Speakers
Ann Anderson
Ann is Manager of Federal Tourism Partnerships-Newfoundland and Labrador, with a specific focus on strengthening the cultural industry’s position within the provincial economy and tourism sector.
Ann has wide experience in both government and the professional arts and cultural industries, including a background in professional arts management and cultural tourism and positions as Executive Director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council and in Cultural Economic Development with the Department of Canadian Heritage. In her current position she works closely with provincial arts and cultural industry organizations, as well as with regional development boards and federal, provincial and municipal colleagues. She has served on numerous national and provincial cultural boards and committees.
Lindsay Brown
Lindsay Brown is a Vancouver writer and designer. She owns and runs Ouno Design in Vancouver, an artisanal textile-based design company. She has a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in photography and installation art and an MA in Communication from Simon Fraser University. She is founder of Stop BC Arts Cuts, co-founder of the Vancouver Not Vegas Coalition to stop a megacasino in Vancouver, and board president of Vancouver artist-run centre the Or Gallery. She is currently working on a book about Vancouver's Habitat Forum conference, the public component of the inaugural UN Conference on Human Settlements launched in Vancouver in 1976.
Bob D’Eith
Bob has been involved in the music industry for twenty years in various capacities as an entertainment lawyer, award winning recording artist (Rymes with Orange and Mythos), studio owner, label and music publisher (Adagio Music Inc.). He is also the executive director of Music BC Industry Association, a non-profit music industry association. He is on the executive of CIMA (formerly CIRPA). Bob is also on FACTOR’s National Advisory Board (past chairman) and is the JUNO rep for BC. Bob was the executive chair of the Host Committee for the Vancouver 2009 JUNO Awards. Bob works out of Vancouver, BC Canada.
TJ Dawe
TJ Dawe was born and raised in Vancouver, BC. In the 90s he earned a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree in Theatre from the University of Victoria. He toured the Canadian Fringe Circuit while still a student, and did his first solo show shortly thereafter. He’s been writing, performing and touring ever since. Directing and dramaturging came into the picture somewhere along the way. Later came podcasting and blogging. He is an award winning (and published) writer/performer/director, whose solo credits include Totem Figures , The Slipknot and Tired Cliches, and whose credits as a collaborator include Toothpaste & Cigars (in development as the film The F Word), 52 Pick-up, The Power of Ignorance, Dishpig and The One Man Star Wars Trilogy.
Eleanor Dawson
Eleanor Dawson is the Director of Arts for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Eleanor is a graduate of Memorial University of Newfoundland. She has been involved in the cultural community of Newfoundland and Labrador for the past twenty-five years in a variety of production, administrative and managerial roles. In 2001 Eleanor joined the Provincial Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation as a cultural development officer. In 2006, she assumed the position of Director of Arts. In that position she has participated in the creation of the provincial cultural policy as well as creating and administering various support programs for the cultural sector, Additionally, she has played a key research, development and administrative role in various sector-expanding projects. She is past president of both the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Arts Society and the Newfoundland Historical Society. She is an active participant in traditional Newfoundland music, dance and story telling.
Howard Donaldson
Howard Donaldson was appointed President of DigiBC this year. Donaldson, who began leading the organization effective mid-April, brings a wealth of knowledge to this position and is a seasoned digital media executive with over 15 years’ experience leading high profile companies.
Most recently, Donaldson served as Vice President, Studio Operations for Disney Interactive Studios, the interactive business unit of The Walt Disney Company. In this position, he was instrumental in helping set up several new interactive studios around the world and implementing global best practices. Donaldson also co-founded Propaganda Games and helped establish a Disney presence in the province by selling this BC-based studio to the Walt Disney Company.
Prior to this, Donaldson served as the Chief Financial Officer of EA Canada. As an active member of the executive team, he was responsible for directing strategic and business planning that led to EA Canada’s double-digit annual growth to almost $1 billion in revenue and employment of thousands of high paying jobs for graduates of our Canadian universities.
Previously in the United States, Donaldson served as Vice President, Finance and Administration for Disney Interactive in the Los Angeles area and Vice President, Corporate Controller for Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Publishing Company, the largest educational publishing company in North America.
