The Power of Community-Initiated Research (Panel)
Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance
In English | Simultaneous interpretation in French and ASL
From research initiated to measure representation in the visual or performing arts, to assessing COVID’s impact on marginalized groups, community members and organizations have stepped up to explore, challenge, and validate assumptions to advance the conversations and actions related to EDI. Join us as we discuss the role community-initiated research plays, the impact it can make, and how we see it moving forward.
Kodie Rollan (he/him/siya)
Kodie is Philippine-born, Scarborough-raised, Mohkinstsis-based playwright, dramaturg, producer, and actor. Much of his work is centered around community building and delights in bringing people together. In the theatre-world, he wears many hats. He is the Artistic Associate at Chromatic Theatre and an arts educator with the Rozsa Foundation. He is also the Assistant Dramaturg of the Banff Playwrights Lab. He is a proud alumnus of the Noteworthy Program with The Musical Stage Company and Prime Mover Theatre. Outside of theatre, you can find him avidly cheering for his beloved Toronto Raptors!
Kenji Maeda (he/him)
Kenji’s experiences are grounded in his passion for the arts, education, and building community, and influenced by his Uchinanchu heritage. Based on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, he is currently the Executive Director of the Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance where is has led the recent research projects: BC Arts & Culture Sector COVID-19 Impact Report; BC Patron Insights, and Transforming Justice in Theatre. Kenji sits on the board of Mass Culture, a national organization where research and the cultural sector intersect. He loves spreadsheets, chewy chocolate chip cookies, and his husband, Alan.
oualie frost (they/she)
oualie frost is a writer and (anti?)artist currently based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. Their writing and research mainly centres around anti-racism and oppression, more specifically through the lens of their experience as a mixed-Black person of Caribbean descent. They enjoy discussing marginalized presences in spaces not typically meant for them, and the ways in which genuine, lasting change can come to form. oualie’s writing has been featured in Canadian Art and Akimbo, and they are also a regular/founding writer with Afros in tha City.
Melissa Tsang (she/her)
As Managing Director and co-leader of Urban Ink, Melissa supports work to uplift Indigenous and diverse voices through storytelling and performance. Melissa brings 15 years of experience as a cultural leader and administrator having worked with organizations from across performing arts disciplines, including Vancouver Opera, Arts Club Theatre Company, Music on Main, and Ballet BC. She holds an MBA from Durham University and a BFA in Theatre Production/Design and Music from the University of British Columbia. A daughter of Chinese settlers, Melissa acknowledges the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl’ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples, on whose unceded land where she currently lives, and the Anishinaabeg, Ininew, Dakota, Dene, and Metis peoples and their homeland where she was born and raised.
