Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. Her novels include Cat’s Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, and the Maddaddam trilogy. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid’s Tale, was followed in 2019 by a sequel, The Testaments, which was a global number one bestseller and won the Booker Prize.

In 2020 she published Dearly, her first collection of poetry in a decade, followed in 2022 with Burning Questions, a selection of essays from 2004 – 2021. Her most recent collection of short stories, Old Babes in the Wood was published in March 2023. In October 2024, Paper Boat, a collection of new and selected poems from 1961 to 2023, was published.

Atwood has won numerous awards, including the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. In 2019 she was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature.

She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright, and puppeteer. She lives in Toronto, Canada.

Philippe Pasquier – Director of the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI, Simon Fraser University
Moderator

Philippe Pasquier is a scientific researcher, media artist, educator, and a community builder. He is the director of the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI, and a Professor at Simon Fraser University’s School for Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT), in Vancouver (Canada). There, since 2008, he is pioneering a multidisciplinary research-creation program focused on generative systems and applied AI for creative tasks, computer-assisted creativity, and co-creative systems.

Etienne Grenier is an artist-researcher working at the intersection of digital cultures, critical AI studies, and cultural sociology. A doctoral candidate at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) in Montreal, his research examines the impacts of datafication on cultural production chains.

He contributes to the Quebec Research Chair on French-Language AI and Digital Technologies (Chaire IANF) and the CREAT Chair, and has participated in the Shaping AI project, an ORA-funded multinational initiative investigating artificial intelligence as an emerging scientific paradigm and contested societal force. His scholarly work has appeared in AI & Society, Journal of Digital Social Research, and an edited volume with Routledge.

He has presented research at international conferences including 4S and EASST, and at institutions such as Sciences Po Paris and WZB Berlin. As co-founder of Projet EVA (projet-eva.org), Grenier brings over two decades of experience in digital arts, with installations and performances presented at Ars Electronica (Linz), Biennale Némo (Paris), Ludwig Museum (Budapest), and La Villette (Paris). This sustained research-creation practice informs his critical perspective on the transformations wrought by generative AI within creative industries.

Katrina Ingram – Founder & CEO, Ethically Aligned AI

Katrina Ingram is the Founder and CEO of Ethically Aligned AI, a company focused on helping organizations to drive better outcomes in the design, development and deployment of AI systems. A seasoned executive, Katrina has over two decades of experience running both not for profit and corporate organizations in the technology and media sectors as well as experience in the public sector. She was named to the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics list.

Katrina holds an undergrad in business administration from Simon Fraser University, a master of arts in communications and technology from the University of Alberta and is an IAPP certified information privacy professional (CIPP/C). She is an adjunct faculty member with the University of Alberta’s Media and Technology Studies department.

Jutta Treviranus – Director of the Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC), OCAD University

Jutta Treviranus is the Director of the Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC) and professor in the faculty of Design at OCAD University in Toronto. Jutta established the IDRC in 1993 as the nexus of a growing global community that proactively works to ensure that our digitally transformed and globally connected society is designed inclusively.

Dr. Treviranus also founded an innovative graduate program in inclusive design at OCAD University. Jutta is credited with developing an inclusive co-design methodology that has been adopted by large enterprise companies, governments, and public sector organizations internationally. Jutta has coordinated many research networks with and by under-represented communities. She chairs the international committee that passed the first standard globally on Accessible and Equitable AI and is recognized for her AI leadership by Women in AI.

Al Chapman – Executive Director, Arts Habitat Edmonton (AHE)
Moderator

Over the past 30 years, Al has built a career as an innovative leader in arts funding,program development, governance, and project management. He began his professional journey as a music educator in a small rural school division and then moved to the Alberta public sector, where he worked on many rewarding initiatives within the Government of Alberta, the Legislative Assembly Office, and the University of Alberta.

Al is currently the Executive Director of Arts Habitat Edmonton (AHE). AHE is a social purpose enterprise engaged in identifying, managing, and building appropriate and accessible spaces for the arts in Edmonton and area.

David Leinster is the Chief Executive Officer of Contemporary Calgary, where he leads the organization with a focus on community, collaboration, and accessibility. Since joining the gallery in 2018, he has played a central role in establishing Contemporary Calgary as a major cultural destination and advancing its mission to make contemporary art accessible to all.

David’s connection to Contemporary Calgary spans nearly two decades, beginning with volunteer involvement with the Institute for Modern and Contemporary Art (IMCA) in 2005. Most notably, he led the project management for the successful 2013 Expression of Interest submission to the City of Calgary—developed with IMCA, the Art Gallery of Calgary, and MOCA Calgary, alongside a dedicated group of community leaders—to transform the vacant Centennial Planetarium into a major destination for contemporary art.

Under David’s leadership, Contemporary Calgary has achieved key milestones, including securing a 35-year lease for the Centennial Planetarium and achieving Civic Partner status, cementing its place among Calgary’s funded and supported cultural and tourism institutions. He is currently leading the $170 million Centennial Planetarium Transformation Project to renovate and expand the facility, through which more than $100 million has already been invested or committed, in addition to millions of dollars raised in private philanthropy supporting gallery operations and infrastructure.

David’s professional background is in strategic marketing and creative leadership, and his passion for art was inspired by his grandmother, an artist who fostered his lifelong appreciation for art and culture. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from St. Francis Xavier University and leads a dedicated team who share the belief that art is essential and work together to ensure it is accessible for all. A recognized community leader, David was named one of Calgary’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2022.

David lives in Okotoks, Alberta, with his wife, Colleen, and their four children.

Brian McBay – Executive Director, 221A

Brian McBay (he/him) is a leader in the non-profit arts and culture infrastructure. Over the last 20 years he has made a unique contribution to British Columbia’s cultural security through developing and advocating for community-controlled infrastructure. As the founder and Executive Director of 221A, a Vancouver-based artistic research and cultural space organization, he leads a growing network of over 140,000ft2 across nine properties that provide space for artists working in research, public art, artist housing, and artist studios.

Brian is part of a new generation of leaders in the cultural sector aiming to advance the public appreciation of the arts while also reversing inequality, xenophobia and colonialism in Canada. He is known as an active and outspoken collaborator, critic and advisor, championing social sustainability and inter-cultural anti-racism in government policy and cultural development. Brian was an honoree of the Power50 by Vancouver Magazine, recipient of the 2025 Emily Award, and named a Fellow at the Salzburg Global Forum. He has been invited to speak and write on art, policy and urban development at a variety of institutions and public forums.

In addition to his role at 221A, Brian has served on a variety of non-profit and public sector boards including the BC Arts Council, Chinese-Canadian Museum, Vancouver International Film Festival, and the National Gallery of Canada.

Melanie Kjorlien – COO and VP, Engagement, Glenbow

Melanie Kjorlien is the COO and VP, Engagement at Glenbow. She has provided critical operational oversight of the Glenbow Reimagined capital project and is leading the development of the museum’s new public program including providing the curatorial vision and direction for more than 50 new gallery, exhibition, and programming spaces. Under her leadership, planning to ensure an engaging and accessible visitor experience is in progress in advance of the museum’s reopening in its revitalized downtown home, the JR Shaw Centre for Arts and Culture.

A key leader at Glenbow for the past 18 years, she has successfully led the museum’s exhibition program, collections care and access, educational programs, and external relations and marketing.

Throughout her career, Melanie has been motivated by her passion for art and culture and the value they can bring to our community. An award-winning writer and editor, Melanie has edited several publications on art history in Canada. And in 2020 she was a participant in the Business and the Arts Executive Leadership Program.

Alex Sarian – President & CEO, Werklund Centre

Alex Sarian is President & CEO of Werklund Centre (formerly Arts Commons) in Calgary, where he is leading one of Canada’s most ambitious cultural and civic transformations, anchored by the country’s largest cultural infrastructure project and record-breaking public and philanthropic investment. Previously, he spent two decades in New York City, including seven years as a senior executive at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, where he oversaw its international consulting practice, arts education, and the Lincoln Center Cultural Innovation Fund in partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation.

He is the bestselling author of The Audacity of Relevance (2024), hailed by Forbes as “a manifesto for the arts in times of crisis,” and widely adopted by boards and civic leaders as a blueprint for institutional renewal. Recognized by The Globe and Mail as one of the most influential arts leaders of 2024 for advancing transformational philanthropy in the arts, Alex serves as a board member and advisor to Tessitura, Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, Tourism Calgary, and the University of Alberta.

Al Chapman – Executive Director, Arts Habitat Edmonton (AHE)
Moderator

Over the past 30 years, Al has built a career as an innovative leader in arts funding,program development, governance, and project management. He began his professional journey as a music educator in a small rural school division and then moved to the Alberta public sector, where he worked on many rewarding initiatives within the Government of Alberta, the Legislative Assembly Office, and the University of Alberta.

Al is currently the Executive Director of Arts Habitat Edmonton (AHE). AHE is a social purpose enterprise engaged in identifying, managing, and building appropriate and accessible spaces for the arts in Edmonton and area.

Mark Harrison founded the MH3 Collective, a group of ventures grounded in passion, people, profit and purpose. The Collective includes Humanity, T1, Sidekick, and SponsorshipX. In addition, he co-founded the Black Talent Initiative to combat racism through economic resilience and Park Street Education, a charity to remove all barriers to children’s education. His community involvement includes serving as the Board Chair of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto and as a Board Member of the CAMH Foundation and the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences/The JUNO Awards.

Mark is a recipient of the Black Business and Professional Association’s Harry Jerome Award, the Association of Canadian Advertisers’ 2022 Gold Medal Award winner, a 2025 Marketing Hall of Legends inductee, and the 2025 Sponsorship Marketing Council of Canada Hall of Fame winner.
Mark is also CBC Toronto Metro Morning’s business columnist, regularly discussing marketing, workplace, and entrepreneurial matters.

Juniper Locilento is a thought leader in fundraising, philanthropy, and non‑profit leadership. She serves as CEO of the National Arts Centre Foundation, where she leads philanthropic strategy and guides the $100M Next Act Campaign to strengthen national support for Canadian performing arts. Her career includes senior fundraising roles across the arts, healthcare, human services, food security, and philanthropic consulting.

An opera singer by training, she holds a Master of Philanthropy & Non‑Profit Leadership from Carleton University and is a Certified Fundraising Executive. Juniper has served on multiple boards for the Association of Fundraising Professionals, taught in the Fundraising Management Program at Toronto Metropolitan University, and contributes nationally through mentorship, conference presentations, advisory and governance roles.

Annabelle Cloutier – President and CEO, National Arts Centre
Moderator

Annabelle Cloutier is a seasoned executive with 25 years serving at the highest levels of the public and cultural sectors; at the intersection of the arts, public affairs, governance, diplomacy, strategic planning and communications. Widely recognized for her track record in delivering results in complex, sensitive and rapidly evolving environments, Annabelle brings together leadership, clear strategic thinking, empathy, diplomacy and a thorough understanding of institutional dynamics.

She is a highly trusted presence who combines vision with political acumen and a strong sense of collective purpose.

In 2018, Annabelle Cloutier was appointed by former National Arts Centre (NAC) President and CEO Peter Herrndorf as Executive Director of Strategy and Communications, and Corporate Secretary to the Board of Trustees. Her dual role at the executive and governance levels has positioned her at the heart of decision-making within the institution. She has since become a trusted leader and key member of the senior management team, working closely with former President and CEO Christopher Deacon, and playing a central role in managing the NAC’s most complex institutional files. She is also widely known for her exceptional ability to motivate people, energize teams, and bring people together toward a common goal.

At the NAC, Annabelle has led and delivered high-impact, transformative strategies that have shaped the institution’s trajectory. These include communications strategies for the NAC’s 50th anniversary celebrations, the NAC Orchestra’s European Tour and the historic launch of the Indigenous Theatre, all in 2019. She was a central figure behind the NAC’s vision to lead and support the renewal of the Canadian performing arts, in response to the pandemic’s devastating effects on the sector, and a changing cultural landscape. She was deeply involved in the NAC’s accelerated digital transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic with #CanadaPerforms and other initiatives. Under the leadership of the President and CEO, she spearheaded two strategic plans — The Next Act (2020–2023) and The Journey Ahead (2023–2026).

Annabelle’s ability to bring people and organizations together to maximize impact has strengthened the NAC’s long-term partnerships with key cultural institutions and federal government departments, including CBC/Radio-Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Foundation, the Department of Canadian Heritage and Global Affairs Canada. She contributed to the NAC’s involvement in major cultural initiatives — including the NAC Orchestra’s recent Korea & Japan Tour and the NAC’s curation of cultural programming at Expo 2020 Dubai and Expo 2025 Osaka — that raised the national and international profile of Canadian artists from across the country.

From 2009 to 2018, Annabelle Cloutier was Director of Communications and Public Affairs in the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, where she played a key role in State visits, Royal Tours, national honours ceremonies, and major events in Canada and abroad. She served as spokesperson to three Governors General during her nine-year tenure at Rideau Hall. Earlier in her career, Annabelle worked in arts and culture advocacy at the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française (FCCF), advancing the interests of Francophone minority communities. She later became the founding Executive Director of the Alliance des producteurs francophones du Canada (APFC), where she focused on advocacy for the film and television industry. In 2024, she joined the Board of Directors of the Ottawa Art Gallery and its Governance Committee, reflecting her continued commitment to volunteer leadership in the arts.

A trained lawyer, Annabelle Cloutier holds an LL.B., completed graduate studies in communications, and earned an Executive Certificate in Public Leadership from Harvard Kennedy School. Originally from Richmond in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, Annabelle has been connected to the arts since childhood, having studied piano and violin at a young age. She remains an arts lover and learner, and a passionate photographer. Annabelle, 52, is married to Sébastien Carrière, a Canadian diplomat, and is the proud mother of two grown children.

Jesse Wente is a husband and father, as well as an award-winning writer and speaker. Born and raised in Toronto, his family comes from Chicago and Genaabaajing Anishinaabek and he is an off-reserve member of the Serpent River First Nation. Jesse is best known for more than two decades spent as a columnist for CBC Radio’s Metro Morning. Jesse spent a decade with the Toronto International Film Festival as a curator, including leading the film and gallery programming at the Tiff Lightbox.

Jesse was the founding director of the Indigenous Screen Office and is the first Indigenous person to serve as Chair of the Canada Council for the Arts. His award-winning first book “Unreconciled: Family, Truth and Indigenous Resistance” was a national bestseller. Earlier this year, Jesse was named the Storyteller in Residence at Toronto Metropolitan University. His first children’s book, Danger Eagle, has just been released by Tundra Books.

Bruce Kuwabara – Founding Partner, KPMB Architects

Bruce Kuwabara is a founding partner of KPMB Architects in Toronto and the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. Kuwabara’s belief and commitment in the power of architecture to act as an agent of positive change has earned him the RAIC Gold Medal in 2006. He has been the lead design partner for 14 of KPMB’s 18 Governor General’s Awards. In 2012, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Kitty Scott – Strategic Director, Shorefast and Fogo Island Arts

Kitty Scott is a leading Canadian curator, writer and senior arts administrator whose work spans major art institutions and international exhibitions. She is known for shaping contemporary art discourse through ambitious programming and sustained collaborations with artists. Currently, Scott is Strategic Director of Fogo Island Arts and this past year as Chief Curator of the 15th Shanghai Biennale she recently presented, “Does the flower hear the bee?” at the Power Station of Art, Shanghai.