Donaldson has also been an active leader in the digital media community in BC for several years. He has served on the Board of DigiBC and New Media BC for more than three years. He was instrumental in bringing the Canadian Video Games Awards to BC and founder of the Vancouver International Video Games Summit, which has been running for four consecutive years and now operates as the Canadian Games Conference (formerly known as GDC Canada).
His industry leadership also includes being a founding member of the BC Interactive Task Force in 2009, which launched an active and focused public policy program to support the growth and competitiveness of the local video game industry. He is also a member of the BC Screen-based Media Industry Human Resources Committee, which recently completed a strategy to support long term employment growth and global competitiveness.
Donaldson holds MBA and BBA degrees and a CPA designation with work experience at PwC.
Cameron Drew
Cameron Drew is a Director of Vendor Relations at Kobo.com. In the near 3 years he has worked for this globally focused eBook retail start-up he has primarily been responsible for negotiating contracts with and acquiring content from publishers in the US, Canada, UK, Australia & New Zealand. He claims to have been in the book business for the better part of his life – and blames his father David for this. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies & Philosophy from McGill and a Masters of Philosophy in New Media from Australian National University. He loves talking to people, so please introduce yourself.
Spencer Chandra Herbert
Spencer Chandra Herbert, MLA Vancouver West End serves as opposition critic for Tourism, Culture and the Arts.
Spencer’s background is in the arts and culture industry. He was the associate producer of the United Nations World Urban Festival and has been a facilitator and lecturer with Better Environmentally Sound Transportation, the GLBT Centre and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.
Spencer lives in the West End with partner Romi, a community developer.
Rozemerie Cuevas
Canadian born, but technically cultured in France, Rozemerie created her first collection for a fashion show at age 18 without any formal training. At age 22, she graduated from ESMOD in Paris and in 1986 opened her first boutique in Vancouver's South Granville fashion district.
Garnering a signature style of elegant tailoring, confidence and sexy femininity, her collections immediately gathered traction and a loyal following. Her label, named after her mother, has been recognized in an array of distinction awards and her collections are seen regularly in feature films. The best testament to her success is her loyal clients who have been wearing Jacqueline Conoir for the past 25 years.
The Jacqueline Conoir collections are inspired by the real women Rozemerie meets everyday. Strong, confident, accomplished women of all ages who are not afraid to be noticed or dress with feminine flare. The individualism represented in these women are as strong as their multi-faceted personalities and the Jacqueline Conoir collection provides looks that compliment these varying moods from fun to sophisticated, glamourous to relaxed and the new JAC line dedicated to woman who live on their own terms.
Rozemerie is one of Vancouver's most respected and successful designers of her time and her ongoing evolving collections continue to draw international status and recognition.
Todd Falkowsky
Principal of citizen brand, Todd Falkowsky is a renowned designer and branding expert. He was an associate professor at Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU) and has consulted with some of the world's leading agencies and brands, including Wolff Olins, Ferrari and IKEA. His work has spanned continents and mediums from product design to exhibit curation and is founder of the Canadian Design Resource and creative lab Motherbrand.
Sandy Garossino
PA former Crown prosecutor and businesswoman, Sandy Garossino has many years' experience in arts governance, fundraising and advocacy, working at the board or advisory level for such organizations as the Alliance for Arts and Culture, the Writers Festival, Public Dreams, the Vancouver Biennale, the Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration and Indian Summer Festival of Arts and Ideas.
She is the former chair of the Alliance for Arts Advocacy Task Force.
Her strongest work in arts advocacy was co-founding Vancouver Not Vegas, a coalition of interest groups, beginning with the arts, that galvanized overwhelming public opposition to a planned mega-casino in the Vancouver downtown core.
Garossino is a regular panelist on the View from BC, a weekly current affairs segment on the Bill Good show on CKNW.
