Jorge Orta is an Argentinian born Paris based artist whose work centres on alternative modes of expression and representation resulting from extreme social and political unrest.  Jorge’s practice began during the Argentinian dictatorship period (1972-1979) working with the mediums of video art, mail art, and large-scale public performances, and eventually led him to represent Argentina with Crónica Gráfica at the Biennale de Paris (1982). Pursuing an interdisciplinary and collective art practice, he founded the research groups Huapi and Ceac to create a bridge between contemporary art and mass audiences; staging the public performances, Transcurso Vital (1978), Testigos Blancos (1982), Madera y Trapo(1983), Arte Portable (1983), and Fusion de Sangre Latinoamericana (1984). Jorge has published several Manifestos, including Arte Constructor, Arte Catalizador, and Utopias Fundadoras.

An inventor of technology, Jorge developed a ceramic glass plate projection method that he later used to create his ephemeral Light Works paintings. He went on to stage many monumental Light Works in mythical sites of cultural significance across the world, including the Mount Aso volcano, Japan; Cappadocia, Turkey; the Zocòlo, Mexico City; the Gorges du Verdon; and the Venetian palaces along the Grand Canal, representing Argentina for the Venice Biennale in 1995.  His five-week Light Paintingexpedition across the Andes culminating at Machu Picchu, and was witnessed by two-hundred thousand Peruvians (1992).

In 1991 he co-founded Studio Orta with his wife Lucy.  Their collaborative practice realizes large scale installations and performances commenting on the social and ecological factors of human and environmental sustainability. 

Jesse Wente is a husband and father, as well as an award-winning writer and speaker. Born and raised in Toronto, his family comes from Chicago and Genaabaajing Anishinaabek and he is an off-reserve member of the Serpent River First Nation. Jesse is best known for more than two decades spent as a columnist for CBC Radio’s Metro Morning. Jesse spent a decade with the Toronto International Film Festival as a curator, including leading the film and gallery programming at the Tiff Lightbox. Jesse was the founding director of the Indigenous Screen Office and is the first Indigenous person to serve as Chair of the Canada Council for the Arts. His award-winning first book “Unreconciled: Family, Truth and Indigenous Resistance” was a national bestseller. Earlier this year, Jesse was named the Storyteller in Residence at Toronto Metropolitan University. His first children’s book, Danger Eagle, has just been released by Tundra Books.

Photo is by John Paille.

Imre Szeman is Professor of Drama & Speech Communications and English Language & Literature at the University of Waterloo. He is also Adjunct Professor of Research and Graduate Studies at Ontario College of Art & Design University. Szeman is the recipient of the John Polanyi Prize in Literature (2000), the Petro-Canada Young Innovator Award (2003), the Scotiabank-AUCC Award for Excellence in Internationalization (2004), an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (2005-7), the President's Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision at McMaster (2008), and the Killam Research Professorship, among other awards.

Szeman’s main areas of research are in the areas of energy and environmental studies, critical and cultural theory, social and political philosophy, and Canadian studies. His most recent books include: After Oil (2016); A Companion to Critical and Cultural Theory (2017); Fueling Culture: 101 Words for Energy and Environment (2017); Petrocultures: Oil, Politics, and Culture (2017); and Energy Humanities: An Anthology (co-ed, 2017). 

Greg Hollingshead has published three novels and four story collections. His collection The Roaring Girl won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. His novel The Healer won the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize. His novel Bedlam was a Globe and Mail 100 Best Books of the Year and a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice. Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta and former Chair of the Writers’ Union of Canada, Greg has received the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Gold Medal for Excellence in the Arts and is a Member of the Order of Canada. He lives in Toronto with his wife Rosa Spricer. 

Ian Brown, the Rogers Communications Chair of the Literary Journalism for the past five summers, is an acclaimed roving feature writer for the Globe and Mail. He is equally well-known for his work on CBC radio, where he was the moderator of Talking Books for more than a decade, and hosted Sunday Morning and Later the Same Day. He also presents pre-eminent television documentary shows on TVO’s Doc Studio. With Paul Tough, he founded open letters, the first online magazine of first person journalism in letter form. He is the author of FreeWheeling--which won the National Business Book Award--and Man Overboard, and most recently edited the anthology What I Meant to Say: The Private Lives of Men. His book, The Boy in the Moon, was chosen by the New York Times as one of the ten best books of 2010. His most recent book, Sixty was shortlisted for the 2016 RBC Taylor Prize. In his spare time he paints, reads and skis in the back-country. He lives in Toronto with his wife and two children.

Barry Shffman has had a rich and varied career as a performer, recording artist, and administrator. A founding member of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, he appeared in over 2,000 concerts in venues around the globe and recorded several critically acclaimed discs during his 17 years with the ensemble. With the Quartet, he served as visiting artist at the University of Toronto from 1994-2006 and was a member of the faculty of Stanford University from 1998 to 2006.

 He currently serves as both the Associate Dean and Director of Chamber Music at the Glenn Gould School, and Dean of the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He has also served in numerous roles at Banff Centre, including Director of Music Programs (2006-2010), Artistic Director of the Centre’s Summer Classical Music Programs (2010-2016), and  Director of the Banff International String Quartet Competition. Since 2009 he has been Executive Artistic Director of Music in the Morning in Vancouver. Most recently, he was appointed Artistic Director Designate of Rockport Music in Rockport, Massachusetts.

Mr. Shiffman is the recipient of the Nadia Boulanger Prize for Excellence in the Art of Teaching awarded by the Longy School of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Calgary.

Jeanie Chung has given concerts across North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Recent highlights include solo and collaborative performances in Banff, Berlin, Oslo, and Pyongyang, North Korea. She has been a prizewinner in several international piano competitions and chamber music competitions including the Busoni International Piano Competition, the International Chamber Music Competition of Caltanissetta, and the Premio Gui International Chamber Music Competition. Upon completion of her studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Chung obtained her Bachelor of Music, Masters of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from The Juilliard School.

Nelita True’s distinguished career has taken her to major cities in Europe, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Mexico, Iceland, New Zealand, Brazil, Australia, Canada, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, and all fifty states in America. She was a visiting professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia, and has been to the People’s Republic of China more than 20 times for recitals and master classes. She has been described in Clavier Companion as “One of the world’s most sought-after and beloved pianist-teachers.”  She has been featured in articles in Clavier, Piano Today, The European Piano Teachers’ Journal, and is the subject of cover stories in Keyboard Companion and Clavier Companion.

Distinguished artist, John Perry, presents piano master classes throughout the world. As a performer, Perry has won numerous awards including the highest prizes in both the Busoni and Viotti international piano competitions. He has performed extensively throughout Europe and North America to great critical acclaim. Also a respected chamber musician, Perry has collaborated with some of the finest instrumentalists in the world. He is a professor of music at The Glenn Gould School and piano faculty at California State University Northridge. He also founded a music school, Southern California Music Institute (John Perry Academy of Music) in Los Angeles, where he serves as Artistic Director.

Marietta Orlov has had an active career as a soloist since the age of 16, when she had the distinct honour of being appointed Romanian State soloist. Following this period, the primary focus of her performing activity became chamber music. After moving to Vienna from her native Romania, she had extensive concert tours throughout most of Europe, including broadcasts on radio and television. Currently, Orlov is a dedicated teacher renowned for fostering some of Canada's most promising young musicians and is on faculty at the University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatory of Music's Glenn Gould School.