Aria Evans (they/she/he) is an award winning, queer Toronto-based interdisciplinary artist working in dance; creation, performance and film. Aria draws on their experiences of being multiracial (Afro-Indigenous, settler) to capture meaningful social and cultural themes through their interactive art. Collaboration is the departure point to the work that Aria creates with their company Political Movement. Aria was co-Artistic Director of hub14 from 2013-2018 and the Toronto, Ontario and Canada Council for the arts have supported Aria’s endeavours as well as the National Arts Centre, Buddies In Bad Times Theatre, CAHOOTS, Why Not Theatre, Volcano Theatre, Nightswimming Theatre, Jumblies Theatre, Native Earth Performing Arts and b current.
New Zealand-Canadian composer Juliet Palmer is known as a “post-modernist with a conscience” (The Listener) whose work “crosses so many genres as to be in a category of its own” (Toronto Star). Recent works: Choreography of Trauma and Inside Us, audio-video installation and performance (Continuum and The Element Choir, February 2020); Oil & Water, Detroit Symphony Orchestra (June 2019); Ukiyo, floating world, Urbanvessel and Toronto’s Thin Edge New Music Collective, ONGAKU Festival (September, 2019); Cutwork, Auckland Chamber Orchestra (October, 2019); and Sweat, a cappella opera, writer Anna Chatterton (CalArts, Los Angeles; Bicycle Opera tour; National Sawdust, New York). Recent recordings include: small excesses, pianist Sarah Watkins and violinist Andrew Beer (Atoll CD release); and rivers, solo CD release (Barnyard Records, 2018).
Parker Dirks is a trans interdisciplinary artist, community arts facilitator and gardener based in Toronto.
Their current work uses ceramics as a medium to explore and dismantle concepts of binary gender with a critical focus on their experiences as a white trans person living in Canada.
Parker graduated from NSCAD University in 2013 with a degree in Ceramics. Since then, they have been working as a community arts facilitator, ceramics instructor and technician. While working in community engaged arts Parker has been privileged to work with many diverse groups of people across Toronto. These experiences have led them to pursue a personal art practice focused on investigating ideas of access, transparency, disclosure and gender.
Falen Johnson is a Mohawk and Tuscarora writer and performer from Six Nations who now lives in Toronto. Her plays Salt Baby, Two Indians, and Ipperwash have played in theatres across Canada. Her writing has been featured in Brick Literary Journal, The Canadian Theatre Review, and Granta Magazine. She has also been featured on the Moth Storytelling Hour. Her CBC podcast The Secret Life of Canada (co-hosted with Leah-Simone Bowen) is now in its second year.
Urbanvessel 