Will Garrett-Petts
Will Garrett-Petts is Professor and Associate Dean of Arts at Thompson Rivers University, where he directs the Small Cities Community-University Research Alliance—a national research program exploring the cultural future of smaller communities. His recent books and catalogues include Imaging Place, Artists’ Statements and the Nature of Artistic Inquiry, The Small Cities Book: On the Cultural Future of Small Cities, and PhotoGraphic Encounters: The Edges and Edginess of Reading Prose Pictures and Visual Fictions. He’s currently engaged in exploring questions of cultural capital, community mapping, and the artistic animation of small cities.
Website: www.tru.ca/faculty/petts/index.html
Jacqueline Gijssen
As Vancouver’s Senior Cultural Planner for cultural spaces/facilities, Jacquie works with the arts and culture community, planners, developers, architects and agencies focused on the sustainable creation and operation of cultural spaces. In 2007 – 08 she lead the creation of a fifteen year master plan for cultural infrastructure addressing key strategies for improving the climate for cultural expression within the city, www.vancouver.ca/culture. Programs such as new infrastructure grants, awards for live/work studios, community investment through workshops/conferences and bursaries, artist studio and live performance regulatory reviews, 40+ cultural tenants in city owned/controlled buildings, and the creation of new cultural spaces through the city’s amenity bonusing and rezoning processes have begun the slow but essential transformation of how space is created, preserved and used in Vancouver. Before joining the City in 2006, Jacquie enjoyed a 25-year career working with museums and the visual arts in British Columbia and California serving in multiple leadership roles. Her individual and collaborative work has been recognized with awards from the BC and Canadian Museums Associations, the Planning Institute of British Columbia and the US State Department.
Michael Geller
From 1999 to 2006, Michael Geller was President and CEO of the SFU Community Trust, overseeing the planning and development of UniverCity, a sustainable community adjacent to the Simon Fraser University Burnaby Mountain campus.
Prior to joining SFU, Michael was active in planning, real estate consulting and property development. Projects included Bayshore in Coal Harbour, Deering Island, the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre Expansion, planning and approvals for Furry Creek, planning for the Spetifore Lands, and a variety of residential and mixed-use projects around Vancouver.
From 1981 to 1983, Michael was Vice-President Development, The Narod Group, once one of Vancouver’s most established development and construction companies. Prior to joining Narod, he was an official with CMHC in Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto during which time he oversaw the planning and development of major projects across the country, including the first phase redevelopment of the South Shore of False Creek.
Michael is a past president of the Urban Development Institute and has served on numerous boards and panels including the Art Gallery of British Columbia, Vancouver’s Urban Design Panel, the Development Permit Board Advisory Panel and the British Columbia Buildings Corporation (BCBC). He is a Past President of the Jewish Community Centre and a Trustee of the Louis Brier Foundation.
He has been honoured as a Life Member of the Architectural Institute of BC and a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners.
Michael is married to Sally and has two grown daughters. He and his wife live on Deering Island in Southlands, Vancouver.
Cheryl Geisler
Cheryl Geisler is Professor of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University where she serves as the inaugural Dean of the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology. Geisler received her PhD in Rhetoric from Carnegie Mellon University, and has written extensively on the nature of texts, especially those mediated by new technologies. Her most recent work focuses on the promotion of women to the rank of full professor.
Lillian Hallin
Lillian Hallin heads the economic statistics program at BC Stats.
Her responsibilities include maintaining and developing the provincial economic accounts, doing economic impact studies, and producing analytical studies of the BC economy. She is also responsible for the development of various economic indicators, including estimates of the size of the tourism, high technology, sport fishing, and small business sectors.
Lillian is a graduate of the University of Toronto, where she obtained her BA. She earned an MA in economics from the University of Victoria.
Calvin Helin
Calvin Helin worked his way up from an impoverished boyhood in a remote First Nations village in northern British Columbia to become a successful lawyer and international businessman. He has dedicated his life to helping others break the bonds of economic dependency and emerge with newfound confidence and self-worth. He proposes groundbreaking, positive solutions in down-to-earth language that show the road to self-reliance. Economic dependency is not “Aboriginal in Nature”, but independence, adaptability, and resilience are.
