Board of Directors 2008-09

Michael Clague – Vice-President

Michael has been executive director of three voluntary agencies, the Britannia Community Services Centre, the Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria, and the Social Planning and Research Council of BC.

From 1996 to 2005 he was director of a City of Vancouver facility, the Carnegie Community Centre in Vancouver. Currently he is a private consultant, a member of the advisory board of the Columbia Institute for Civic Governance, an Associate of the Institute for the Humanities at Simon Fraser University, and President of the Carold Institute for the Advancement of Citizenship in Social Change (Toronto), He is a past-president of the Canadian Council on Social Development. He has served for two years on the Board of CACV.

Nathan Edelson – Member-at-large

Nathan is a Senior Partner with 42nd Street Consulting which supports inclusive planning for diverse communities. He has worked on projects linking government and community organizations in a variety of settings in Canada, the U.S., Brazil and South Africa. He is Adjunct Professor with the UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning and a Bousfield Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University of Toronto. A Planner with the City of Vancouver from 1983 to 2008, he focused for 15 years on the many challenging issues facing the Downtown Eastside. This included work on an Arts and Culture Strategic Investment Plan as well as a variety of public realm improvements and a plan for community based programming of local public spaces. Prior to working for the City he was the founding Executive Director of Little Mountain Neighbourhood House.

Richard Evans – Member-at-large

Architect, and engaged DTES community participant, Richard worked with his firm Marceau Evans Johnson Architects for eight years from his offices on Victory Square Park. As Chair of the Friends of Victory Square, Richard was instrumental in raising $1.1 million dollars toward Victory Square improvements, and, has lobbied for the ongoing park programs and events. For his community work Richard has been awarded: the Volunteer of the Year Award in 2003, by the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation; and, the Barbara Dalrymple Award for Community Service in 2004, by the Architectural Institute of British Columbia.Richard’s professional interest in architecture is in community building through a participatory design process, which leads to successful community and education facilities. Richard’s architectural practice has brought him into many working relationships with First Nation community groups throughout BC.

Susan Gordon – Secretary

Originally from Montreal, Susan studied English Literature before moving west in the late 60’s. After attending SFU, she became a teacher for several years and worked in Chemainus, Burnaby and Vancouver. In the mid 70’s she travelled in South America and homesteaded in the Cariboo. Coming back to Vancouver in 1979, Susan moved to Cordova Street in the DTES and started working at the Carnegie when it opened in 1980. She worked in a number of locations for the City eventually taking the position as Co-ordinator of Arts and Culture for the Park Board in 1991. Retiring in 2007, she is now finding the balance between volunteer work and exploring interests left on the shelf during a busy working life.

Leslie Kemp – President

One of Leslie’s passions is in building community and she tries to incorporate this into all of her work (both paid and volunteer). In her professional life, Leslie works for Langara College Continuing Studies as a community development educator. Her deep interest in social justice is reflected in her long-time work with the Social Justice Committee at the Unitarian Church of Vancouver and with the Faithful Fools Street Ministry. Leslie’s interest in the arts (theatre, music and dance, etc.) has led to her participation in community arts projects and to her work on the CACV board for the past 4 years. Leslie has been honoured to serve as CACV’s President this past year and has enjoyed working with the board in building a strong and vital community arts council and in strengthening our relationships with our key partners.

Sita Kumar – Member-at-large

After studying at Laval, Edinburgh and McGill, Sita recently graduated from Emily Carr in photography. She has worked freelance and with the Vancouver Art Gallery, The Centre for Innovation in Culture and the Arts in Canada, had a residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts and worked with Video In and the New Forms Festival.

As an artist she has shown her work in numerous shows and has a number of publications to her name. From 1995-97, Sita was the administrator for the Women of Colour Collective in Calgary.She currently works part time for the Vancouver Public Library. Sita lives in Mount Pleasant.

David Lee – Treasurer

David is a business consultant who has developed and led programs within and across the private, public and non-profit sectors in Canada and Australia. His passion is finding connections between people and organizations to create new relationships and opportunities.

His focus over the last 3 years has been in local economic development, cross-sector stakeholder engagement and capacity-building of arts organizations. He has served as the Treasurer on the board of VIVO (a Vancouver-based media arts organization).

Elizabeth Murdoch – Member-at-large

Elizabeth worked for 30 years in federal employment program administration in north-western and lower mainland B.C., working with immigrant, First Nations, special needs and many other groups. Her introduction to community arts was the Dr. Peter Aids tapestry project in the 1990’s. As a tapestry weaver, she was surprised and delighted by the layers of community art: involvement of community, history, engagement, spontaneous storytelling, skill sharing and development.Volunteering with Vancouver Moving Theatre for the “Heart of the City” play and subsequent productions, she gained appreciation of the DTES, learned skills and got to know her neighbours.

A resident of Strathcona, she has developed love and respect for the history, diversity, creativity and gumption of the Downtown Eastside. As a Vancouverite, she considers public art and access to the arts and art-making to be important for maintaining community.

Nominating Committee:  Susan Gordon, Sita Kumar & Elizabeth Murdoch

To nominate someone, contact any of the committee members or send an email to nominating@cacv.ca

Members of the Board of Directors 2007-2008
Leslie Kemp – President
Dennis Brown – Member at large
Roger Chilton – Member at large
Michael Clague – Vice-President
Susan Gordon – Secretary
Sharon Kravitz – Past-President
Carolyn Wong – Member at large

The Board of the Community Arts Council of Vancouver is pleased to announce that we have contracted with Mary Bennett to work as our arts administrator on a part-time basis. Mary’s skills in communication, networking and volunteer support will be well used as CACV works with our members and project partners to continue to build community through the arts in Vancouver and especially the Downtown Eastside.

Mary recently completed eight years as Executive Director of the Canadian Unitarian Council. During her time, the Canadian organization took on all programming previously offered from the US-based association. The staff doubled, and the volunteer base grew exponentially. Mary’s enthusiasm and commitment was key in building capacity and extending the communications and visibility of the organization.

Prior to 2000, Mary worked as an organizational consultant, offering teambuilding and communications skills workshops to adults in the workplace. She has also taught through BCIT and Capilano College and worked as a program director at the Vancouver YWCA.

Mary’s educational degree from UBC was in Art Education and she says that, “During the past decade, my interest in the arts has grown and involvement within the arts community of Vancouver is a priority goal for me.”

Mary is a native Vancouverite and she is very happy to be based full time at home, after eight years of being based in Toronto half the time, and extensive travel across the country.

Mary’s regular work days will be Mondays and Thursdays and she will be representing CACV at various events.

You can contact Mary at marycacv@gmail.com.

Leslie Kemp, President