Creative Climate Leadership Canada (online) 2023: Participants Announced

We are pleased to share the full applicants list of who will be joining us for our Creative Climate Leadership (CCL) programme in Canada, online.

The 4-month online programme is for arts and cultural professionals who want to take a lead on climate change, adapted from the CCL week-long residential course.

What is Creative Climate Leadership?

The CSPA (Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts) and Julie’s Bicycle (JB) have partnered up to host a second edition of the CCL programme in Canada, this time online, with the support of theCanada Council for the Arts.

CCL is an international training and transformation programme to empower artists and cultural professionals to take action on the climate and ecological crisis with impact, creativity, and resilience.

The programme will take place remotely from February to May. This year’s candidates work in areas as varied as photography, music, visual art, activism, research and curation.


Creative Climate Leadership Canada 2023 (online) – Full List of Participants

Alejandra Nuñez

she/they

Alejandra Nuñez is a vocalist, percussionist and composer.

Born in Santiago Chile, Alejandra has lived and worked as a musician in Canada and the United States, she has performed in Europe as well as North and Central America. Alejandra has performed with The Toronto Dance Theatre and written scores for various plays, including Princes Pocahontas and the Blue Spots by Monique Mojica, and many more.


Allison O’Connor

she/her/elle

Allison O’Connor is a Franco-Ontarian multidisciplinary visual artist and art administrator working at the intersection of ecology and public art.

She is the co-creator of internationally touring artworks entitled Trophy as well as a part-time professor at the University of Ottawa.


Alyssa Kostello

she/her

Alyssa was born and raised in a small town in North Eastern Ontario.

She is a graduate of the Acting for Stage and Screen program at Capilano University and has taken multiple courses and programs around Sustainability Leadership including Climate Reality Training and IMPACT Sustainability Leadership Training. For 5 years she was Artistic Director of NOW! Theatre, and is a former member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada.


Amy Ash

she/they

Amy Ash is a queer, white-settler interdisciplinary artist engaged with collective care through processes of shared meaning-making.

Amy’s work traces connectivity through the intersections and overlaps between memory, learning, and wonder, to incite curiosity and kindle empathy.


April Marie Glaicar

she/her

April Glaicar is a circumpolar photographer and artist whose work has a strong connection to the northern world and Arctic conservation while embracing traditional knowledge and cultures.

In November of 2022, April participated as the Expedition Artist-In-Residence and co-lead of arts programming for the Sea Women Expeditions’ snorkel research project – while observing Orca and Humpback Whales north of the Arctic Circle in the Norwegian Sea.


Bailee Higgins

she/her

Bailee Higgins is a Unama’ki (Cape Breton, NS) based settler, emerging artist, educator and researcher with a focus on community-based art education.

Bailee is passionate about fostering thoughtful community building through creative practice. She recently completed her Master of Arts in Art Education from NSCAD University and holds a BFA from Mount Allison University.


D’Andrea Bowie

she/her

D’Andrea Bowie is an artist living and working in the rural outskirts of Toronto, and a current MFA candidate at York University.

She has held solo exhibitions at Station Gallery in Whitby and Central Art Garage in Ottawa, most recently she is the recipient of a SSHRC research grant.


Diego Narváez

he/him

Diego Narvaez is a Mexican visual artist living and working in the unceded territories of the T’sou-ke Nation, Vancouver Island, BC.

Through his paintings, he creates metaphors so we can question our relationship with the environment. From city issues to fragile and faraway environments such as Antarctica and Iceland, he creates sublime landscapes of an ever-changing world.


Dominic Lloyd

he/him

Originally from the Yukon Territory, Dominic grew up working and volunteering in the arts.

He was Artistic Director of the Dawson City Music Festival for 6 years before moving to Winnipeg to work at the West End Cultural Centre, where he was Artistic Director until 2009 when he joined the Winnipeg Arts Council.


Emily McKibbon

she/her

Emily McKibbon is Head of Exhibitions and Collections at Art Windsor-Essex.

She has worked in curatorial, collections and research capacities with the MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie; George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York; Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles; The Image Centre, Toronto; Seneca College, Toronto; and the University of Guelph.


Hayley Roulstone

she/her

Hayley is an environmental activist and passionate about saying ‘yes’ at every opportunity to learn more about tackling the climate crisis.

Hayley’s Caymanian and First Nations cultures are disappearing in exchange for mass production and the expansion of global elites. She aims to challenge herself more and use her creative talents to bring attention to the climate issues that the people of her cultures face.


