Team & Board
Core Staff
Nick Maturo
Interim Executive Director
Nick Maturo (he/him/his) holds an M.A. in Communications Studies from McGill University and a B.F.A. in Electroacoustic Studies from Concordia University. His ongoing research considers musician labour and the role of institutions within the rapidly evolving field of online music distribution. As an artist, Nick has been active in Montréal’s experimental music community for over ten years and has performed at the Suoni Per Il Popolo and MUTEK festivals.
Deborah Forde
Director of Operations
Deborah Forde (she/her/hers) director, dramaturge, playwright arts administrator.
In 1999, after over 20 years in community development, Deborah’s work led her to the practice of professional community engaged arts through the study of Theatre for Development at Concordia. Emerging first as a director, with Bryan James’s Terminal,Terminal and Rahul Varma’s State of Denial, Deborah went on to spend two years supporting other emerging artists through Black Theatre Workshop’s YouthWorks, and 3 years serving the English-speaking theatre community as Executive Director for the Quebec Drama Federation. She has also recently directed the inaugural production of Canada’s first Muslim theatre company, Silk Road Institute, and is the former coordinator for Teesri Duniya Theatre Fireworks program. Currently, Deborah is director of operations for ELAN and freelances with the goal of continuing to support emerging artists and facilitate community connection to, and through, theatre.
Iso Setel
Membership Services Coordinator
Iso (they/them/theirs) is a filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist based in Tiotià:ke/Montreal since 2017. Utilizing moving images, text, and textiles, their work addresses questions of visibility, sense and memory in documentary film. Their current research focuses on eruvin as an installation of Jewish life and queer orientations in urban space. Originally from Buffalo, New York, Iso received a BA in Political Studies and Electronic Media Arts from Simon’s Rock in 2017, and an MFA in Film Production from Concordia University in 2021.
Lauren Katherine Clinton
Communications and Outreach Coordinator
Lauren Katherine Clinton (she/her/hers) is a singer, comedian, songwriter, producer, and writer. In Toronto she studied music theatre at Etobicoke School of the Arts before heading west to the University of Victoria for a BFA in Creative Writing. In Montreal she completed an MA in English Literature with a creative writing thesis at McGill. Lauren has built a career performing as Lou Laurence. Most recently, she has been performing comedy, improv, and music in both English and in French, participating in festivals like Montreal Sketchfest, Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, Newfoundland & Labrador Sketchfest, Comedy is Art Festival (Toronto), and Minifest (Montreal). In 2024, she has been touring her award-winning solo show, Love, Sharks & Frenching: a hot date w/ Lou Laurence across Canada, making stops at Fringe Festivals in Montreal, Regina, Edmonton, and Halifax.
In 2016, she sang lead vocals and co-wrote songs on DJ Champion’s album, Best Seller. She has self-released four EP’s, toured Canada and the UK, and performed on TV specials such as, Belle et Bum, Gala Artis, and Gala Célébration. She has a background in working with adult English language learners and has worked with francophone musicians in studio as an English pronunciation coach and supported a number of visual artists with English language arts applications. Currently, Lauren is the Communications & Outreach Coordinator at ELAN.
Francisco Gonzalez-Rosas
Québec Relations, Research Coordinator
Francisco Gonzalez-Rosas (he/him//they/them) is a performance and new media artist established in Tiohtià:ke / Montréal since 2016. He holds a BA in Acting from Finis Terrae University, Santiago, Chile and a Master in Fine Arts in Intermedia, from Concordia University. His practice integrates sound, image, performance, video and installation. Questions of representation, gender, race, digital culture, image and technology are at the core of his work.
Jean-Paul Osta
Québec Relations – Project Coordinator
Jean-Paul Osta is an Actor, Director and Theater Mediator/Facilitator based in Montreal, Canada. He holds a B.A in Theater and a Master’s degree in Actor Training from the Lebanese University – Faculty of Fine Arts & Architecture. Jean-Paul has performed in the World Premiere Arabic Opera Antar wa Abla & participated in the Lebanese National Theater Festival – 2019. Throughout his career, Jean-Paul directed numerous performances that courageously addressed a spectrum of social issues. His commitment extended to facilitating training sessions for vulnerable women and youth, employing expressive modern theater techniques to empower and foster their individual growth. His belief in the transformative power of theater fuels his conviction that it is not merely a form of entertainment but a crucial tool for community engagement, social change, and development. Jean-Paul’s multifaceted journey stands as a testament to his unwavering dedication to the arts and their potential to shape a better society.