Mark Jamison
Mark Jamison is the Chief Executive Officer of Magazines Canada, the national advocacy, training and marketing organization that represents the $2.2 billion Canadian-owned, Canadian-content magazine media.
Canada’s magazine media creates original content and reach audiences whenever, however, and wherever they choose: print, digital, and events. The association concentrates on public policy issues, services to the advertising trade, digital and print circulation marketing and professional development.
Mark is a career association executive having held senior positions in business, cultural and educational organizations prior to his appointment to Magazines Canada in 1999. He is a director on the boards of Access Copyright, the Book and Periodical Council and the Coalition for Cultural Diversity. He is co-chair of the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s magazine media advisory committee.
James Lam
James Lam has been the manager of the Arts Development Service for the Capital Regional District in Greater Victoria since 2002. His office manages grant programs that provide operational and project-based funding for arts organizations in the not-for-profit sector in the region and is supported by 8 of 13 municipalities in the Greater Victoria area. The Arts Service also supports and advises the elected councillors comprising the CRD Arts Committee and the appointed 12-member Arts Advisory Council, on matters of policy and programs related to the development of the arts.
James received a BFA from the University of Manitoba and began his so-called career as an artist, administrator and programmer in artist-run centres in Winnipeg, first at The Floating Gallery then at Plug-In Inc. (now the Plug-In Institute of Contemporary Art). He worked for the BC Festival of the Arts for six festivals, developing its first in-house visual arts program, subsequently becoming operations manager, then manager of communications and marketing. He also holds a Diploma in Traditional Chinese Medicine from the Canadian College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in Victoria and was its registrar from 1991-1995.
Anna Lidstone
Anna Lidstone, PhD, is an award-winning writer and workshop facilitator. In addition to her own creative practice as a writer, Anna has talked to hundreds of artists and other creative individuals about their creative lives, both informally and in her role as a creativity coach. She has written a variety of articles about “deliberate creativity” and the intersection between creativity and the “real world,” and has presented numerous workshops on such topics as “Protecting Your Creativity”. She is also a trained facilitator in the field of creative problem solving and innovative thinking processes. Anna keeps a blog called The Pragmatic Artist at www.annalidstone.tumblr.com. She lives in Vancouver. Find out more at www.annalidstone.com.
Duncan Low
Duncan Low worked for many years in the arts and cultural sector in Canada and the UK, including ten years as Executive Director of the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. He was director of the Scottish International Children’s Festival, sat on the board of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Society and the Vancouver Foundation’s Arts and Culture Committee. He received his Masters in Urban Studies in 2010 completing The 2010 Cultural Olympiad Impact Study. He is currently a PhD candidate in SFU’s School of Communication studying the role cultural tourism plays in redefining artistic and cultural landscapes. He has presented to The London 2012 Cultural Planners meeting (2010), the 41st Annual Urban Affairs Association in New Orleans (2011) and the 2nd City Conference in Vancouver (2011). The International Journal of Cultural Policy has recently published an article co-authored with Peter V. Hall, "The 2010 Cultural Olympiad Playing for the Global or Local Stage".
Diana Leung MCIP
Diana is a Cultural Planner for the City of Vancouver. Her portfolio focuses primarily on improving City regulations that affect the arts, culture and creative community, and providing ongoing assistance to the community on by-law issues. She first joined the City of Vancouver in 2008 as a Project Facilitator, where she worked on contentious and complex property development proposals.
Her passion is storytelling, urban memories and communities. Her writing has appeared in the Canadian Journal of Communication, West Coast Line, and SubTerrain. Over the last decade, she was involved with many collaborative and community-engaged video productions as well as neighbourhood art projects through dance, puppetry, film and outdoor projections. She most recently co-wrote and co-directed a documentary film, Cedar and Bamboo, which aired on the Knowledge Network and screened in Vancouver, Musqueam, BC communities, Seattle, and Los Angeles through festivals and museums.
