Board of Directors & Advisory

I am primarily a designer, maker, professor and problem solver. I have been utilizing my skills at OCAD University for the past two decades as a jewellery professor and have built a professional practice designing and producing wearable art for over twenty-five years. My interests converge on the field of biomimicry and how biology can influence sustainable design. I am presently embarking on a new direction conceptualizing and producing sustainable solutions to the approaching global water crisis, created by the desertification and pollution of our planet. I spend my spare time cultivating the soil in my backyard, producing consumables for the mind and the soul.

Darcy Killeen is presently CEO at CONTACT Photography Festival. Prior joining CONTACT, Mr. Killeen was CFO at Comnetix Inc, CFO of Delta Engineering and Controller for Antares Electronics. He also held the position of Associate Director of Arbitrage with Nesbitt Burns in the New York City Office. Mr. Killeen holds a BBA from Lakehead University, an MBA from Rutgers University and is CMA/CPA.

Mr. Killeen left the financial world behind to devote his time to CONTACT, an annual festival of photography held every May in Toronto. The mission of CONTACT is to celebrate and foster an appreciation of the art and profession of photography.

Brett has been active in the arts community and currently is Chair of the Board of The Coal Mine Theatre, a Director of the Koffler Centre of the Arts, and Director of Toronto Outdoor Arts Fair. He is a former Director of Dancemakers and Desrosiers Dance Theatre. He is also a former Director of Creative Trust for the Arts. Brett is a former partner, senior commercial litigator and former Chair of the Litigation Department at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP specializing in defence of class actions, energy law, pension & employment law, environmental and regulatory matters. Brett has appeared in all levels of court in Canada, including the Supreme Court of Canada.

Sally Han is the Executive Officer of York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design. She has served as Acting Director of the Culture Division, and Manager, Cultural Partnerships, at the City of Toronto. She led the portfolio of Toronto’s funding, public art, and cultural policy and promotion programs. She also served 8 years with the federal government at the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Canada Council for the Arts. Prior to public service, Sally was a producer/director of theatre, radio, and television, for CBC, Corus Entertainment, and many theatre companies. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto.

Nithikul Nimkulrat is a Thai-born, Toronto-based textile artist and design researcher. Her work advances experiential knowledge in design research by integrating creative practice with scholarly inquiry. Focusing on materiality and craft as modes of thinking, she examines how making generates knowledge. She is Convener of the Design Research Society’s Special Interest Group on Experiential Knowledge and has shaped international conversations through edited books, including Craft and Design Practice from an Embodied Perspective (2024). Her recent solo exhibition, Remembered & Forgotten (2025), was at Craft Ontario Gallery. She received OCAD University’s Award for Distinguished Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity (2022–23).

Olivia Chow is the 66th Mayor of Toronto and the first woman of Asian descent to lead the city, bringing over 30 years of experience as a community activist, school board trustee, City Councillor, and Member of Parliament. A lifelong champion of the arts with a background in fine art and sculpture, she recently launched the “Culture Connects” action plan to significantly increase city investment in local artists and cultural organizations over the next decade.

Barbara Astman is a Governor General’s Award winning Canadian artist who has, since the early 1970s, helped to radicalize visual culture through her nationally & internationally recognized explorations of photo-based media.

Flavio Belli is an artist, curator, collector, and art consultant with extensive experience across the Canadian cultural sector. His work is held in public, corporate, and private collections, including the National Gallery of Canada and the George Brown Polytechnic School of Design. He currently serves as a Director of the Tate Canada Foundation.

Dan Boyman is an entrepreneur and three-time founder with a passion for building and growing businesses. Earlier in his career, he worked on a range of large-scale events across Toronto, including the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, Toronto Fashion Week, and Toronto Jazz Festival.

Dr. Marissa Largo is a researcher, artist, curator, and educator whose work focuses on the intersections of community engagement, race, gender, and Asian diasporic cultural production.
She is Associate Professor in the Department of Visual Art & Art History at York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD) and currently serves as the Graduate Program Director for Visual Arts and Art History and Visual Culture.

Anjli began collecting art in 2010, focusing on contemporary art by diaspora South Asian artists. She and her husband consider collecting to be a form of seva — a Sanskrit and Punjabi word meaning “service” — because it directly impacts artists.

Jane Perdue is a public art leader known for her decades-long career shaping urban policy and advancing public art through major city planning and private development initiatives.

Paola is an inclusive leader in museums and civic engagement, dedicated to multi-voiced public programs and learning experiences.

Tiana is a Toronto-based arts advocate recognized for her extensive leadership in cultural organizations and her longstanding commitment to community service in the realm of science, education and the arts. 

Kathleen Sharpe is recently retired as the Founding Executive Director Emerita of the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund (OCAF), having launched the program in 1999. Prior, she was Director of the Culture Division for the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. Sharpe has chaired cultural boards including the Toronto Arts Foundation. Currently she is chairing an advisory committee for the 65th anniversary of TOAF.