Project Managers
Andre Athanasiadis
IT Coordinator and Consultant
Andre Athanasiadis (he/him/his) has come to be known as the go-to IT professional of the Montreal arts community. With a breadth of experience in computer systems and networks since 1996, Andre has brought his expertise to numerous technical schools, universities, and arts organizations. Over the years, his work has been trusted by, among many others, McGill University, Teesri Duniya Theatre and the Quebec Drama Federation. ELAN is proud to have Andre as one of our longest contributing staff for over ten years.
Quinten Sheriff
Interim Privacy Officer
Quinten Sheriff thrives at the intersections of HR, business and marketing consultancy, performance improvement initiatives and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. He is a seasoned learning specialist with a strong background in business and Higher Ed. around design thinking, marketing strategy, and instructional design. Quinten empowers and inspires change-makers, fosters meaningful human connections and drives positive transformations using innovative approaches. He has exhibited his art in all the countries he lived in, and plays several instruments in chamber music groups as well as a jazz quartet.
Guy Rex Rodgers
ELAN Founder, Waves of Change Project Manager
A graduate of the playwriting program at the National Theatre School of Canada, Guy Rex Rodgers has worked in film and television, and specialized in writing large-scale multimedia productions for museums and special events across Canada, as well as the US, Europe and the Middle East. He has also worked in television, interviewing artists for the Montreal International Jazz Festival and writing TV specials. He recently wrote a pictorial history book for Montreal’s Welcome Hall Mission to commemorate their 125th anniversary. He is also a musician and has recently performed in several editions of Tim Brady’s symphonies for 100 guitarists. In 2015 he was appointed to l’Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec.
A long-time arts activist, Guy Rex Rodgers was co-founder of the Quebec Drama Federation (QDF) and the Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF), was a member of the founding board of le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ), and was Executive Director of the English-Language Arts Network from its inception in 2004 until 2021.
Guillaume Jabbour
ArtistsInspire
Guillaume Jabbour spends his time recording and touring with his main band aptly named Jabbour, facilitating audio art workshops with youth, and fulfilling administrative duties as the project lead for ELAN ArtistsInspire Grants. On stage, Guillaume and his bandmates use music and storytelling as a means of bringing people together. As an Art Educator, he aims to encourage participants to take creative risks and use sound art to express themselves and develop a deeper connection with their sonic environment. As administrator of the ArtistsInspire Grants project, Guillaume not only has the chance to create opportunities for Quebec artists and schools, but he also enjoys combining his two main passions: art and education. He lives with his wife and two children in the Laurentians where he can often be seen with a handheld recorder waiting for the perfect moment to capture the lonely call of the loon.
Louise Campbell
ArtEd’s Mental Health Initiative
Louise Campbell is a Montreal-based musician whose professional hats range from clarinetist to cultural mediator, community arts facilitator to musicians’ health therapist. As a Teaching Artist, Louise uses the arts to encourage students’ sense of wonder, understanding of themselves and their experiences, and engagement in the world. She facilitates music, sound, and multidisciplinary arts from early childhood education to adult education, in-person and online. She is a Teaching Artist and Public Relations and Communications consultant for ELAN Art Ed.
Board
ELAN’s board consists of representatives from the various artistic disciplines that ELAN serves, representatives of the regions outside Greater Montreal, and representatives from sister organizations – the Quebec Drama Federation (QDF), the Quebec Writers Federation (QWF) and the Association of English Language Publishers (AELAQ).
Executive
Angie Cheng
President
Angie Cheng (Performance). Originally from Ottawa, Angie Cheng is a Montreal-based dance artist. Collaborative creation processes ground her ongoing research in performance; investigating the liminal space between creative process and performance event, between spectator and performer. The embodied and specific understandings that arise from these investigations shape her current questions and engagements both in her own work and with others. What other platforms are available for presenting work and examining how we present the different states of work and the influence it plays with what we create. She has also been actively engaged in the dance community in the conversations of inclusivity, diversity and accessibility. She was a member of the now defunct inclusivity vivre ensemble committee of the RQD.
