Wednesday October 26, 2022 – 12:00pm to 1:00pm MT
To cultivate means to acquire or develop, and to harvest means to collect or obtain for a future use.
Since the summer of 2020, equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) has become ‘top of mind’ throughout the cultural sector, and a priority in funding.
Who is cultivating and harvesting EDI, and the money that’s available for it?
And is the equity-seeking community actually being empowered in the process?
Join us for an insightful discussion as we explore these questions, and the complex issues that can arise from this important work, with our incredible panelists Jordan Baylon, Soni Dasmohapatra, Dinu Philip Alex and Pam Tzeng.
We also collaborated with Canadian Cinema Editors to turn this enlightening conversation into a Podcast – have a listen!
PANELISTS
Jordan Baylon | Artist, Community Worker & Consultant
Jordan Baylon (they/she/he) is a second generation PilipinX artist, critic and community worker imagining justice and abundance for equity-deserving peoples within the spaces of all our relations: personal, communal and societal. As an artist, Jordan’s explores queer and racialized identities as liminal spaces: both and neither; between, across and through; both inside and outside; and both literal and imagined. Jordan’s community practice leverages a decade of experience in the non-profit arts and culture sectors, where they developed their critical lens around equity, anti-racism and systems change. After many years navigating institutions, Jordan now devotes their interest and attention to working at grassroots alongside equity-deserving individuals and communities.
Recent work:
- The City of Calgary – Indigenous and Anti-Racist Equity Analysis of Calgary Granting Programs (with Thulasy Lettner, Tapisa Kilabuk, Kinya Baker, Erin MacFarlane)
- Calgary Arts Development – EDIA Audit (with JD Derbyshire & Steve Williams)
- Chromatic Theatre – General Director
- The Calgary Foundation – Racial Equity Audit (with Thulasy Lettner, Kinya Baker, Evans Yellow Old Woman, Erin MacFarlane)
Soni Dasmohapatra | Consultant, Educator & Arts Practitioner
Soni is a passionate consultant, educator and arts practitioner who uses yoga and somatics as pathways of self discovery, healing and artistic creation. Soni has built her career for over twenty years in the sectors of government, higher learning, non-profit, public education and philanthropy, across Canada and Internationally. Currently she is a sessional instructor at MacEwan University, Arts and Cultural Management Department. Soni, has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Alberta, a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Victoria and a certificate in gender studies and human rights from Oxford University, UK. Soni, has been involved in the Alberta arts, cultural and Heritage sector since she was a child. She is a trained classical Indian Kathak dancer and yoga teacher. She has been a cultural administrator in the areas of Canadian Heritage and Arts in Alberta and Ontario. Check out her UNESCO article on Arts Education in a Post National State.
Dinu Philip Alex, MSc, B’Arch | Founder & Chief Disrupter of Next Evolution Ventures
Alex is a disruptive strategist motivated by breaking the system for the greater good. He has a background of implementing change at a root level and creating an atmosphere of cultivating and transforming ideas into viable solutions that create efficiencies, challenge the norm, and prepare for the future.
Through his almost 15 year career with the City of Edmonton, he found himself getting more involved in the organizational development and transformation work to ensure the service lines are relevant and optimized to meet the needs for the future.
He has been actively involved in developing several strategies, creating innovative analytical models, revamping and restructuring several operational services to ensure job clarity, job satisfaction and increased employee morale.
In his position as Branch Manager, Alex was also on the steering committee for the Smart Cities Challenge. He received the Culture Commitment Award under the category of Excellence in 2018.
He has also been nominated for the City Manager’s Award for Leadership Excellence in the past.
He is inspired by his young son, an aspiring hockey player, who keeps him in touch with his values of doing good for others through innovative thinking and action.
Pam Tzeng | Choreographer, Performance Maker, Movement Educator & Arts Worker
Pam Tzeng 曾小桐 (she/her) is a second-generation Taiwanese-Canadian choreographer, interdisciplinary performance maker, movement educator and arts worker based in Mohkínstsis Treaty 7 Territory. Pam takes pleasure in extremes to craft honest, visceral and animated performances about the politics of the body with objects and costumes. Led by her embodied curiosities, she graciously traverses charged thematic territories to reveal and empower unseen truths.
Pam is a commitment to offering the breadth of her experiences, creativity and intelligences to the work of anti-racism, anti-oppression and conflict transformation in the arts and cultural sector. As 2022-23 Artist in Residence with Dancemakers (Toronto), she is focused on researching conflict transformation from an artistic and embodied lens. Currently, Pam is also an advisor with the Canadian Dance Assembly, faculty and practices of care weaver for the Rozsa Foundations REAL Executive Leadership Program, a member of the Cultural Instigators – a collective of artist activists visioning an anti-racist future for Calgary and part of Calgary Arts Development’s EDIA working group.