SHAUNA MACLEOD

Shauna MacLeod’s journey to becoming the founder and Director of Willow Arts Community is a testament to their unwavering commitment to the arts, mental health advocacy, and belief in the power of community. Shaped by growing up in rural Niagara, the arts were often a place of togetherness and celebration for their proud working class family. Dancing, singing, listening to records, song-writing, and helping to run a family martial arts dojo are particularly happy memories during a childhood marked with adversary. Shauna spent much of their youth sitting up high in a beloved willow tree on their property, seeking sanctuary and writing poetry.

As a psychiatric system survivor in their teens, and a parent by 19, Shauna spent most of adulthood navigating poverty, the mental health system, and their sexual and gender identity. Shauna graduated top of their class at Niagara College in the General Arts and Science University Transfer Program, and received the Dean’s Academic Award. They fueled their passion studying History at Brock University, focusing on classes that explored classism and power dynamics, native and non-native relations, and social history. In 2010, Shauna’s sibling, who struggled with substance use and mental health, passed away at a local shelter facility. This loss deeply impacted Shauna, and sparked their dedication to creating safe and accessible spaces for others seeking connection and healing. This grassroots initiative evolved into Willow Arts Community.

Shauna received community education and training from a 3-year collaboration with Workman Arts in Toronto, Art Fix in North Bay, and Mindful Makers in Thunder Bay. Shauna greatly benefited from a 4-year residency at Rodman Hall Art Centre where they worked closely with staff, and currently has mentors from arts management and non-profit and governance sectors who continue to help shape their work today. Shauna received the Jury’s Pick award with the City of St. Catharines Arts Award in 2018 for the founding of Willow Arts Community, and in the same year was a GNCC Woman in Business finalist.

At the heart of Shauna’s work is the power of vulnerability. Their lived experiences, marked by personal challenges and triumphs, resonates with many and draws people in with an authentic and heartfelt approach. Their commitment to reducing stigma and barriers, sharing resources and arts education, and creating a space where individuals can find healing and hope through the arts sets an inspiring example of what’s possible for the Niagara region.

DEBORAH CARTMER

Deborah has been involved in broadcasting since she was 18. She got her start part-time in commercial radio, then continued on air while working in film and video. She discovered the joys of community radio when she returned to university as a mature student. Deborah is currently the program director at CFBU FM, Brock’s community-based campus radio station.

Tonia M’igyver

Tonia is a skilled multidisciplinary artist who excels in painting, writing, sculpture, and movement of various kinds. She has considerable physical intelligence, leveraging the strength of her body to challenge her own limitations and endurance. Her prowess lends her a physical advantage to problem solving, granting her intuition to the inner workings of our bodies, and an inherent understanding of what their needs might be. Joyful movement has been a part of Tonia’s daily life for as long as she can remember. As a child and teenager, she was in both competitive karate and gymnastics, and practiced both for over ten years. After becoming a sensei she turned her focus to instructing others in the craft. As an adult, she teaches gymnastics, inspiring the next generation of athletes and entertainers. Spontaneity and freedom are at the core of Tonia’s teaching methods. She tailors movements to an individual’s particular needs – including those with physical disabilities – making movement inclusive, accessible, and equitable. It is her goal for her students to be able to find themselves at home within their bodies, and re-examine their notions of physical activity, using it as a means for radical self-love, play, and artistic expression.

KERRY DUNCAN

Kerry Duncan (they/them) is a community-educated queer and disabled family caregiver, with an academic background. Kerry is a white settler who grew up on the traditional lands of the Saugeen First Nation (Thornbury, ON), and lived for many years on unceded and unsurrended Algonquin territory (Ottawa, ON). While working on their undergrad, they worked with a range of campus and community activist groups, primarily focused on disability justice, affordable post-secondary education, labour rights, and climate justice.

Residing in Niagara since 2014, Kerry is most well known for working at Mahtay Cafe and OPIRG Brock, Kerry has also been working with OUTniagara’s region-wide project, Informed, Inclusive, Indivisible: Collectively Advancing 2SLGBTQ+ Equality in Niagara+. 