Louise Abbot
Vice President
Louise Abbott (Writing/AELAQ) is an Eastern Townships-based writer, photographer, and filmmaker. She has dedicated her career to exploring often overlooked communities in outlying areas of Canada. She is the author of The Coast Way, The French Shore, The Heart of the Farm, Eeyou Istchee: Land of the Cree, and Memphremagog: An Illustrated History. She has directed numerous documentaries, including The Sugarmakers, televised by PBS in 2022, and CRUX: The Transformation of AnneBruce Falconer, screened at the International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA) in 2022. Louise established a literary press for Studio Georgeville in 2019 and has since published three anthologies by Townships writers.
She created a multimedia project—In Their Own Voice: Stories and Songs from St. Paul’s River—for the Whiteley Museum in 2023. She’s currently producing a book titled Islands of History about ten islands in the archipelagos of Old Fort and Blanc Sablon in Quebec and a documentary tentatively titled The Mighty Roar about the history of steamboat travel on Lake Memphremagog in Quebec and Vermont.
Photo: Vito DeFilippo
Dr. Alexandra Fol
Treasurer
Dr. Alexandra Fol (Music). The music of Dr Alexandra Fol (DMus McGill University, MMus Eastman School of Music, BMus Boston University, CTh Princeton Theological Seminary) has been performed by ensembles such as the Montréal Symphony Orchestra, the Sofia Symphony Orchestra, the McGill Symphony, the orkest de ereprijs, the Orchestre de la Francophonie, the New Score Chamber Orchestra, the Sofia Wind Orchestra, the Orchestre à vents non-identifié (OVNI), Ensemble Paramirabò, El Perro Andaluz, the CYE ensemble, thingNY ensemble, the Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra, the Gabrovo Chamber Orchestra, among many others. She has composed music for documentary movies, including “Ancient Thrace – Door to Immortality”, sponsored by the NetHeritage fund of the European Union, and for various Thracian rituals. Since 2017 her music accompanies annually the restored Thracian summer solstice ritual at the Cabyle rock-cut sanctuary. Her works have appeared in CDs released by Gutenberg Publishing (Bulgaria) and Disques Benedictus (Canada) Winner of the 2021 Roberta Steven Award, Fol lives and works in Montréal as a composer, organist, pianist and conductor. She is the Music director and titulair organist at St James United Church and servs on the board of LAUDEM, the Association of Liturgical Musicians of Canada. Her music is available through the Canadian Music Centre. In 2019 she was awarded a coat of arms by the Canadian Governor General. For more information, click here.
Members at Large
holly Greco (Theatre/QDF) is a collaborative dance/theatre creator, originally hailing from Toronto. She has worked in the Montreal dance and theatre community for ten years as a performer, choreographer, administrator and producer. She is a co-founder and former Assistant Producer at the Bouge D’ici Dance Festival. She has also worked as an Associate Producer for the St-Ambroise Montreal FRINGE Festival, overseeing 3 years festivals, and is proud to be on the Board of Directors for the Revolution They Wrote Festival. Greco has also worked with several community, professional and independent companies, such as MainLine Theatre, Repercussion Theatre, Segal Centre and Geordie Theatre. Greco is honoured to serve the #weareQCtheatre community and will proudly continue to provide support, resources and development opportunities in her new role as Director of Programming.
Dr. Blair MacKay (Music) Blair’s career over the last 40 years has been in the performance, direction, management, outreach/education and production of music. Since 1976, Blair has performed and recorded on percussion and drum-set in a variety of musical contexts – from contemporary chamber music with the ARRAYMUSIC ensemble, Ensemble Contemporaine de Montreal (ECM), and Societe de Musique Contemporaine du Quebec (SMCQ), to orchestral music with the Toronto Symphony and the Esprit Orchestra, through to free jazz with Barry Romberg’s Random Access, world music with The Ritual Party, pop jazz with Kim Richardson, and blues/rock recordings with artists such as Serena Ryder and Myles Goodwyn, and many diverse avenues in between. I have been a featured soloist with ensembles and as a solo artist, at festivals in London, Paris, New York, Kyoto, Jakarta, Mexico City, Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, and on CBC national radio.
