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.
Additionally, the EAAC has been supporting and advising APA on a new, fairer process to select an equitable and diverse artist selection committee (formerly jury) that chooses which artists showcase at Contact East 2021. As a result, in 2021, APA put out a call for applications to assemble the artist selection committee, as opposed to hand-picking individuals from APA’s membership, as was done in past years. And for the first time, in 2021, the work of the selection committee was monetarily compensated.
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:
April Hubbard
April Hubbard began her career as an actor before developing her skills as a director, producer, board member, administrator, and accessibility advisor after entering the world of disability and finding there was no longer a space for her on stage. As the Chair of the Halifax Fringe Festival, she provides a platform for others excluded from mainstream performance.
In 2019, April became a professional trapeze artist and acrobat when she began performing with LEGacy Circus. She cofounded disabilityX Halifax, an accessible storytelling event created and led by people with disabilities, and she is currently working with Drifting Amber Collective to remove barriers to access in the arts and to support people with unseen bodies & unheard voices to claim creative control. April recently began drafting an accessibility report
for Eastern Front Theatre exploring the barriers to inclusion in the performing arts in Nova Scotia and offering recommendations on how to meet the needs of all community members.
Her experience as a disabled woman allows her to guide those working to create inclusive performances and spaces. She is an outspoken advocate whose focus is to empower people with disabilities to discover their voice and to be leaders in designing the society in which they wish to live. April proudly shows her body without hiding its differences, which serves to both challenge assumptions and to normalize the presence of people with disabilities in our everyday world.
(Photo credit: Emily Invidia)
Raeesa Lalani
Vice President
Raeesa Lalani
Vice President
Raeesa Lalani (she/her) is an arts professional flourishing as the new Artistic Director of the Prismatic Arts Festival. After an extensive volleyball career, the arts industry called her back as a professional, as Raeesa has long been active as an actress, singer and has been known to tickle the ivories too. Some of her accolades include: playing Gillian on BBC Worldwides' Dinosapien, portraying Maria Von Trapp in Rundle College's The Sound of Music and winning first place singing "100 Easy Ways to Lose a Man" from Wonderful Town in the Musical Theatre category at the Calgary Kiwanis Festival. Her hard work and determination has allowed her to shine in these areas but also earned her a scholarship at Dalhousie University as a varsity volleyball athlete making her a unique talent in both arts and athletics. As a student athlete at Dal, she obtained a B.A. in English and after her 5-year playing career was accepted at the University of King’s College where she acquired a graduate degree in Journalism. Raeesa feels immensely fulfilled being part of an organization that has enabled her to grow personally in the arts but also be a part of a greater cause that continually strives to help the growth of Indigenous and culturally diverse artists. She is active as a board of director for multiple non profit organizations, as she believes it is important to give back her time and support to members within her community.
Raeesa would like to acknowledge that she was born and raised on the traditional land of Stoney Nakoda in Wichispa Oyade and has now found her home on Mi’kma’ki land in K’jipuktuk.
(Photo credit: Kelly Li)
Jenelle Duval
Board Member
Jenelle Duval
Board Member
Jenelle Duval (she/her) is a Mi'kmaw woman from Seal Rocks, NL who currently lives and is working in St. John's as an Advisor in media and content growth. She has been creating artistic spaces and opportunities for community and arts professionals since beginning her career in community in 2012. She was the Artistic Director of Spirit Song Festival, an annual celebration of Indigenous Arts and Culture in St. John's for almost 10 years. Jenelle is the recipient of YWCA's Women of Distinction Award (2019) for her work in Arts and Heritage, a founding member of EMCA-winning group Eastern Owl, and a tireless advocate for the preservation and revitalization of cultural arts and music. In 2019 Jenelle was acknowledged with her nomination for Indigenous Song-Writer of the year through the Canadian Folk Music Awards and was awarded the annual Achievement Award from the Atlantic Presenters Association for her contribution to Inidgenous arts presentation in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2020. She is a gifted song-writer and is currently composing a series of works that embody a lands-based narrative through her interactions with territorial attachments and interpersonal relations. Jenelle is rooted in her home territory of Ktaqmkuk, where she shares her life with her amazing daughter Kassidy.
