Linda Albright is the founder and Executive Director of the Arts Network for Children and Youth (ANCY). ANCY was formed in 2001 and is Canada’s first multi-disciplinary art service organization with a mandate to support the development of arts programming to children and youth in community settings outside of the schools. 

For over thirty years Ms. Albright has been involved in community development in the arts. She played a lead role in the creation of a community visual art centre in a restored train station. During this time she also co-ordinate festivals, always engaging youth to assist and perform during the events. For the past 12 years she has worked closely with policy staff from the Federal level to the local levels to strengthen and build the “children and youth art sector”.  She has been involved in over 75 cross sector conferences and round tables and has had impute into funding programs and policy. She has also made presentation to “Standing Committees of Finance” both federally and provincially including a current proposal for the “Stimulus Package” to the Government of Canada.  

Ms. Albright has sat on several Federal committees and currently sits on the Canadian Arts and Learning Network and two provincial collaborative’s the Municipal Cultural Planning Partnership and Playworks Partnership. She also worked with Health Canada to script the “arts” section in “A Canada Fit for Children” which is the Canadian document for the United Nation’s Rights of the Child.

 

Dr. Calvin Gutkin held the position of Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of The College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) from March 1 1996 through Dec 31 2012. “The Dr Calvin L Gutkin Ambassador Award” was launched to be presented annually by the College and its Research and Education Foundation to an outstanding individual who has demonstrated leadership in building relationships and fostering teamwork and collaboration among health care groups.

Dr. Gutkin volunteered his time for several years as a physician for Ontario and Canadian Special Olympics and the Toronto Youth Athletic Club which helped disadvantaged boys trying to get their lives on track.

Dr. Gutkin has published numerous articles and presented keynote and other addresses at meetings across Canada, in the United States and abroad. He has served for many years on the Canadian Medical Forum and was the CFPC’s representative on the Wonca (World Organization of Family Doctors) World Council from 1996-2007. He co- chaired SOAR – a six nation colloquium on the future of family medicine. He was also the CEO of the CFPC’s Research and Education Foundation. In 2012 he was awarded “Honorary Membership” – the highest honour of the 105,000 member American Academy of Family Physicians – in recognition of his contributions to family medicine on both sides of the border.

 

Che Kothari is the Executive Director of Manifesto Community Projects, whose mission is to unite, inspire and empower diverse communities of young people through arts and culture. Manifesto is best known for hosting the annual Manifesto Festival of Community & Culture, which has grown to become Canada’s largest celebration of hip hop culture and beyond. Manifesto has 2 sister organizations Manifesto Jamaica & Manifesto Barbados. In addition to his role as Executive Director, Che spends time as a mentor, workshop facilitator, keynote speaker and is also an internationally recognized portrait photographer and has shot some of the leading artists of our time. He is involved on a number of boards and advisory’s, both locally, nationally, and internationally, and is building a strong legacy of youth arts organizing tied to self-actualization globally.

Catherine Latimer is Executive Director of the John Howard Society of Canada and was previously the Director General, Youth Justice and Strategic Initiatives and Law Reform, with the Department of Justice, Canada. In that position she had a very broad scope of responsibility including youth justice, and departmental responsibilities for the National Drug Strategy.  

Ms. Latimer was responsible for the development and implementation of the Youth Criminal Justice Act – progressive legislation that was responsible for a 40% decline in the rate of incarceration of young people in Canada.  

She has developed a deep understanding of correctional and justice issues having been central to many of the most important developments in the responsible government departments over the last twenty years. These areas include: legal aid, corrections, drug policy, sentencing, victims issues, firearms, anti-hate measures, anti-terrorism, research and evaluation, grant and contribution management, and many others.  She has taught courses on criminal law, juvenile justice, and domestic violence for Carleton University in the Department of Law within the Faculty of Social Sciences.

                                         

Stephen Leafloor holds a Masters in Social Work with over 27 years of experience as a social worker. His company has pioneered accessible outreach programs that bring empowerment, hope and positive change to Canada’s north and urban centers. The BluePrintForLife team has reached over 4500 youth through 70 programs in over 48 communities to date.

A Co-founder of the Canadian Floor Masters, (Canada’s oldest B-Boy / breakdance crew 1983), he has performed for James Brown, Ice-T, Grandmaster Flash, Blackeyed Peas and George Clinton. Steve was featured on Much Music, in music videos and in several documentaries. At 53 he is a proud father of three and still gets down in the Cypher!

Published author- “Therapeutic Uses of Rap and Hip-hop” and guest lecturer at universities and keynote speaker at conferences including: international United Nations youth conferences, on behalf of Justice Canada at international conferences on crime prevention, national chiefs of police conferences and national conferences on education, bullying, social work, and First Nations topics.

 

René Légère is a graduate of the universities of Moncton and Laval in social sciences and journalism, and is the director of the Aberdeen Cultural Centre in Moncton, New Brunswick. Over the past 30 years, he became known for his involvement in twenty cultural, community and socio-political organizations, including President of the Board of Directors of Radio Beauséjour, of the Association of Acadian Community Radio Stations of and the Coalition for a French-language television in Canada and the promotion committee of French in Dieppe. 

After a career of ten years in communications, he participated in the management and production of several major cultural projects, including Francofête in Acadia, Les défricheurs d’eau, the 15 août des Fous, two programs for Radio-Canada about the fête nationale, the film’s Le divan du monde and show La Francoforce. In 2006 and 2007, he also participated in the preparation of the Estates General of the arts and culture in Acadia. 

