Board of Directors
Chair – Nicole Shimonek
Nicole is a visual artist based in Winnipeg, working in sculpture, drawing, video, and performance. She has participated in artist residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts, L’AiR International in Paris, Bow Arts Trust and Brompton Design District in London, as well as Artscape Gibraltar Point in Toronto. Her artwork has shown both nationally and internationally through exhibitions and video screenings. Nicole holds a BFA from the University of Manitoba and an MFA degree from the Chelsea College of Art and Design, UAL London.
Treasurer – Branwyn Bundon
Branwyn holds a BA Honours in Dance (University of Winnipeg) and is a graduate of the School of Contemporary Dancers Professional Program. While in Winnipeg, Branwyn was an enthusiastic contributor to the Winnipeg arts scene, working as a dancer, board member and volunteer coordinator with Young Lungs Dance Exchange. She also worked with independent artists Alexandra Elliott, Erin Flynn, Treasure Waddell, and Coral Aitken and appeared with Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers and Gearshifting Performance Works. After her performing career, she returned to BC and transitioned into accounting. She earned her CPA designation in 2025. Branwyn is an active member of the Victoria, BC dance community.
Ntara Curry
Ntara (she/they) is a career long multidisciplinary artist, specialising in theatre. Her performance experience ranges from Mainstage Repertory (Theatre Calgary) to elevators (Theatre Yes / Workshop West) to school gyms (Prairie Theatre Exchange) to found spaces (Dancing Sky Theatre) to art galleries (FreeFlowDanceTheatre). She holds a BFA Drama (Acting) from the University of Alberta, and is a recent graduate of the Village Conservatory for Music Theatre. Ntara’s professional career spans theatre, film, dance, performance, direction, design, creation, production and management. They regularly workshop in dance, acting, movement improv performance, new play development, physical engagement, embodiment, writing, and artisanal craft. Ntara’s personal practice presently focuses on collage (creation following careful deconstruction), and Opera with an interest in Stage Direction. Ntara is a participant in the 2023-24 RMTC National Mentorship Program, mentored by Philip Akin. She is Settler – Ashuri (survivors of the Sayfo, 1915), an active resistor of Imperialism, practises radical compassion, and is a grateful resident of Turtle Island.
Secretary – Laura Vriend
Laura Vriend is an independent dance artist and scholar born and raised on Treaty One Territory (Winnipeg). After moving to the US in the late 90s, she earned a BA in Dance and Anthropology from Bryn Mawr College and a PhD in Critical Dance Studies from the University of California, Riverside. After 12 years working in Philadelphia as a dance artist, dance dramaturge and Adjunct Professor of Dance at Temple University and Bryn Mawr College, she returned to Winnipeg in 2022, where she began work on her current long term project Vignettes for Sewing Dances and Choreographing Clothing in collaboration with Katherine Magne, owner of Winnipeg Sews and with initial support from YLDE’s research residency. In Philadelphia, she had the pleasure of working with Headlong Dance Theater, Annie Wilson, Irina Varina and Megan Bridge/<fidget>. Laura’s research as a scholar and dance artist has centered around social theories of space and cultural geography, writing extensively on how choreography makes space in site-specific experimental dance in Philadelphia, and centering her dance practice around landscape through the development of psychogeographic scores and other strategies. Laura also maintains a cross-border collaboration with artist Leigh Huster with whom she makes movement-based films exploring ritual and grief. She identifies as a fat and disabled dance artist and seeks to make space for body diversity in dance, often engaging the movements of fat (like jiggling flesh) to which typically thin dancing bodies do not have access. She currently teaches modern dance for Fat Babes Dance Collective.
jaymez
With a diverse background in visual art, dance, theatre, opera, and music, jaymez brings a unique and multifaceted approach to design, refined over two decades of professional practice. He has worked as a production designer, crafting dozens of lighting, video, and sound designs for a wide array of directors, choreographers, artists, and musicians. His artwork and designs have garnered international recognition across multiple continents and two Winnipeg Theatre Awards back home. Currently based in Winnipeg, he is a proud member and sits on the board of IATSE Local ADC659.