In terms of writing, producing, and creating zines, over the past ten years, Kerry has published both academic and community publications, including being a regular contributor to The Sound. In the past two years, in addition to hosting zine trainings and drop-in events with various community groups, Kerry launched their online bookshop Dusk+Dawn Books, where they have self-published Hallo-zine, and curated and developed The DisOrientation Guide to Niagara V.1&2, and The Coming Out Monologues V.2.

SIMON CALAYCAY

Simon discovered a love for improv when he nerdily signed up for an “Improv for Communication” workshop to help his divided student council. He laughed his way through The Making-Box’s curriculum in Guelph, and embarked on his current journey to become an instructor. He was shadowing Making-Box instructors before moving to the Niagara Region to be closer to family. He hopes to one day make the skills found in improv indispensable to managing teams. In the meantime, he’s honing his craft to bring more funny into the region.

EMILY GILLESPIE

Emily Gillespie is an author, disability activist and professional daydreamer. Her work explores the themes of memory, identity and mental health journeys. Emily enjoys working in community spaces and examining individual and collective experiences. She views storytelling as a tool for resisting predominant social narratives.

Emily has a BA in English, and an MA in Critical Disability Studies from York University. Dancing with Ghosts (Leaping Lion Books, 2017) is her first novel. In 2018, she won a contest for her short-story “D is for Despair,” sponsored by the Ontario Book Publishers Organization. Her poetry was recently featured in the Inkwell Anthology, I Am a Lake. “No Room at the Inn,” a short-story adapted from her second novel is part of the Nothing without Us, anthology by Renaissance Press fall 2019. She is currently drafting her second grant funded novel, teaching creative writing, and experimenting with zines as well as performance art.

ALLISON CARROLL

Allison is a business and creative writing professional, editor, and a self-proclaimed bibliophile. Her experience includes grant, proposal, and content writing for various consulting firms and nonprofits, and freelance editing for novelists and individuals. When she’s not working, she’s reading!

She obtained a BA in English Lit. from Wilfrid Laurier University in 2012, and the Writing For A Publication certificate from Mohawk College in 2013. She is an avid writer of poetry, book reviews, and political and observational musings on her blog (which no one reads).

As a Niagara native, she enjoys hiking in the gorge and visiting local wineries, but is equally happy at home reading, playing video games, drinking too much coffee, and neglecting household chores.</span>

ASHLEY OVERHOLT

Ashley has been teaching yoga for over 10 years in Toronto and the Niagara Region. She has had her own struggles with anxiety and depression over the years, and as much as she loved yoga, it was a different type of practice that helped her through her most challenging times. She used movement not to achieve a pose, but to feel and let go of stuck emotions. Writing and meditation or visualization also became tools she relied on when she was feeling overwhelmed. Just as this last year has brought many changes, she is mostly leaving her regular yoga practice behind and using this time to share the tools that has the most meaning to her in hopes she can help others.

JENN JUDSON

Jenn Judson is a lovable character, a serious artist and a big time collaborator. Jenn is a graduate of the Brock University Visual Arts Program and is currently living and working in St Catharines, Ontario. The artist is part of two visual art collectives, The Pepsi Girls and Permanent Vacation, both of which are made up of local residents/artists.

While primarily a collage artist, her practice is dynamic and includes a range of media including, textile, installation and painting. Her approach to art is usually with humour and often underlined with a touch of the subversive! Jenn often finds herself running collage workshops and events and loves helping others find their inner collage artist!!

MAGGIE FOGERON, TTPPD-Cert. (NBS)

Movement-Based Expressive Arts practice has enabled Maggie to enjoy a more than 20 year career with the National Ballet of Canada (Toronto), Ballet British Columbia (Vancouver) and Nationaltheatre Mannheim (Germany).  As a graduate of the Tamalpa Institute and a Masters Candidate in the Expressive Arts program at the European Graduate School in Switzerland, she has continued to develop a deep love of psychology, science and the therapeutic aspects of physical exploration and creativity.  Her current “time-out” from performing is really “time-in”.  She has learned that when a person can get out of their head and more fully into their body’s experience, positive and revolutionary change can take place for all involved, as well as for the beautiful art of dance itself.