leadership statement

A visionary leader and creative developer/producer with 20 years of experience in arts & entertainment who collaborates to nurture positive change, drive fundraising, empower teams, build community & strategic partnerships, and create elegant solutions to programming, communication, engagement and financial challenges.

founding artistic director

County Adaptation Film Festival

Conceived and co-founded the County Adaptation Film Festival (CAFF) dedicated to exploring the art of adaptation on film, spotlighting screenwriters and furthering dialogue for curious minds in Prince Edward County and beyond.

Secured $200,000 in multi-year Ontario Trillium Foundation funding to produce inaugural festival September 27-29, 2024.

A project of the Regent Theatre, Picton

artistic & Executive director

The Regent Theatre, Picton

Hired by the Regent Theatre Foundation which owns and operates Prince Edward County’s only purpose built theatre & cinema, the Regent Theatre, in December 2019 as Theatre Manager. Promoted to General Manager and then Executive Director.

As the only full-time employee with a staff of part-time contractors and volunteers I oversaw, theatrical & building operations including technicians & tenants, staffing, volunteers, programming, fundraising (grants, donations & sponsorship), marketing & communications, stakeholder relations and strategic development. Reporting to the Board of Directors.

Having grown the organization beyond the capacity of a single employee, the board accepted my recommendation in February 2024 to divide leadership responsibilities between an Artistic Director and General Manager.

As Artistic Director it was my privilege to:

• Design and execute signature programming for stage and screen to diversify audiences including: shorts-before-features, Books on Film, Arts on Film, Doc Sundays, MeetUp Mondays, The County Adaptation Film Festival, and the creation of multiple theatrical co-productions including an annual holiday show.

• Lead the development, launch and implementation of CAFF including raising approx $50,000 in private funding and securing the participation of notable artists including Eleanor Wachtel, Tilar. J. Mazzeo, Iain Reid, Brian Johnson, Deepa Mehta & David Hamilton, Tanya Talaga, Mark Sakamoto and many others.

• Oversee the creation of 2 new websites (for the Regent & CAFF) including creating all content.

• Curate indigenous programming and amplify indigenous voices.

• Surpass pre-pandemic ticket sales with 1+ sellout show per month in the last 4 months of my tenure.

As Executive Director I continued my mandate to rejuvenate the 100+ year old Regent Theatre and age down the core audience:

• Prioritized investment in capital upgrades funded entirely through donations and grants to revitalize the theatre and ensure its status as a community cultural hub and a sought after performance venue.

• Diversified & increased revenue from pre-pandemic by doubling tenant rental revenue, quadrupling grant revenue, and launching capital campaign to secure private donations

• Eliminated all long-term debt at the end of 2023

• 100% granting success rate in 2023 secured over $450,000 in project funding including almost $200,000 from Ontario Trillium Foundation to expand signature film programming into CAFF.

• Produced over 60 live events per year (except during the pandemic during which 6 live-stream concerts and multiple other virtual events were held) which successfully attracted new audiences and world class artists.

Explore my work in the news.

A look behind the scenes at some of the challenges and improvements during 5 years at the Regent Theatre.