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Encounter Our Staff

Jenna Reid, Artistic Director

Jenna Reid (she/her) is a fibre artist who works primarily with the practices of quilting and natural dyes as a way to engage with activist based aesthetics. Throughout the spring, summertime, and fall of 2020, Jenna has worked aslope prominent social movements in Toronto creating large scale banners and pennants to creatively actuate messages for racial justice and radical change.

Jenna has completed a residency on Toronto Island with the Feminist Art Conference, and has exhibited her work and presented on panels in Canada, the US, the Great britain, and Australia. Jenna's studio work explores inter-institutional violence informed by the histories of queer, feminist, Deafened, inability, and mad movement organizing. With a studio based PhD in Critical Disability Studies at York University, Jenna's education and research specializes in the emergent field of Mad Studies. Jenna uses art in classroom and customs spaces to create ruptures, open new lines of inquiry, encouraging people to turn away from the demand to resolve and instead open up the transformative possibilities that happen when we return things problematic. Jenna has published in The Periodical of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies, Canadian Fine art, Intersectionalities: A Global Journal of Social Work Assay, Enquiry, Policy, and Practice, Journal of Progressive Homo Services, and Studies in Social Justice.

Contact Jenna: jenna@kickstartdisability.ca

Kait Blake, Administrative Director

Kait originally came to Kickstart November 2016 as a work-placement through Gastown Vocational Services (a Vancouver based mental health vocational organization). With her strong administrative background, outgoing personality and passion for community she rapidly became a valuable asset to our system.

Under the mentorship of erstwhile Kickstart Artistic Director Yuri Arajs, Kait thrived in her part every bit Administrative Banana. The Board of Directors felt that as our arrangement shifted Kait would be an excellent fit in transitioning to a Directorship. In November 2019, she excitedly stepped into her role as Administrative Manager of Kickstart.

She is thrilled to exist working with such an amazing system, every bit she is extremely passionate virtually equity, inclusion and supporting anybody to live a life filled with creativity!  While she is non an artist per se, she has been a lover and supporter of the arts since early babyhood. Much of her youth was devoted to participation in every theatre endeavour bachelor to her, whether it be performing, working backstage or attending productions. When she wasn't doing that she was performing original plays for her family, friends & stuffed animals, creating artistic "masterpieces" (and messes), singing in choirs (or anywhere she was allowed to sing) and writing brusque stories & angsty teen poetry. Her most notable creative endeavour in recent years was performing in the choir ensemble for Requiem For A Lost Girl, a partnership project with Vancouver Opera and The Kettle Society; Kait was hired as a project banana to piece of work with members of The Kettle and to assist professional artists with weekly singing and writing workshops leading upward to the operation. While she is by no means a vocalist, the experience was a hazard of a lifetime!

These days she is a crafter / DIYer, an enthusiastic canis familiaris & cat mom and is a lover of all things nutrient related. Kait lives with severe depression & anxiety, learning disabilities and chronic pain. She is also a proud member of the Fat (yes, fatty!) and Health At Any Size communities. She is vehement about breaking down the stigma associated with fatness, disability, and most specifically mental disease.

Kait holds a diploma of Tourism and Travel from Confederation College '02 (Thunder Bay, ON) and a Available of Recreation Management from Acadia University '07 (Wolfville, NS). While her educational & career background was mostly tourism, she shifted into non-turn a profit & mental health fields when she realized the personal importance of a career that enriches the lives of others & fills her soul!

Contact Kait: kait@kickstartdisability.ca

Meet Our Board of Directors

Rachael Ransom, President

Rachael Ransom is a writer, filmmaker, singer/songwriter, blogger, wannabe boxer and cognitive palsy warrior. She is currently working in the motion-picture show industry on a documentary series, and is striving to brand her own documentary in the near hereafter. She believes that adaptability is the key to success, and hopes to continue to spread awareness to fight the many stigmas surrounding what it means to exist disabled.

