Toronto, April 19, 2002 — The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) is pleased to announce the appointment of three new arts officers.
“These three extraordinary individuals bring to OAC extensive experience in their fields,” said John Brotman, Executive Director of the Ontario Arts Council. “ The role of the arts officers at OAC is critical to ensuring that our programs remain relevant and responsive to the needs of the arts community and we are fortunate to attract three officers who will be able to contribute so much to our activities.”
Patterson Fardell, former Director of Educational Services with the Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People (previously Young Peoples Theatre) has accepted the position of Arts Education Officer. In addition to her 18 years with LKTYP, Patterson teaches Theatre for Young Audiences and Integrated Arts in Education at York University’s Atkinson College. She will bring her in-depth knowledge of the arts education sector to OAC’s arts education programs and strengthen awareness of our programs with the Directors of Education at the 72 school boards throughout the province. Patterson’s first day at OAC was April 15, 2002.
Sanjay Shahani will be joining the OAC on May 6, 2002 as the new Community and Multidisciplinary Arts Officer. Sanjay's artistic background is as a filmmaker in the Czech Republic, Canada, India and the United States. He has coordinated various projects that connected people from diverse cultural traditions to each other including a video documentary series, Different, Yet the Same: A Look into Canadian Culture Today and South Riverdale Lives and Legends, a community arts project celebrating the achievements of local residents. Sanjay has experience managing grants for various federal programs including the Settlement Workers in the Schools, which provides services to newcomer children, youth and their families within a school setting. He has graduate degrees in film and education, and is working on a PhD in Cultural Anthropology.
Myles Warren has been appointed OAC’s new Dance and Awards Officer. Myles comes to OAC from the Dance Umbrella of Ontario where he was Executive Director for more than 10 years. Previously he was General Manager of Desrosiers Dance Theatre. Myles is a passionate dance advocate who has given voice to dance issues at the local, provincial and national level. He and arts consultant Jane Marsland organized Arts 4 Change, a consortium project involving 23 performing arts organizations in Toronto dealing with positive change in the arts. In addition to Dance, Myles will be administering the new Chalmers program as well as other award programs. He will join OAC on June 3, 2002.
OAC Media Contact: Kirsten Gunter, Manager of Communications
Tel: (416) 969-7403. Toll-free outside of Toronto: 1-800-387-0058, ext. 7403.
E-mail: kgunter@arts.on.ca