Gislina Patterson
Gislina Patterson is a writer, performer, director, and dramaturg. His work has been presented and developed at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, SummerWorks, OFFTA, Hold On Let Go, the London Ontario Media Arts Association, Theatre Catapulte, Rainbow Trout Music Festival, Prairie Theatre Exchange, Theatre Projects Manitoba, the Stratford Festival Lab, Manitoba Theatre for Young People, Manitoba Association of Playwrights, and Playwright’s Workshop Montreal. In the interconnected fields of direction, dramaturgy, and cultural criticism, Gislina has worked in theatre, music, and dance with Buddies in Bad Times, Sick + Twisted Theatre, Young Lungs Dance Exchange, The Mariachi Ghost, and Sawa Theatre, among others. He was named one of 10 Toronto theatre artists to watch in 2024 by NEXT Magazine. They are a member of Vocal Image Ensemble Winnipeg, which provides audio description for live arts events.
Board Advisor (Former Co-Chair) – Aria Evans
Aria Evans is a queer, Vancouver Island born, Winnipeg based, award winning interdisciplinary artist who’s practice spans dance, theatre and film. They just moved to Winnipeg after living, schooling and working in Toronto for the past 15 years. As a public speaker, activist and creative leader, Aria draws on their experiences of being multiracial. Aria is a certified Intimacy Coordinator and with a large-scale vision, collaboration is the departure point to the choreographic work that Aria creates under their company POLITICAL MOVEMENT. Advocating for inclusion and the representation of diversity, Aria uses their artistic practice to question the ways we can coexist together. Aria just started a tenure track Assistant Professor position at the University of Winnipeg where they are teaching movement to the 3rd and 4th year Honours Acting cohorts.
Board Advisor (Former Treasurer) – Yuri Karube
Yuri Karube is a Winnipeg-Based accountant, serving micro and small organizations since 2017. She grew up in Japan and loved singing and painting together with other art-lovers until she left for Canada in 2011. She went to the Red River College as an English language student, then completed her bachelor’s degree in economics at the University of Manitoba.
Through her experiences in Canada, her passion for performing art herself evolved into a passion for serving all artists in Canada. Today, she enjoys helping clients with their financial reporting and projection, as well as developing customized tools and systems to increase efficiency in administrative processing and financial reporting for small and micro NPO’s.
Board Advisor (Former Chair) – Kayla Jeanson
Kayla Jeanson is an interdisciplinary artist who works within the worlds of documentary cinema, contemporary dance, poetry film, and circus arts. In collaboration with numerous artists including Luca “Lazylegz” Patuelli, Kyra Jean Green, Oriah Wiersma, Damian Siqueiros, Stephanie Ballard, Danielle Sturk, Zorya Arrow, Mia Van Leeuwen, Ess Hödlmoser, and Ming Hon, she strives to unpack regressive narratives historically reflected in conventional film and dance and focus her lens on those who are breaking boundaries and challenging limitations. Kayla trained at the School of Contemporary Dancers in Winnipeg, is a graduate of University of Manitoba’s Film Studies program, and is currently pursuing a Graduate Certificate in Quantitative Business Studies from Concordia University. Kayla is an accomplished film director, producer, cinematographer, and video editor whose films have screened at festivals internationally, garnering awards including Ó’Bhéal’s Best Poetry Film for her 2015 short Descrambled Eggs. She has worked for companies such as Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Le Monastère Cabaret de Cirque, Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers, and Cirque du Soleil.
Sage Boulanger-McLeod
Sage is a multidisciplinary ojibwe/cree performance artist working across dance, acting, stunt work, and modelling. Moving through the entertainment and fashion industries with momentum, he is committed to reminding the world that Indigenous excellence is present, powerful, and collective. His work has carried him across stages and screens. Appearing as a stunt performer in major motion pictures, touring across Canada as the lead role in Sounding Thunder: The Song of Francis Pegahmagabow, and walking one of the world’s biggest fashion stages at Milan Fashion Week. Grounded in passion, discipline, and cultural pride, Sage approaches performance as a way to challenge limits, create space, and carry Indigenous stories forward with intention.