Diana is a second generation Chinese-Canadian born in the Prairies but calls Vancouver her home. She earned degrees from the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University and the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia. She is a Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners and a Director of the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC.Massimo Manzoni
Massimo Manzoni is an Italian Architect and Design Manager entrepreneur, with working experience in Europe, Asia, South and North America. As Usability Manager within the joint venture Philips/Whirlpool he was initiator of the Usability Lab and Advanced Product Concept Unit. Founder and President of Colombian Ergonomic Society. He also defined plans and strategies for the start-up of the Parana Design Center in Brazil. University professor for over ten years in graduate programs in Italy and Colombia.
Garry Thomas Morse
Garry Thomas Morse has had two books of poetry published by LINEbooks, Transversals for Orpheus (2006) and Streams (2007), one collection of fiction, Death in Vancouver (2009), published by Talonbooks, and two books of poetry published by Talonbooks, After Jack (2010) and Discovery Passages (2011), the first collection of poetry about the Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl) First Nations, and a finalist for the 2011 Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry.
Grounded in the work of Arthur Rimbaud, Robert Desnos, Ezra Pound, Jack Spicer, Rainer Maria Rilke and his Native oral traditions, his work has been featured in a variety of publications, including Branch Magazine, Canadian Literature, The Capilano Review, CV2, dANDelion, EVENT Magazine, filling Station, memewar, Poetry is Dead, Prism International, subTerrain, The Vancouver Review and West Coast Line. Morse is the recipient of the 2008 City of Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award for Emerging Artist and has twice been selected as runner-up for the Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry.
Minor Episodes / Major Ruckus, his second book of fiction, concerning surrealist and speculative genres, is forthcoming from Talonbooks this Fall (2012).
Sarah Murray
Sarah Murray, Director of Fashion Capsule Communications + Style Lounge has worked in different facets of the fashion and journalism industries since 1996. She started as a reporter, photographer and darkroom technician for the community newspaper. Then worked as modeling agent, modeling school director, model search event coordinator and beauty editor. Since relocating to Vancouver my fashion and journalism experiences have grown to include retail manager, west coast correspondent, editor, freelance writer, stylist, publicist, and fashion show coordinator and founder of a Vancouver based eco fashion association called Fashion High.
Patrick Pennefather
Patrick Pennefather is a complex aggregate: one part clown, two parts educator fused with three parts composer pieced together through improvisation, existing within a collaborative framework. Recent work at the Masters of Digital Media Program has required him to reinvent his own perceptions of teaching, transforming him into an iterative, collaborative designer of human interaction. He has facilitated more than twenty industry-facing team-based digital media projects with the end result of becoming publically distributed artifacts, for the past 5 years. He also has an award-winning international composition portfolio of 25 years, and in a past life was a pro-clown representing the most recognized brands in the world on over 2500 appearances, for better or worse. To add further sleepless nights, he recently started his English for Humans and Design for Humans brands targeting the minuscule and relatively unknown market called Asia.
Jun Ramos
Jun Ramos is the Founder & Creative Director of Vancouver Men's Fashion Week and the Principal of Ramos & Fortier Ltd, a Canadian men’s accessories company. One of his current projects is further developing the Vancouver Fashion Industry (VFI). He currently heads VFI, a group founded in 2006 with over 600 industry insiders. He plans to create a co-working space for VFI that will be utilized by its members, students and various individuals within the industry who plan to start or develop their small businesses - from designers to graphic artists to photographers. VFI aims to provide not just the facilities and seminars, but more importantly, mentorship. Jun has a degree in Industrial Engineering and has received many academic and community awards including an Achievement Award from Rotary International of SFDM; and the Science Education Institute Award of the Dept. of Science and Technology, Philippines.
Gregor Robertson
Gregor Robertson was elected Mayor of Vancouver in November 2008.
In November 2011, Gregor Robertson was elected to a second term as Mayor of Vancouver. He was re-elected to continue building upon the accomplishments of his first three years in office—working to end street homelessness, addressing housing affordability, improving public transit, and making Vancouver the greenest city in the world.
Mayor Robertson is also a national advocate for urban issues as Chair of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Big City Mayors’ Caucus, focusing on public infrastructure, housing and transit.