Victoria Sanchez (Film/Video) has been a part of the Canadian film industry for over twenty years. Since graduating from the Professional Theatre Program at John Abbott College in 1996, Victoria performed in over fifty Canadian productions (Theatre, Film & TV) starting with Canadian hit teen show Student Bodies to most recently Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan for Amazon, where she played John Krasinski’s CIA branch chief. Victoria has also been writing, coordinating and producing with her company Just Believe Productions Inc. for several years. Some of her most recent productions include, the shorts The Accident and Vision Stains in the Theatre Bizarre anthology, her feature film adaptation of her favourite childhood ghost story, Wait till Helen Comes, and Adam MacDonald (Backcountry writer/director)’s second feature film, the now critically acclaimed psychological horror Pyewacket starring Laurie Holden (The Walking Dead). Pyewacket went on to make over 50 TOP 10 HORROR lists in the last two years, and The New York Times called it an indie gem! Victoria is currently developing several new projects, from shorts and feature films, along with both scripted and realty series.
Jessica Greenberg (Corporate) Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec where she is currently based, Jessica’s interest in the entertainment industry was sparked at a young age, and is reflected in her education and career trajectory. Holding a B.A. in Human Relations from Concordia University and with experience in a variety of production roles ranging from production assistant to coordinator to assistant director, once Jessica became involved in casting she never looked back. By incorporating the knowledge she learned on set and behind the scenes, mixed with her creative thinking, intuition and empathy, allows for her unique approach to each project. Throughout her creative career, Jessica has successfully worked on studio features to low-budget indie shorts and everything in between. She has also collaborated with a multitude of talented directors and producers, and knows how to adapt quickly, be efficient and exercise solid judgment in decision-making. Dedicated and hard-working, Jessica consistently gives her all in everything she does.
Pamela Hensley (QWF / Writing) is the Managing Editor of yolk literary journal and host of the podcast How I Wrote This. Her writing has appeared in publications including the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology, The New Quarterly, Queen’s Quarterly, The Montreal Review, The Antigonish Review, The Dalhousie Review, EVENT Magazine, and elsewhere. Previously she worked as an automotive engineer and management consultant in Germany, Japan, the US, and Canada.
Peter Burton (Music) is a music curator, artist manager, and arts administrator who focuses on Free Jazz, New Music, Sound Art and Folk/Popular Music from around the world. He uses his organizational, creative, and curatorial skills to support musicians that challenge conventional thinking and to create spaces for musicians and listeners to share inspired musical experiences. Between 2006 and 2021, he was the executive director of Montreal’s Suoni Per Il Popolo, a groundbreaking music festival that mixed music genres, developed diverse audiences, and gained widespread recognition inside and outside of Canada. In 2018, Burton co-founded Arts in the Margins, a new Montreal arts organization that focuses on music programming, community outreach and artist management.
Kuh Del Rosario (Visual arts) is a visual artist based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, QC. Attuning to everyday materials, her practice is driven by a desire for grounding within the places she inhabits. Inspired by Philippine cosmologies and indigenous beliefs, tactile memories and the language of things, Del Rosario explores alternative possibilities and world-building.
She has been supported by The Peter Thompson Family Graduate Scholarship 2020, CALQ 2023, Canada Council for the Arts 2023, Fonderie Darling 2023-2026 sponsored by Romany Eveleigh Gift, and The Claudine & Stephen Bronfman Fellowship in Contemporary Art 2024.
Del Rosario recently exhibited at FOFA Gallery (Tidelines, May 2024), SKOL (Catalogue Des Ruines, January 2024), Centre Clark (Summoning Black Beach, October 2023 & Maison Modèle, March 2024) and Maison de la Culture Monkland (Groundworks, November 2023). Upcoming group exhibitions at The Art Gallery of Grande Prairie (Worried Earth, Aug 2024), Fonderie Darling (Déliquescence, plaisirs du chaos, September 2024) and a solo show at B-312 (TBA, February 2025).
Photo By: Alexis Bernard
Willow Loveday Little (Writing)‘s work has appeared in such places as The Dalhousie Review, The Selkie’s Very Much Alive: Stories of Resilience anthology, HA&L, The League of Canadian Poets chapbook series, yolk literary, Vallum, and On Spec. She has a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University and is the author of a chapbook, Xenia, and a full-length poetry collection, (Vice) Viscera, both out with Cactus Press. Willow copyedits and proofreads manuscripts for local and international clients, and has had the pleasure of working on award-winning and CBC-shortlisted books.
