
Jayne Watson
Zed Family
Anonymous (1)