Mayor Robertson spearheaded the creation of the city’s first comprehensive Economic Action Strategy, and is committed to growing a sustainable and thriving economy in Vancouver focused on high-growth sectors like digital media, clean technology and renewable energy.
Building on the successful legacy of the 2010 Winter Olympics, which has generated over $350 million in economic impact and created more than 3000 new jobs in the Metro Vancouver region, Mayor Robertson has established Vancouver internationally as the Green Capital—a City where going green is good for business. He has also overseen the creation and implementation of the award-winning Greenest City 2020 Action Plan that aims to make Vancouver an environmental leader in everything from energy efficiency and waste reduction to clean air and local food.
Under Mayor Robertson’s leadership, Vancouver continues to rank as one of the most liveable cities in the world, with one of the most competitive environments for attracting new jobs and investment. The City of Vancouver has also been named the Most Innovative Organization in the province by BC Business Magazine for its open data initiative.
He has made affordable housing a top priority, with an aggressive, ten-year plan to provide thousands of affordable housing units for Vancouverites of all ages, while ensuring that existing affordable housing is protected. As Mayor, he has overseen significant progress towards the goal of ending street homelessness by 2015, by opening new homeless shelters while leveraging significant investments in new social housing throughout the city.
Prior to entering politics, Gregor co-founded Happy Planet, a Vancouver-based socially responsible company that produces organic juices and promotes health and nutrition. He and his wife Amy have four children. The Mayor is an avid soccer and hockey fan, and can occasionally be seen around town playing his tuba or drums.
Sirish Rao
Sirish Rao is an Indian author and former director of the award-winning visual arts publishing house, Tara Books. Sirish will speak on the experiments, innovations and risk-taking involved in creating a global network while building a strong local artisanal community of bookmakers and involving indigenous artists in mainstream production. Sirish is also the Artistic Director of the Indian Summer Festival, Vancouver.
Katherine Soucie
Katherine Soucie is an artist and designer who studied Fashion Design in London and Toronto before furthering her education in Textiles and Visual Art in Vancouver, Canada. Her experimentation with non-traditional materials and textile industry waste through the implementation of traditional textile processes has resulted in an extensive body of work for which she has received a numerous scholarships, grants and awards. She has designed for film, television, dance and theatre and has her own clothing line, Sans Soucie that has exhibited and sold throughout Canada, US and Japan. She is a recipient of the BC Creative Achievement Award, 2006 and was short listed for the Niche Award 2007. She most recently received the International Design Green Award for 2008.
Richard Smith
Richard Smith, PhD, is a Professor in the School of Communication atSimon Fraser University. He is also the Director of the Centre for Digital Media, a joint venture between the University of British Columbia, SFU, Emily Carr University of Art and Design and the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
Will Straw
Will Straw is Director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. He is also Professor within the Department of Art History and Communications Studies at McGill University. He is the author of Cyanide and Sin: Visualizing Crime in 50s America, and of over 100 articles on urban culture, cinema, music and media. He is the director of a multi-year, interuniversity research project on “Media and Urban Life in Montreal.” Dr. Straw has been a cultural correspondent on The Women’s Television Network, and CBC radio and television.
Timothy Taylor
Timothy Taylor published his first novel Stanley Park in 2001. It was an immediate bestseller and a critical success. He's since published a prize-winning collection of short fiction, Silent Cruise, and two further bestselling and critically acclaimed novels, Story House and The Blue Light Project. He is the winner of the Journey Prize, and has been finalist or runner-up for six other major national fiction prizes in Canada, including the prestigious Giller Prize. His work has also been chosen as the ‘One Book One City’ selection for Vancouver and named a finalist for Canada Reads.
Taylor has also been widely published and recognized for his non-fiction magazine and newspaper work. He's presently the Big Ideas columnist for the Globe and Mail's Report on Business Magazine, and has been winner or finalist in a dozen separate magazine awards, including a recent bronze medal at the Folio: Eddie Magazine Awards in New York.
