We’re thrilled to be working with this incredible group of Strategic Advisors! We're working with a few of these wonderful folks for the first time, and we're continuing relationships with many. We are so grateful to each of them for the generosity of heart and mind they are bringing to Generator in this transition period.

As Generator looks to the next chapter of our work building the capacity and resilience of the independent performance sector, we are engaging the Strategic Advisors as a paid advisory body. Through our open call for applications in March/April, we sought experienced and active producers and community members, with close ties to Toronto’s performing arts scene. (You can view the call for applications here. Thank you so much to all those who applied!)

The Strategic Advisors will help inform Generator’s next transformation. This transformation will include a leadership transition, governance review, and ongoing development of online community resources. The Strategic Advisors have just embarked on their work, with those strategic areas as a focus.

Featured

DANIEL BENNETT (he/him/his)

Daniel Bennett is the Technical Director for the Grand Theatre. He is also currently co-Artistic Producer of interdisciplinary arts company Curveball Creative and Associate Artist of the Production Design and Technical Arts Program at the National Theatre School. He has also worked as a freelance Production Manager with Eclipse Theatre Company, Public Recordings/EW&FCO at the Festival Transamériques, Ame Henderson Projects, SummerWorks Performance Festival, and Director’s Lab North. Previous lighting design credits include the Grand Theatre’s productions of Cabaret and Beethoven Lives Upstairs; Festival Designer for the Paprika Festival. Past sound design credits include the Grand Theatre’s Juno’s Reward and Beethoven Lives Upstairs; and Griffin McInnes’ Specimen. He believes that the theatre is a place where we can collectively dissect the human condition. This can empower and engage communities to talk about delicate issues necessary for meaningful change. Daniel is a graduate of the Production Design and Technical Arts program at the National Theatre School and holds a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Psychology from the University of Toronto.

KARTHY CHIN (she/her)

Karthy Chin is a Chinese-Canadian theatre director, arts administrator, producer, and writer. As a theatre artist, she has worked with a variety of companies including Stratford Festival, Factory Theatre, Cahoots, Tarragon, and Musical Stage Company. She assisted Tony-award winning director Rachel Chavkin on the Canadian production of Hadestown at Citadel Theatre. She is a former participant of the Paprika Directors’ Lab and the Factory Foremen, and a graduate of Generator’s Artist Producer Training program.

She is currently an Associate Producer with Luminato, and is a recipient of a Canada Council for the Arts Grant in Supporting Artistic Practice where she is working with 3 different organizations to improve administrative leadership capacity. These 3 areas include: grant-writing with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, fundraising with The Good Partnership, and operations management with SummerWorks. In 2018, she was the TD Emerging Festival Producer at Toronto Fringe Festival.

Her artistic interests are eclectic and reflective of a belief that artists should not feel limited by subject matter, but instead guided by their curiousities. She has a keen interest in the intersection between poetry and theatre. Kindness, collaboration, and de-centering power are key tenets of her producing and artistic practice. She believes in challenging institutions to improve their structures and systems to better support artists and workers of all identities and to reduce economic marginalization.

LEELEE OLUWATOYOSI EKO DAVIS (they/them)

Leelee Oluwastoyosi Eko Davis’ practice is rooted in the foundations of contemporary dance and intermedia creation methodologies. As a disabled, transgenderqueer artist and producer of Nigerian/French/Algonquin descent, working in decolonial frameworks is central to their research and creations. Being from Treaty 1 Territory, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Leelee has had the opportunity to train and work professionally across Kanata. Their artistic goals are to merge performance and life, stage and experience, building a bridge to revealing the human condition. They can most commonly be found, producing their work as solo a artist, group works, and collaborating across milieus. Leelee has had the profound pleasure of working with artists and choreographers such as Jolene Bailie, Dayna Danger, Raven Davis, Jesse Dell, Yannick Desranleau, Vanessa Dunn, Audrey Dwyer, Reginald Edmund, Johnny Forever, Gambletron, Chloe Lum, Ryan MacNamara, Kate Nankervis, Evalyn Parry, Sara Porter, Lou Sheppard, Alexandra Tigchelaar on works for theatre, film, and stage. Eko Davis also works as a program designer, facilitator, and consultant in the field of Social Innovation and Adaptive Change.

www.leeleedavis.com instagram: leeleeoluwatoyosi

SEDINA FIATI (she/her or they/them)

Sedina Fiati is a Toronto based performer, producer, director, creator and activist for stage and screen. Proudly Black and queer, Sedina is deeply invested in artistic work that explores the intersection between art and activism, either in form or structure or ideally both.

Sedina is currently Artist-Activist in Residence at Nightwood Theatre and proud founding member of the Black Pledge Collective. Sedina was the co-chair of ACTRA Toronto’s Diversity Committee and 2nd VP of council for Canadian Actors’ Equity Association. Sedina has worked with Generator since 2018, focusing on providing mentorship, program development and coordination for the Artist Producer Training Program. Upcoming projects: Switching Queen(s) (devised street performance), Last Dance (a web series).

RYAN G. HINDS

Ryan is a Toronto-based theatre artist. As an actor, he has appeared across Canada and the US in plays, musicals, & performance work, including as Clarence in “It’s A Wonderful Life" for Theatre New Brunswick; Brit in Queen's "We Will Rock You" and Eddie /Dr. Scott in “The Rocky Horror Show” for Magnus Theatre; Hedwig in "Hedwig & the Angry Inch” at the Capitol Theatre; Piragua Guy in “In The Heights” for We Are Here; and "Post-Paradise" with My Barbarian. His touring solo show “#KanderAndEbb” won the 2015 BroadwayWorld Award winner for Best Solo Show/Cabaret.

An Associate Artist at lemonTree Creations, Ryan performed as Lydia-Anne in “Lilies; Or, The Revival of a Romantic Drama”; the premiere, remount & national tour of dance-theatre hybrid "MSM [men seeking men]”, and the world premiere of “Private Eyes”. Producing credits include "Dinner with the Duchess" starring Allegra Fulton and the critically-acclaimed shows "Starry Notions" and "MacArthur Park Suite: A Disco Ballet”. Ryan serves on the national council of Canadian Actors' Equity Association, and has performed alongside artists such as Liza Minnelli, Todrick Hall, Taylor Mac, Debbie Reynolds and more. He has collaborated with companies including Pride Toronto, Fallsview Casino, National Arts Centre, and more. RyanGHinds.com

NIDHI KHANNA (she/her) Co-Chair

Nidhi Khanna brings 20 years of experience in cultural production, creative programming, venue operations and social enterprise management to the social impact, non-profit and creative industries. She is passionate about coaching and mentoring to build resilient and inclusive teams and the development of strong operational leaders. An actor by training, Nidhi holds an M.A. in Text and Performance Studies from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art/King's College London, an MBA from York University’s Schulich School of Business and she is a 2018 Fellow of the Toronto Arts Council’s Leaders Lab. Over the course of her career, Nidhi has worked at the institutional, grassroots and municipal levels including leadership roles at Skills for Change, Artscape, Mississauga Celebration Square, and Meadowvale Theatre. Nidhi’s community work has focused on mentorship of emerging arts leaders with a particular focus on the systemic issues and barriers that face women in the non-profit sector. She is a Board Member of JAYU, a Coach for FORA, a Strategic Advisor for Work In Culture and is the Co-Chair of Generator's inaugural Strategic Advisory Committee.

BRENDAN MCMURTRY-HOWLETT (he/him) Co-Chair, Board Member

Brendan is a director, actor, educator, facilitator, and theatre maker, born and raised in the Dish with One Spoon Treaty territory in what is now called Toronto. He has worked with companies across the country including, Punctuate! Theatre, The Citadel, The Theatre Centre, YPT, and Red Sky. Brendan completed a internship in Artistic Direction with Jillian Keiley at the NAC, was one of the 2019 Neil Munro Directing Interns at the Shaw Festival, and was the founding Artistic Director of Shakespeare in the Ruff, a company that he led for their first five seasons. Currently Brendan is getting a master's degree from York University researching community-focused approaches to governance, structure, and programming of arts organizations.

Brendan is a recent addition to Generator's board of directors and is serving on the Strategic Advisory as a representative of the board.

Updates

News about our organization and information related to our programs.