Saa Andrew
Saa Andrew (he/him) is the CEO and Chief Creative Officer at Battle of the Arts NB (BOTA – NB), an organisation that uses arts and culture to amplify, create, uplift, empower, and provide opportunity and safe space for diverse youth-voices to excel through the arts. Originally from Sierra Leone, Saa Andrew studied Human Rights Law at Saint Thomas University, Fredericton NB. Saa is a songwriter, and records and produces his own Afro-beats music. He has released two CD's. He has traveled around Canada, working with diverse artists and community leaders on numerous projects and festivals. Saa is also the producer for AfroFest NB – the New Brunswick African Festival and resides in Fredericton, NB, where he calls home.
Richie Wilcox
Richie Wilcox is an educator, a fiercely queer artist, and a creative collaborator. He is the founding artistic director of the live art company Heist based in K’jipuktuk/Halifax. In four short years with Heist, Wilcox has helped create The Princess Show, Princess Rules, Nature Vs. Nation, New Waterford Boy, FACE and Frequencies. With Heist, Wilcox has produced and curated the Creative Nova Scotia Awards for the past two years. Wilcox has worked with numerous companies across the Maritimes including Neptune, Festival Antigonish, 2B Theatre, Kazan Co-Op, Opera Nova Scotia, the Highland Arts Theatre and more. Wilcox served as Artistic Associate of Theatre Outre in Lethbridge, Alberta for three years where he helped create numerous original works including Unsex’d, Castrati: An Electro Drag Opera and How To Leave. Wilcox is currently the artistic director of the 36 year old Ship’s Company Theatre in Awokun/Parrsboro. Wilcox was a recipient of the Mayor’s Award for Emerging Theatre Artist in 2007 and received a Merritt for outstanding performance in a supporting role in 2017. He has published essays for Canadian Theatre Review and is the editor of New Essays on Canadian Theatre: Daniel MacIvor.
Tanya Davis
Tanya Davis is a writer and interdisciplinary artist based in Epekwitk / Prince Edward Island. Since releasing her first album in 2006, she's been working primarily in music and literary performance and occasionally in theatre, audio art, and film. She has released 4 records and two books, including a hardcover published by HarperCollins of the widely popular videopoem How to be Alone, a collaboration with filmmaker Andrea Dorfman. In 2020, also with Dorfman, she released a follow up called How to be at Home, produced by the National Film Board as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Tanya was the 2011/12 Halifax Poet Laureate and the Artist-in-Residence at Dalhousie University's Faculty of Medicine in 2016. She collaborates frequently across artistic genres, penning poems and verse for animation and film as well as live and recorded music. She creates and delivers content specific to organizations, conferences, and events, and has taken commissions for CBC Radio, The National Film Board, and The Canada Games, among others. Tanya also works as a freelance editor, arts administrator, and project manager.
Nik Basset
Nik Basset (they/them) is a cancerian transmasculine cowboy-adjacent music organizer, creative writer, and community educator. They grew up in a country bar in the North End of Winnipeg, MB and moved to Halifax in 2018 after completing their masters at the University of Windsor in Southern Ontario. They are passionate about creating and carving out space for under-represented artists and musicians through their work with Everyseeker Convention, Polaris Prize, community radio, and (now dissolved) not your boys club. Nik’s passion is also realised at the Youth Project where they work educating and learning from the queer and trans youth they support, using creative writing as an outlet to share what they know and experience in the form of zines, journal articles, poetry, and blogging.
(Photo credit: Mike Williams)
Dena Williams
Dena Williams is aspiring Artist & Events Manager, born & raised in Halifax. Outside of her work in the music industry, Dena is currently pursuing a career in Social Work at Dalhousie University. With her developing work in social justice, Dena has made it her mission to create opportunities for the development and advancement for creatives in the BIPOC community. As an advocate for arts & culture, Dena’s been working with Youth Art Connection and has hit the ground running by lending a hand in promoting & organizing many events, including Salt Yard Sessions, Taco & Tunes @ The Local, In the Dead of Winter Festival and Emerge Festival. Currently managing two Artists, Lyris Daye & Eriana Willis, focusing on creative development and the completion of their debut releases. Dena is currently developing her community passion project which is intended to bring historically neglected communities together through art and creating a safe space for art to be celebrated. Through this project, Dena aims to bring light and love to historically neglected communities. With her company, Vitamin Dee Entertainment, Dena hopes to promote positivity, inclusivity, and diversity through various forms of art while also creating opportunities for local artists of the BIPOC community.