Dave Gordon - Chicken Weather
About Us 
Our Board and Staff
The Kingston Arts Council is run by a small group of dedicated staff who are overseen by a volunteer board consisting of members of the artistic community and patrons of the arts. If you are interested in becoming a board member, please contact: [email protected]
Our Executive:
Lin Bennett - President
Irina Skvortsova - Treasurer
Diane Fitsell - Secretary
Deborah Windsor - Vice President
Our Staff
Top Row
- Neven Lochhead, Social Media Coordinator - [email protected]
- Michelle MacKinnon, Administrator - [email protected]
- Greg Tilson, Programming Coordinator - [email protected]
- Megan Sirett, Grants Officer - [email protected]
- Ted Worth, Grants Director/Business Manager - [email protected]
- Karen Dolan, Executive Director - [email protected]
Bottom Row
- Floyd, Ex-Officio
Our Board
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Lin Bennett has been involved in the arts as a professional performer, publicist, and marketer for more than 3 decades, publicizing and marketing theatre, music, dance, and the visual arts. Since moving to Kingston in 2001, she has worked in marketing and administration activities for the Council on Aging, the Thousand Islands Playhouse, the Kingston Arts Council, the Art Rental and Sales Gallery and written about the arts for Kingston Life online. Lin has also been a director of Vancouver’s Firehall Art Centre and Mau Dan Housing Cooperative, and previously held board positions on the Gananoque Chamber of Commerce and with the Kingston Arts Council. Lin now adds to the pleasure of her life by singing in a choir and taking courses in drawing and painting. |
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Dr. Benjamin Bolden, music educator and composer, is an assistant professor of music education at Queen’s University. His research interests include the teaching and learning of composing, community music, and Web 2.0 technologies in education. As a teacher, Ben has worked with pre-school, elementary, secondary, and university students in Canada, England, and Taiwan. An associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre, Ben’s works have been performed by a variety of professional and amateur performing ensembles. Ben is editor of the Canadian Music Educator, official journal of the Canadian Music Educators’ Association/L’Association canadienne des musiciens éducateurs. |
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Brett Christopher has been an active member of the Canadian Theatre community since graduating from George Brown theatre school in 2001. Celebrated as both a professional actor and director, he has worked with a variety of theatre companies including, but not limited to: Canadian Stage, Shaw Festival, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Theatre by the Bay, Segal Theatre, Magnus Theatre, Sunshine Festival, Port Hope Festival, Actors Repertory Company, and Convergence Theatre. He is also the recipient of both the Masques and Mecca Awards for his performance of the solo show I Am My Own Wifeat the Saidye Bronfman Centre in Montreal. Before coming to Theatre Kingston, Brett was the Head of Marketing and Development/Artistic Associate at Gananoque’s Thousand Islands Playhouse under AD Greg Wanless. Currently, he is the Artistic Producer of Theatre Kingston, sits on the Artignite programming committee, and is the Chair of the City of Kingston’s Arts Advisory Committee. |
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Diane Fitsell is a portrait artist trained at The Academy of Art Canada in Toronto. Her practice includes portraiture in oil, charcoal or graphite. A former high school teacher, she also worked in administration and has been an active volunteer in events planning. |
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Ellen Fraser is the owner of Cornerstone Fine Art / Fine Craft; fifteen years with Cornerstone have been grassroots training in business and promotion. A jeweller with a B.F.A. from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Ellen has maintained a lively studio practise for over thirty years. She also enjoys stints teaching jewellery in Nunavut. |
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Claire Grady-Smith is a local artist, writer, and freelance publicist. Her cultural production includes painting, drawing, illustration, new media and performance art. While completing an MA in Cultural Studies at Queen's, she also worked for a summer as a Curatorial Assistant at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre. Claire has sat on the committees of several Kingston arts organizations, including ArtIgnite, Corridor Culture, Modern Fuel Artist-Run-Centre, and the Skeleton Park Music Festival. In Toronto she interned at the Royal Academy for the Arts and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Claire's main interest lies in animating the city with street performances and site-specific installations with the aim of strengthening ties between diverse community groups. |
