SATA Advisory Council

Taiwo Afolabi

University of Regina

An experienced artist, qualitative researcher, theatre manager, applied theatre practitioner, and educator with a decade of experience in over fifteen countries across four continents. Skilled in Devised Theatre, Theatre Arts, and Arts Management. Strong professional with a Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Theatre. Also an experienced Director with a demonstrated history of working in the aviation and aerospace industry.

Tanja Beer

Queensland College of Art 

Dr Tanja Beer is an award winning community artist, ecological designer and creative researcher. She has more than 20 years professional experience, including creating over 70 designs for a variety of theatre companies, events, exhibitions and festivals in Australia. Tanja's key research interests are in the realm of expanded scenography and sustainability, founding the concept of ‘ecoscenography’ to explore novel and environmentally inspiring approaches for performance design.

Chantal Bilodeau

The Arctic Cycle

Chantal Bilodeau is a Montreal-born, New York-based playwright and translator whose work focuses on the intersection of storytelling and the climate crisis.

She is the founding artistic director of the Arts & Climate Initiative, where she has spearheaded initiatives for nearly two decades, getting theatre and educational communities, as well as audiences in the U.S. and abroad, to engage in climate conversation and climate action.

Christine Brubaker

University of Calgary

Christine Brubaker is a director, actor, dramaturge and educator. She has worked across Canada on the small and large stages and specializes in new work and adaptation. She is the winner of two Toronto Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Performance, the 2014 Gina Wilkinson Prize for Direction, and the 2016 Ken MacDougall Prize for Emerging Director.

Beth Carruthers

Royal Roads University

Born and raised in the occupied unceded sovereign territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), and səlil̓wətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples on the wild West coast of colonial Canada, Beth is a philosopher, artist, researcher, and scholar in the transdisciplinary field of the Ecological arts and humanities concerned with biocultural diversity, and with the role of the arts and culture in sustainably flourishing futures..

Karin Cope

Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University

Karin Cope is a poet, sailor, photographer, scholar, rural activist, blogger and an Associate Professor at NSCAD in the Division of Art History and Contemporary Culture. Her publications include scholarly works, popular histories, short stories, policy papers and poetry; her artworks include photographs, installations, performances, guerrilla theatre and online works.

Rebecca Ferrell

University of Kentucky

Rebecca A. Ferrell, Ph.D (she/her) is a dance advocate, artist, educator, curator, and researcher. Her research interests focus on equitable practices in the dance sector, specifically traditional transactional procedures, labor rights, pay equity, and performing arts unions. 

Angela Goh

Playlab Theatre

An experienced individual with a demonstrated history of working in the Arts Industry, Angela holds a Bachelor of Creative Industries (Entertainment Industries) from QUT and a Master of Interactive Media (with Distinction) from Griffith University. She is currently a PhD candidate at Griffith University, College of Art researching on 'Creative Digital Placemaking for Urban Regeneration'.

Viviane Gosselin

Coalition of Museums for Climate Justice

Viviane Gosselin is Curator of Contemporary Culture at the Museum of Vancouver and Associate Researcher with the UBC Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness. Her doctoral research examined how frameworks associated with the discourse on the pedagogy of historical thinking help conceptualize the experience of exhibition makers and museum visitors. 

Dennis Gupa

University of Winnipeg

Dr. Gupa is a theatre director, applied theatre practitioner, and performance researcher of Asian Theatre, Southeast Asian-Canadian Theatre, and diasporic performance in Canada.

 His interdisciplinary creative research builds on a theoretical inquiry on climate justice and practical mobilization of re-futuring climate crises by looking at ethics, politics, and aesthetics of transnational diasporic performance making.

Shauna Janssen

Concordia Unviersity

Shauna (she/ her) is an interdisciplinary artist and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Theatre, Concordia University. Her teaching, on-going research and interdisciplinary creative practice are consonant with urban humanities, critical spatial practices, performative and dramaturgical explorations with and within the urban realm.

Charise Johnson

The Royal Society

Charise is a science policy professional and advocate for just and equitable public policies. She believes that solutions rooted in independent science are one pillar for creating a strong democracy and just society, but the power of creativity, community empowerment and collaboration are necessary to change the culture to one that ensures the health and well-being of people and planet.

Jamē McCray

National Wildlife Society

With over 15 years of experience in environmental education and policy, Jamē is passionate about facilitating the development of mission-driven, community-centered research that advances the wellbeing of people and planet. She oversees the strategic direction, partnerships, and evaluation of a network of 23 environmental centers that engage diverse audiences in watershed stewardship and advocacy.

Shawn Newman

Independent

Having had an international career as a dancer and choreographer, and described as “[one] of Toronto’s finest dancers” (Paula Citron, Toronto Life), Sean completed his PhD in Cultural Studies at Queen’s University. His research interests and projects are varied, and he has worked in and through black studies, Indigenous studies, and performance studies while focusing on cultural production and various forms of media.

Kirsty Robertson

Western University

Kirsty Robertson is Professor of Contemporary Art and Director of Museum and Curatorial Studies at Western University where she also directs the Centre for Sustainable Curating. Her pedagogy involves curating large-scale speculative and experimental exhibitions with students. In her academic work, Robertson has published widely on activism, visual culture and museums culminating in her book Tear Gas Epiphanies: Protest, Museums, Culture.

Claude Schryer

Sectoral Climate Arts Leadership for the Emergency

Claude Schryer (1959) is a franco-ontarian sound and media artist and arts administrator born and living on the unceded, unsurrendered land of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation (Ottawa). He holds a MM in composition from McGill U and was actively in involved in the acoustic ecology and electroacoustic music communities in the 80’s & 90’s. 

Robin Sokoloski

Mass Culture

Robin Sokoloski (she/her) has been working in the arts and culture sector for twenty years. Currently, as the Director of Organizational Development of Mass Culture, Robin is working with academics, funders and arts practitioners to support a thriving arts community by mobilizing the creation, amplification and community informed analysis of research.

Sonali Shukla McDermid

New York University

Sonali is a climate scientist and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at NYU. Her research explores the role of landscapes in our regional and global climate systems. In particular, she focuses on agriculture as both a driver of global environmental change and vulnerable to it. She is also a research affiliate at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS).