Patrick Lloyd Brennan and Guy Rodgers, 2018 Fringe/ELAN Schmoozer
Photo by: Nasuna Stuart-Ulin

How lucky am I to have the good fortune to serve as president of the ELAN board and I count my lucky stars to be able to collaborate with both Guy and Patrick at the helm of ELAN as its Executive directors.

Guy Rex Rodgers leaves us at the end of March 2021; there is no competition against his retirement with his new grandchildren.

Sufia, our communications coordinator, is also leaving us to be with her family during this difficult time of Covid. She has contributed to our organization tremendously and we wish her the best for her future endeavours in France.

Starting April, we welcome Patrick Lloyd Brennan to the position as the new Executive Director of ELAN.

Guy Rex Rodgers brought the English-Language Arts Network to life from the ground up, beginning at the Quebec Arts Summit in November 2004 where he led a large coalition of English artists.

My personal first involvement with ELAN was being invited to an inclusion meeting. It was the first time I was asked about my experience working as an Anglo immigrant working in the arts in Quebec. What a journey it has been!

ELAN took me in and embraced me like family. During my experience with ELAN, Guy always acted as a guiding force to make space for marginalized communities. My personal thanks to ELAN, whom helped me finally claim my own English-speaking artist identity.

As a community, artists endured one of the toughest periods of hardship this last year. We learnt to adapt to a world in shutdown. Many of us found ourselves wondering if our various art industries will come back and if there will still be a place for us when it does. I know I personally think about it often.

With everything moving online, we suddenly found ourselves thrusted into a global competition. We are artists, we are creative and we will adapt. With vaccines and government lifting restrictions on industries, hope is on the horizon; though we know it will not be all smooth sailing. ELAN will be here to assist and serve the community and help us rebuild.

A few years ago, I was fortunate to get to know Patrick when he was part of the Centaur team; one of the pillars of the English theatre community of Quebec. From Centaur, Patrick went to McGill Law School and was the ED for QDF and a board member at ELAN. I got to witness first hand his efficient policy creation, and I continue to learn a great deal from him just by being in the same meetings. I have trust that Patrick will be able to steer ELAN and our community through the aftermath of COVID. I look forward to when our community is able to gather in person again.

Together, I hope we will come back to be even stronger and more inclusive than ever before.

Li Li
Executive Board President