Scott has held key curatorial posts including Curator of Contemporary Art and later Deputy Director and Chief Curator at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. She also served as the Carol and Morton Rapp Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.

Previously, she was Chief Curator at London’s Serpentine Gallery and Director of Visual Arts here at The Banff Centre, where she oversaw residencies, exhibitions and the Banff International Curatorial Institute. Scott was a core agent for dOCUMENTA (13) in 2012. With Sally Tallant she co-curated the 2018 Liverpool Biennial, “Beautiful world, where are you?”. She curated Geoffrey Farmer’s exhibition for the Canada Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale (2017).

Across these roles she has championed a wide range of contemporary artists while publishing extensively in catalogues, books and journals.

Vanessa is pleased to return as Rapporteur for the Canadian Arts Summit for a second year. Based in Calgary, Vanessa is theatre maker, educator, and arts leader who is bilingual in French and English. Her practice is rooting in directing plays and opera, with deep experience in dramaturgy and new play development. In recent years, her trajectory has expanded to include arts consulting, teaching, and creative work in other disciplines.

Vanessa is an instructor at the School for Contemporary and Performing Arts, University of Calgary, and an MFA candidate in Creative Writing at UBC, where she has begun her first novel, Lucy in Berlin. In 2025/2026 Vanessa directed Dido and Aeneas at the University of Calgary, and worked as a dramaturg on five new plays and counting. In recent seasons she has written, directed, and produced two short films, and translated two plays from French to English. Favourite directing includes Richard III, starring Bruce Horak (The Shakespeare Company); co-creating and directing The Yuletide Sessions, a concert film for Calgary Opera; the English language world premiere of Christina The Girl King by Michel Marc Bouchard, translated by Linda Gaboriau (Stratford Festival); the world premiere of Gracie by Joan MacLeod (Belfry Theatre/ATP); The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood (ATP, Arts Club Theatre), and co-writing and directing the world premieres of The Erotic Anguish of Don Juan (ATP, twice, FTA-off, and a tour,) and Pinocchio by The Old Trout Puppet Workshop (ATP, Magnetic North Theatre Festival).

From 2009 – 2017, Vanessa was Artistic Director at Alberta Theatre Projects after a decade as the company’s dramaturg. Vanessa is a member of CAEA, ACCA, LMDA, and CGDC.

Barbara Kaneratonni Diabo is a member of the Kanien’keha:ka (Mohawk) nation of Kahnawake. She now resides in Montreal, where she is the artistic director and choreographer for A’nó:wara Dance Theatre. Recipient of the Clifford E. Lee Choreographic Award 2025 from the Banff Centre, she has been a choreographer and performer for over 30 years, creating shows that bring Indigenous themes, stories, and perspectives to light.

She achieves this by combining powwow, Haudenosaunee, and contemporary dance styles to create an artistic fusion that appeals to a diverse range of audiences. Her dance show, Sky Dancers, won Outstanding Touring Production in the Dora Mavor Moore Awards 2022 and she was also the winner of the prestigious Prix de la danse de Montréal for most notable dancer of the year in 2021. Diabo takes pride in sharing her culture and performs across Canada and internationally.

Her work has been seen live at National Arts Centre, Festival Quartiers Danse, Prismatic Arts Festival, Native Earth Performing Arts, Matriarchs Uprising, FODAR, Le Diamant, and Waterproof Festival(France); as well as on film on PULSE (APTN), Le Grand Solstice (Radio Canada), Telling Our Stories (Radio Canada), and Indigenous Day Live (APTN), to name a few.

Barbara also collaborates with several organizations with whom she helps educate populations, create “safe spaces” and support Indigenous artists around the world. Diabo performs and creates for generations to come, to honour, for her ancestors, for a sense of community, for those who cannot dance, to inspire, to communicate, to encourage cultural pride, and to uplift spirits.