Miranda Handford (Theatre) is an actor and filmmaker based in Montreal. She has been an actor for over 20 years, and began making films about 12 years ago. Highlights of her screen work include CTV’s Tripping the Wire for which she received a Gemini nomination, a starring role in IFC series The Festival; and the lead in Sarah Galea-Davis’ Can You Wave Bye-Bye, which won “Best Canadian Short” at CFC’s Worldwide Short Film Festival.
She also does voice work, including the beautiful animated NFB shorts The Great Malaise by Catherine Lepage, and In Deep Waters, by Sarah Van Den Boom. Her theatre credits include Rabbit Hole with the Ad Hoc Theatre Collective, Hippies And Bolsheviks with Girl Got Lost Productions, Women Of Manhattan with Freestanding Productions, and Camera, Woman with Out Productions/Sin 4. She recently wrote and performed a one-woman show called Fail Again, which she is planning to re-mount in 2025.
Her first foray into filmmaking was writing and co-producing a short film called Elevator, directed by Kim Barr. It was selected for several film festivals in Canada and internationally. It won “Award of Merit” at Best Shorts, USA, in 2014, and ”Best Short”, ACTRA Film Festival, Montreal, in 2016. It was also selected to be part of CBC’s Canadian Reflections series.
From 2017-2021, Miranda completed a specialisation in Film Production from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema at Concordia University. While there she wrote and directed several short films: Sound (2018) a portrait documentary, I? (2019) and Run, Woman (2020) both experimental shorts, and If (2021), an improvised narrative fiction. Since graduating, Miranda completed her latest short film, Carry, which she is now submitting to film festivals.
Leah Evangelista Woolner is a visual artist and community organizer. Her artistic practice explores themes of belonging, desire, knowledge creation, diaspora and collective liberation through painting, mixed media collage, and video installation. Leah continues to (un)learn and be inspired by her relationships with diasporic communities and interspecies beings. She holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Concordia University (2012) and lives in Tiohtià ke/Mooniyang (Montreal).
Shakiya Williams (Writing / AELQ) (she/they) is a Montreal-based emerging writer with a deep commitment to amplifying diverse voices, especially within BIPOC, queer, and marginalized communities. With a background in English Literature and over a year of experience at Linda Leith Publishing, Shakiya brings a thoughtful and creative approach to every project they undertake. Currently, they are crafting a collection of short stories, aiming to introduce compelling diverse narratives to a wider audience. Shakiya believes in the power of storytelling to connect and inspire, and is dedicated to fostering meaningful connections through the arts.
Li Li (Theatre, Past President) is a first generation Canadian. She spent her childhood living in different continents, finally settling in Quebec. She has a BFA major in Digital Image & Sound; with a Minor in Theatre from Concordia University. Li Li has worked in theatre, TV/film, and video games. Behind the camera, Li Li has worked a range of jobs including being a fixer, translator, casting director, co-producer as well as selling finished projects to broadcasters. Li Li served as ACTRA National Diversity and Inclusion Committee’s co-chair and as part of the ACTRA Montreal branch council. She is part of the following unions: ACTRA, CAEA and UDA. Li Li is a mother and has a strong interest in gender equity, diversity and inclusion.
Committees
ELAN board members are welcome to join any of the committees, and may join more than one committee if they have the time and interest.
Non-board members are also welcome to join committees. This is a good way to develop relations with future board members. People with expertise in specific areas (eg. communication, membership, inclusion, corporate planning) may also be invited to join committees.
Inclusion Committee
Arts, Culture, Heritage (ACH) Working Group
General Mandate
The ACH Working Group meets once a year with federal departments and agencies (Canadian Heritage, Canada Council, CBC, TELEFILM, NFB). Community members nominated by ELAN represent the full range of arts and culture interests. Attendees nominated by the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network (QAHN) represent heritage. ELAN board members also serve as co-leaders for bi-monthly follow-up meetings to develop project ideas and exchange information.
Communications & Membership Committee
General Mandate
Two committees merged in September 2019. Assisting staff with communication policies and with membership outreach.
Human Resources (HR) Committee
General Mandate
This is a new committee that was previously chaired by the president. It was created to provide support to ELAN staff with annual reviews and to serve as a mediator if conflicts should arise among staff that cannot be resolved by the Admin Manager or the Executive Director. The HR committee will also actively participate in the succession plan for change of Executive Director in 2021.