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Anne Gutknecht is the executive director of the French cultural centre in Kingston. Originally from France, she created her own Theater company in 2002 and performed for 4 years in France, and more particularly in the Avignon Festival (biggest Theater Festival in Europe). In 2006, she changed totally her professional life and became a bookseller. In 2010 she moved to Kingston. She has a strong sense of community, which she demonstrates through her involvement as a volunteer and her willingness to be a full participant in local life. She has a positive and collaborative approach to her work and volunteer activities as well as a commitment to being a life-long learner. All her diverse experiences gave her opportunities to become a more active member of the Kingston community. |
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Ally Jacob is Creative Director and Co-Owner of Studio22 ~ Idea Manufactory and Open Gallery - a creative design studio, micro-publisher and commercial art gallery in downtown Kingston. She refers to herself as a ?space? artist with an intuitive inventiveness about the crafting of individual and collective spaces. Ally’s arts experience is varied. She has a background in theatre with a Bachelor of Science in Speech from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. She was an instructor and then School Director of the Toronto Studio Players Theatre School Inc. She worked concurrently as a member of IBID Company, a professional performance group. She then spent 10 years at home nurturing her 4 kids and, formally and informally, studying art, architecture and design. Her approach to the arts is a collaborative one. She is fascinated and stimulated by the creative capacities of others. |
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Graduating with a Bachelor of Design in Fashion Communications from Ryerson University, Anna Robertson followed an interest in graphic design and began working extensively in the web field. Currently working as a Web Designer at 14 Theories, Anna loves a design challenge and is always seeking out new ideas, trends, and creative solutions. Anna grew up in the local music community playing in bands for the past 16 years, including The Lady Racers, Lizticket, Little Tiny Hearts and The Diaries. Interested in helping to build the local arts community, Anna strives to support the rich creativity that is fostered in Kingston. |
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Kevin Rodgers is a visual artist and writer. In 2012, Rodgers received his PhD in Art and Visual Culture from Western University--one of the few programs of its kind in Canada. He is also a 2008 graduate of the master of fine arts program at the University of Guelph. Rodgers has shown in several group exhibitions across Canada, the United States and Belgium. His solo exhibitions include goodwater gallery, Toronto; and Galerie Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, Belgium. He has also written for numerous magazines, including FUSE, C Magazine, Border Crossings and ART PAPERS. Rodgers is currently the Artistic Director of Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre. |
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Irina Skvortsova is a visual artist practicing mostly in the media of printmaking, painting, stop-motion animation and photography. Before settling down in Kingston and achieving her degree in Fine Art from Queen's University, Irina had lived and travelled in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean. Irina has been involved with shaping the local grass-roots art initiative - The Artel, and has volunteered and worked at Kingston's only non-profit broadcaster - CFRC radio. She has also served on the Board of a local non-profit food initiative. As a practicing artist interested in urban planning, sustainability and arts policy, Irina is looking forward to serving the Kingston Arts Council in the capacity of artist representative and arts advocacy. |
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Deborah Windsor is a cultural industry executive with over twenty years experience in all facets of Not For Profit Management. Deborah is a seasoned CEO with proven ability to identify opportunities, deliver on strategic objectives, energize teams, and improve financial performance. Deborah was educated at Saint Mary’s University and Dalhousie University in Halifax and has held senior management positions with The Writers’ Union of Canada, The Canadian Television Fund, CAW Community Development Group and Université Sainte-Anne Société de Logement. Deborah, a skilled communicator experienced in marketing, stake holder engagement and media and government relations, has utilized her skills to create festivals in Canada and India. She is a team builder driven by her commitment to community involvement. Deborah lives in Kingston, Ontario with her partner author Ray Argyle. |
