MEET THE EAAC! APA’s Showcasing Equity and Accessibility Statement
As a response to the lack of diversity in the artists selected for past Contact East showcases, APA reached out to our networks to assemble a committee of individuals with ties to Black, Indigenous, racialized, disability and Mad arts, and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities in Atlantic Canada.
The paid work of the Equity Action Advisory Committee (EAAC) has included giving APA resources and guidance on how to welcome more artists and arts leaders from these identified communities. They have taught APA much in this process and their continued input, guidance and advice is helping APA create accessible and equitable pathways to connect artists with presenters and their communities.
This is our commitment:
Showcasing Equity and Accessibility Statement
APA acknowledges that past selection processes were not fair, accessible or equitable to all and that this is the first step towards more equitable representation on stages across Atlantic Canada.
APA acknowledges the value that lived and community-based experiences and practices have in creating fair artist selection processes.
The APA, (board and staff) will select a Contact East showcase artist selection committee made up of presenters, industry professionals, artists and community members who expressed interest in the call for applications. This committee will choose the artists for the showcases at the annual Contact East event.
The artist selection committee will make their showcase choices based on artistic merit and art form diversity, regional representation, tourability, as well as a number of equity and lived experience lenses. The selection committee themselves will have diverse gender representation and representation from communities such as racialized people, Indigenous people and people from the 2SLGBTQIA+, disability and Mad arts community.
Showcasing artists chosen by the selection committee will have equitable gender representation and representation from communities such as racialized people, Indigenous people and people from the 2SLGBTQIA+, disability and Mad arts community.
APA is committed to implementing and upholding equitable and accessible practices in choosing the selection committee members and showcasing artists and will provide any needed support to ensure fair and equitable representation.
Meet the EAAC!
We are very proud of the work the EAAC has helped the APA to accomplish thus far. This is who they are:
Amy Norman
Amy Norman is a proud Inuk woman born and raised in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. Her family is from North West River and Nain, Nunatsiavut, as well as Catalina and Port Union, Newfoundland. She is a passionate advocate for Indigenous Rights, Culture, and for the Environment. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music with a Minor in Mathematics from Bishop’s University. She works as the manager of the Lawrence O’Brien Arts Centre – central Labrador’s premier performing arts venue. She also sits on the board of directors for the Labrador Creative Arts Festival. Amy was the chairperson of the Ceremonies committee with the Labrador Winter Games and was one of the driving forces behind Labrador’s most anticipated performances of the last few years, bringing together over one thousand athletes, volunteers, spectators and performers for a once-in-a-lifetime event! She also co-hosted Eastlink TV’s coverage of the Labrador Winter Games, as well as did live on-air commentary for the nights of traditional Inuit games. Amy is extremely active in her community and volunteers with Girl Guides, the Labrador Land Protectors, the Grand Riverkeepers, the NLNDP, Them Days Magazine, Northern Voices Community Choir, and more. She’s a proud auntie to four rowdy nephews, loves to go ice fishing, and likes to dabble in linocut printmaking, meme creation, earring making, and trying new crafts.
Melissa Samms
From and of Katalisk, Ktaqmkuk, Liss (they/them) is a writer and multidisciplinary artist, with a focus on watercolour, ink, found object art, and textiles - specifically knitting, weaving, and embroidery. They are L’nu of Ktaqmkuk and Gaspegewagi, with Nlaka’pamux ancestry rooted in Lytton, BC. Liss has a background in business administration and political science, and currently works as an Arts Administrator at First Light Centre for Performance and Creativity in St. John’s. In this position, they are working with a dynamic team to establish a world-class Indigenous arts centre out of a 100-year-old United Church. Most recently, Liss is working toward their curatorial debut, programming “Songs and Stories for a Cold Winter’s Night”, scheduled for presentation in December 2023.
(Photo credit: Megan Samms. Melissa is wearing one of Megan’s weaving pieces. She usually makes 1 wearable textile to sell every year, and that was last year's (2022))
Kelly Li
EAAC Member
Kelly Li
EAAC Member
Kelly is an arts administrator and filmmaker based in Kjipuktuk (known colonially as Halifax, Nova Scotia). She is the Managing Producer at the Prismatic Arts Festival, an annual, multidisciplinary arts festival that solely showcases the work of Indigenous artists and artists of colour. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Cinema and Media Studies from Dalhousie University.
Santiago Guzmán
EAAC Member
Santiago Guzmán
EAAC Member
Santiago (he/they) is an award-winning playwright, dramaturge, performer, & director originally from Metepec, Mexico, now based in St. John’s, NL. They are the Artistic Director of TODOS Productions & the Artistic Associate for Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre.
Santiago’s work puts local, under-represented narratives and characters on the frontlines, whilst inviting audiences to appreciate the vibrancy of Newfoundland and Labrador from a diverse perspective.
His play ALTAR was produced by the Resource Centre for the Arts Theatre Company in 2021 and toured across high schools in NL as a digital offering, as well as national presentations at Prismatic Arts Festival, (NS) and Aluna Theatre’s RUTAS Festival (ON). ALTAR will receive a second production by Theatre New Brunswick in 2023 and tour their province alongside the world premiere of his new TYA play, S.T.O.P.
Santiago’s play Urn received the Senior Dramatic Script Award of the NL 2022 Arts and Letters Awards & was shortlisted for the NLCU Fresh Fish Award 2022. Most recently, Santiago has been awarded the inaugural John Palmer Award 2022 through the PGC for being a change-maker in the theatre industry with their advocacy in the arts regarding equity, diversity, and anti-racism.
Santiago's work is very gay, very brown, and very real.
Liliona A. Quarmyne
EAAC Member
Liliona A. Quarmyne
EAAC Member
Based in Kjipuktuk (Halifax), on the powerful, unceded and unsurrendered ancestral territory of the Mi’kmaq people, Liliona is a dancer, choreographer, actor, singer, and community facilitator. From Ghana and the Philippines, she has an eclectic background that has taken her through many performance styles on four different continents. Liliona performs across the country and internationally, creates original works as an independent artist, facilitates community programming, and is the Artistic Director of Kinetic. The scope of Liliona’s artistic work is broad, but is particularly focused on the relationship between art and social justice, on the body’s ability to carry ancestral memory, and on the role the performing arts can play in creating change. Liliona loves to work in collaboration and community, and is mom to two wonderful kids.
Sara Graham
Sara (she/they) is a deaf and disabled comedian, activist, improviser, and workshop educator. Sara uses her work to advocate for wholeness in accessibility. Sara’s goal is to create art and spaces that acknowledge and address the need for inclusivity and accessibility for all. Sara graduated from Dalhousie University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and minor in Gender and Women’s studies. Through her work Sara hopes to create theatre, art, and creative spaces that are radically accessible.