Jane Gabriels

she/they

Jane Gabriels, Ph.D. supports artists and other non-profits as Executive Director, Dance West Network (based in Vancouver).

Jane’s dissertation (Concordia University, Montréal) focused on artists, creative processes, curation, and non-profits in the Bronx, NY, her professional and artistic home for over 20 years.


Julie Fossitt

she/her

Julie is a passionate advocate for access to arts, culture and heritage.

She has held marketing positions at the National Arts Centre, the Victoria Symphony and is currently the Manager, Marketing and Revenue Development for the City of Kingston.


Kate Declerck

she/her/elle

Kate Declerck, of British and Belgian ancestry, currently lives and works on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation. Kate is a Program Officer with the Canada Council for the Arts.


Kim Fry

she/her

Kim is a co-founder, board member and coordinator for Music Declares Emergency Canada.

She has spent over a decade as an activist and environmental educator/naturalist working for a number of environmental organizations after doing two degrees in Environmental Studies at York University.


Lara Aysal

she/her

Lara is a climate justice and human rights activist, performance artist and facilitator of community-oriented projects.

She has collaborated with communities across borders and facilitated research projects in development and conflict settings with refugees, prisoners, minorities and Indigenous communities.


Luciana Erregue

she/her

Luciana Erregue is a cultural worker, writer, editor, and publisher, owner of Laberinto Press, dedicated to lifting up hyphened Canadian voices in literature.

Luciana is a Banff Centre Literary Arts program alumni, and Edmonton Arts Council artist in residence. Laberinto Press has won the 2022 BPAA Award for Best Emerging Publisher.


Marian Wihak

she/her

Marian Wihak is a multi-award winning Production Designer.

She is active in numerous sustainability initiatives within the film industry (DGC National Sustainability and Climate Action Committee, Ontario Green Screens, GreenSpark Group Round Table, and the Sustainable Production Forum).


Marta Keller-Hernandez

she/her

Marta is Managing Director at Mural Routes and is the co-founder of Paralia Newcomer Arts Network.

Originally from Spain, Marta holds Degrees in Tourism and Humanities, a Masters in Social Media Marketing from the University of Alicante (Spain), and a Graduate Certificate in Culture & Heritage Site Management from Centennial College (Canada).


Sandra Lamouche

she/her

Sandra Lamouche is a member of the Bigstone Cree Nation in Alberta, living and married in Blackfoot territory.

She has an M.A. on Indigenous dance and well-being. She is a champion hoop dancer, award winning educational leader, two-time TEDx speaker, writer and researcher.


seeley quest

sie/hir

seeley quest is a trans disabled environmentalist from the US working in literary and body-based composition, curation and facilitation.

Sie landed 2017, in Montreal and 2022 in Halifax, after presenting in the San Francisco Bay Area 2001-14 and touring the US. Hir play “Crooked” is in At the Intersection of Disability and Drama, and first game narrative was in Canada’s National AccessAbility Week 2020.


Shumaila Hemani

she/her

Shumaila Hemani, Ph.D. is an Alberta-based singer-songwriter, acousmatic composer and community-engaged artist addressing climate challenges with expressive arts sculpting with sounds of the environment and addressing the climate crisis in the world.

The Cultural Diversity Award winner released her debut album, Mannat (2022) which was applauded as “powerful” in evoking a spirit of perseverance in supporting victims of climate disaster in Pakistan and featured on CBC’s What on Earth, Edmonton Journal, and Calgary Herald.


Terri Hron

she/her

Terri Hron is a musician, a performer, a multimedia artist and is Executive Director of the Canadian New Music Network.

Her work explores and questions historical performance practice, field recording, invented ceramic instruments and videoscores. She practices and researches collaboration and scoring.

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The Aims of the Programme

Creative Climate Leadership will:

  • Explore the role of culture and creativity in responding to climate change and environmental challenges;
  • Bring together a range of expert guest speakers to share case studies, research, approaches and practical solutions for environmental sustainability in the cultural sector;
  • Enable each participant to develop their leadership and ideas;
  • Prepare participants to apply their learning and new skills when they return to their work, and support ongoing learning and exchange through an alumni network.
  • CCL recognises the unique role of culture to influence new ways of being, doing and thinking, and supports creative professionals to apply these abilities to the climate challenge through a programme of events, training programmes and policy labs.