In the 1990s, Légère served as Secretary General of the Société nationale d’Acadie (SNA), a position that allowed him to address several issues on the national and international stage. During his time at the SNA, he initiated the first Acadian cultural events in Poitiers, Andrezieux, Capbreton and the Ile-de-Ré, France. As Secretary General of the SNA, he also led twenty official missions on behalf of Acadia in France, Belgium, Italy, Africa, Louisiana and Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. 

 

Jean‐Marc Mangin is the Executive Director of the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the national voice for Canada’s 85,000 scholars, students and practitioners in the humanities and social sciences.

Mr. Mangin spend more than 15 years in the humanitarian “world” as a public servant with the UN, international NGOs and the Canadian Government. In 2006, he became the executive director of CUSO, one of the leading Canadian international development NGO. As the 2009 Copenhagen climate change summit loomed, Mr. Mangin launched, as its first executive director, the TckTckTck/ Global Campaign for Climate Action, a cross sector civil society initiative bringing together over 250 international organizations and networks in support of transformational change and rapid action to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Mr. Mangin has lived for nearly 10 years in Asia and Africa. Born in Manitoba, raised in Quebec, educated in BC and Ontario, Jean-Marc Mangin holds an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Toronto.

 

David Moss is the founder and President of zicatelARTS Management and Consulting which he established 2006. He is recognized for his leadership, vision and management style as well as his keen understanding of the issues facing the Canadian Arts & Cultural Sector. Clients include the Canadian Arts Summit, the Society for Art and Technology, the City of Montréal, ArtExpert.ca, the Segal Centre for Performing Arts, les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal and the Alberta Ballet. He is one of the founders of Culture Days, and, as National Director, has helped spearheaded the establishment of this pan-Canadian arts and cultural participation and engagement initiative that rallied 600,000 artists, cultural workers and supporters and 1.6 million members of the Canadian public in some 850 cities and towns in 2012.

David has contributed as a member of numerous volunteer boards, committees and juries over the course of his career. He was a founding board member of Culture Montréal for which he served 8 years, Chairman of MUTEK, an international Electronic Music and Digital Creativity Festival from 2007 – 2012, the Comité Culturel (Cultural Tourism: Ministère de la Culture et des Communications et de la Condition féminine du Québec & Tourisme Montréal). He also served on the National Steering and Advocacy Committees of the Canadian Arts Summit, the advisory board of the John Molson School of Business of Concordia University, and the board of the La Vitrine Culturelle de Montréal. David was also a member of the orientation committee of les Journées de la culture, a jury member for various government grant programs, the Montréal Prix Arts Affaires, and Globe & Mail Business and Arts Awards, a special guest of the Mayor of Montréal for the Sommet 2002 and a member of the advisory group to the Ville de Montréal for its first Cultural Policy adopted in 2005.

 

Monique Savoie is an “avant guardiste,” pursuing a transversal path that led her to work with a variety of artistic disciplines, including New Music America in 1990 (Montreal), 1991 video PRIM and the Theatre Festival of the Americas in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1997.

In 1995, she directed the Sixth International Symposium on Electronic Art ISEA95 Montreal, an event that greatly contributed to positioning Montreal on the international stage of digital creation. The following year, she founded the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT), which she also chairs while holding the position of Artistic Director and Director of Development.

Mme Savoie has written several papers, including one presented in 1999 to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. In 2000, she was a signatory of the Charter of Souillac in France “For an art and science of reconciliation.” In 2003, she presented “Living Memory” at the “For a Quebec policy on film and audiovisual production” hearings. She also actively participated in drafting Canada’s innovation strategy. 

A Cultural Representative at the Summit of Montreal, she is a member of the Board of Directors of the Société des célébrations du 375^e de Montréal. In addition, Mme Savoie acts as a director of the Corporation de développement du Faubourg Saint-Laurent, Techno Montrea, where she promotes, through her social involvement, the importance of supporting the next generation of creators and advocates for the importance of maintaining spaces for research/ independent creation. In 2004, she won the le prix Louise Grenier en communication, convergence et nouveaux médias for her contribution to new forms of expression in the media arts and to the new generation of creators.

She is frequently invited as a keynote speaker on the transversality of issues tied to research that are inherent in connecting science, art and technology, including a speaking engagement in 2004 at Entretiens Jacques-Cartier in Lyon and more recently at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal.

 

Louise Sicuro is President and CEO of Culture pour tous, whose mission is to contribute to arts and culture as essential dimensions of individual and collective development by promoting citizen participation in cultural life. One of its most important initiatives is that of the Journées de la culture.  She is also an active volunteer of the board of directors. Ms. Sicuro is vice-president of the University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM), a member of the Society of Place des Arts, Foundation Place Arts, and founding member of Culture Montreal. She was appointed in 2011 as a member of the Order of Canada. 

 

 

 

 

Stephen Wilson is currently the co-founder and Executive Director of Graffiti Art Programming. Wilson graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1986, with a Bachelor of Arts and a Criminology Major. In 1988, Wilson took a job with the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) and worked as a prison guard for 9 years. His time with the CSC provided many key insights which served as a foundation for his later work as a front line community activist. 

Established in 1998, Graffiti Art Programming is a community youth arts centre, located in Winnipeg’s historic Point Douglas Neighbourhood, that uses Urban Art as a tool for community development, social change and the individual growth of its participants. Over the past 15 years the agency has grown and evolved so that it now works with and supports all different types of artistic pursuits and young artists. Free after-school art classes attract more than 1,500 registered children and youth each year. Schools from across the Province regularly tour of the gallery’s Urban Art exhibition space attracting over 4,000 students and teachers each year. The Gallery’s exhibits also attract 10,000 additional visitors from outside of the school system each year.