top of page
Kate Hilliard: Art - An Agent for Change
Kate Hilliard is the Artistic Director of Arts Orillia where she programs cultural and educational events for her community. She is faculty at Toronto Metropolitan University and her creative work has been presented in North America and abroad. Hilliard was most recently featured at The Venice International Art Fair. Her “Artist's Book” titled Nature It Is… for Canadian dance icon, Margie Gillis, was launched at the National Arts Centre in 2024. Kate lives on the Black River in Washago, ON with her family. https://katehilliard.net/
Jacob Kearey-Moreland: Food Literacy
Jacob is a PhD student in Educational Studies at Lakehead University (Orillia) researching community food literacy and teacher education. He teaches courses at LU related to democracy and social justice education and is developing the course “Sustainable Practices in Agriculture” for Georgian College. He currently serves as VP for his local National Farmers Union, board member of The Sharing Place Food Centre, chairs Orillia’s Food Access and Sustainability Working Group, and coordinates the Farm Lab - an agroecological learning commons and K-12-school outreach program. An agroecologist, community gardener and seed librarian, Jacob is passionate about food systems transformation and the joy of growing and sharing food.
Sean Rees: AI - A Creative Tool
Sean Rees is an artist and educator with a focus in web design, typography, and the graphic arts. His creative practice includes photography, illustration, animation, and sound composition for digital projects and his work has been presented in galleries in Canada, The U.S., and Germany. Sean is a passionate teacher and currently works with elementary students in the Simcoe County District School Board in areas of Art and Technology. He instructs undergraduates at Rasmussen and Lakehead University and enjoys drawing every week at the Orillia Youth Centre where he holds classes in his role as Design Manager at Arts Orillia. https://birdbraindesign.ca/
Heidi Strauss: You Are Swimming Here
Heidi Strauss is a dance artist with a curiosity in examining human behavior from different perspectives. She explores relationships as a way to consider the ‘realness’ of where and who we are - often responding to the current social and environmental moment. In playing with how performance is seen/experienced, she creates post-immersive, installation, ambulatory, and site-sensitive works for theatre, non-theatre and digital environments, reconfiguring the roles of audience and performer to deepen connection with others and invite self-reflection. A KM Hunter and multi-Dora Award winning choreographer, Heidi is the artistic director of Tkaronto-based adelheid, and holds an MFA from the Transart Institute/Liverpool John Moore’s University. https://adelheid.ca
Photo Credit: Jeremy Mimnagh
bottom of page