Taylor is a contributing editor at EnRoute Magazine and Vancouver Magazine. He has also written for Institutional Investor, The Wall Street Journal, Food & Wine, Western Living, The Vancouver Review, Toro Magazine, Saturday Night, Adbusters, the National Post, the Vancouver Sun and many others.
Vivienne Taylor
Vivienne Taylor, Principal Trend Fashion Forecasting & Marketing. With extensive experience on Marketing & Forecasting Vivienne mentors Fashion/Accessory Designers and Retailers on Marketing Strategies, identifying micro niche markets, market research, competitive analysis, market entry strategies, product development and fashion forecasts 1 year in advance of the season. She and other members of the Fashion Industry have been working on developing a Virtual Fashion Incubator for new designers to assist them in developing a successful design enterprise. She has developed a relationship with a Fashion Incubator in Lyon, France with the possibility of an exchange program. BA from SFU and Diploma in Fashion Merchandising.
Karen Thorne-Stone
President & CEO, Ontario Media Development Corporation
Karen Thorne-Stone is the President and CEO of the Ontario Media Development Corporation, a provincial agency which supports economic development, growth and investment in Ontario’s cultural media industries including: film and television, interactive digital media, music, book and magazine publishing. Previously Karen served in a variety of senior management positions with the City of Toronto, including Film Commissioner and Executive Director of Economic Development.
Owen Underhill
Owen Underhill lives in Vancouver where he is active as a composer, conductor, artistic director and faculty member in the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University. Since 2010, he has been both Director of the School for the Contemporary Arts and Director of a new Cultural Unit formed by SFU for cultural and community engagement in the new Goldcorp Centre for the Arts in the Woodward's redevelopment.
Among his most recent compositions are String Quartet #4: The Night (2011) commissioned by the Quatuor Bozzini, and Three Sitka Songs (2010) commissioned by the Vancouver Bach Choir. His Canzone di Petra (2004), a piece for flute and harp, was the winner of the 2007 Western Canadian Music Outstanding Composition Award. A new disc of his music for string quartet, "Still Image", has just been released on the Centrediscs label.
As a conductor, Underhill is a member of the Turning Point Ensemble, one of Canada’s most distinctive and accomplished large-size chamber ensembles. In addition, he has made conducting appearances with orchestras and ensembles including the Vancouver Symphony, CBC Radio Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Vancouver New Music Ensemble, and musica intima. Underhill has been especially active in contemporary music and music of the early twentieth century.
He is a strong supporter of Canadian music, and has been serving as President of the Canadian Music Centre since 2010.
Sung Van
Sung Van is a Partner and Creative Director with Latitude, a brand and design agency with offices in Vancouver, London, LA, Dubai and Singapore. Sung has over 20 years experience providing communications, marketing and creative services for international hospitality brands as well as the education, healthcare, government and corporate sectors.
Scott Varga
Scott Varga recently completed his undergraduate in Geography and Visual Arts at the University of the Fraser Valley and is currently in the process of pursuing graduate studies. Vargaʼs professional and academic experience is deeply rooted in architecture, design, urbanism and visual communications. Scott has an affinity with the perception and the reception of space and how it affects people. Design education is a motivator for Varga as he continues to explore academic and professional applications in a transdisciplinary manner while encouraging others to comprehend and appreciate the built form around them.
Bonne Zabolotney
Bonne Zabolotney is the Dean of Design and Dynamic Media at Emily Carr University. Over the past twelve years, she has taught a wide range of courses in the Communication Design program, as well as Art and Design History. Current areas of research and teaching include fairy tales and story-telling, typography, publication design and print ephemera, design culture, material culture, theories of domestic space, and visual vernacular. Bonne has also worked as a communication designer in Vancouver since 1993, working with a wide range of clients, locally and nationally. Her most notable work can be found in the philatelic section of Canada's National Archives which includes her 1999 stamp design recognizing the formation of the Nunavut territory. Five more of her stamp designs are also in the National Archives. She has also worked with some of the largest arts groups in Vancouver including Vancouver Opera, Vancouver Recital Society, and Vancouver International Jazz Festival.
Bonne holds a Bachelor of Design from Alberta College of Art and Design and a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Simon Fraser University.