I'm thrilled to announce that I have been elected Board President of Kickstart Disability Arts & Civilization. This is a huge laurels, and I am forever grateful to former president, Wendy D, for her leadership, back up and her dedication to helping Kickstart flourish and grow to what it is today. You've given me massive shoes to fill, and I will do my all-time to brand a positive mark on this organization, simply as you have. Kait Blake, I look forward to working aslope you, to exist your right hand woman as nosotros and the other lath members forge alee to continue to abet for those who identify equally living with a inability. I couldn't exercise this without your support or your exceptional bulldoze to make Kickstart the best information technology tin can exist. Kickstart's mission has always been to get disabled artists of many disciplines paid for their work, and I'grand then thankful to have been called to help pb the manner. As a team nosotros piece of work towards a future of equal representation and opportunity. Disability does not mean inability, and through Kickstart I am elated to exist able to showcase the talented, hard working individuals who are the reason our system exists today. Thanks for inviting me to step into this role, I look forward to serving my term every bit your president. – Rachael

Contact Rachael: rachael@kickstartdisability.ca

Kate Collie, Vice President

Kate Collie (MFA MA PhD) is a visual creative person, retired psychologist, and registered fine art therapist, with an MFA in art, an MA in counselling psychology and a PhD in health promotion.

For decades I have been working to makeArts & Health services widely bachelor, especially to people experiencing medical affliction or disability. For example I directed an Arts & Medicine program at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton and helped develop a Canada-broad plan of online art therapy groups for people with cancer. Inspired by the outset KickstART festival in 2001, I have developed mixed power art-making methods to use in my own studio and my art therapy practice.
www.KateCollie.com

Kim Almond, Treasurer

Customs Support Worker, Artist. I am a visual artist. I studied Studio Art at Capilano University and Emily Carr University of Art And Design. I take worked as a community support worker for many years. I teach art classes for the Developmental Disabilities Association and organize customs art shows.

Tina Chen

Having served on other boards earlier, Tina Chen hopes to bring some value to the team at Kickstart. She hopes to aid out in her community, and bring fine art of all kinds for the people to bask. While anybody might have their own thing, my thing has ever been about crafting and visual arts. Information technology is keen to serve in the community with Kickstart.

Ladan Sahraei

Ladan Sahraei (Pronouns: She, Her) an Iranian-Canadian deaf female moving picture maker. She completed her Acquaintance Degree in Concrete Education, only later pivoted to studying graphics design before coming to Canada in July 2014. She is the first deaf filmmaker in Islamic republic of iran, where she has made several short films, as well, two feature documentaries made in Canada. She has received awards and honours for her work. Filmmaking is her passion and is an avid supporter of the visual and performing arts, painting, and film in inability.

Aside from Kickstart, Ladan has been actively involved on the boards of with a few other not-profit organizations; Greater Vancouver Association of the Deafened (GVAD), Vancouver Community Higher, Pride In Art Order and Queer Arts Festival. Ladan loves to brand films and documentaries. She enjoys traveling around the world and meet people from a different cultures.  Follow Ladan on Instagram!

Aleatha Lindsay

Aleatha Lindsay is an Atlanta based honour-winning multi-disciplinary creative person, independent curator, disability advocate, and published author. She is a graduate of Georgia Country Academy, Russell Sage College, as well as Savannah College of Fine art & Design where she holds a Master of Arts in Creative Business Leadership. Later completing her studies, she went on to pursue posts in the mental health, arts community evolution, and special education arenas. She has held curatorial and leadership roles at several arts organizations in the metro Atlanta expanse including Kudzu Art Zone, Art Center and Gallery.

Deaf from the age of 2, she credits her early on exposure to the arts with helping her overcome the challenges related to her disability. Her work has been purchased by collectors nationally and exhibited in Atlanta, New York, Espana, Kingdom of morocco, and Norway. Lindsay is the Founder and Curator of The Ikouii Creative, a disability-led organization committed to providing opportunities and support for artists with disabilities besides as transforming cultural institutions into an engaging and meaningful infinite for all visitors. The Ikouii Creative serves artists worldwide, in countries including the United States, Canada, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Israel, and India. The organization offers a diverse spectrum of exhibitions, events, and programs to amplify its impact in the arts sector.

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Source: https://www.kickstartdisability.ca/about-us/staff-and-board/