Project Team
Johnny Trinh, Community Engagement Manager
Trinh is an interdisciplinary spoken word artist, producer, community-engaged artist, and arts administrator. His practices are based in community-engaged art, supporting marginalized people in telling their stories to increase visibility and representation within their communities. He has an MFA: Interdisciplinary Studies, held residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts, and intensives at the Dell’Arte International School for Physical Theatre. Johnny is also an arts educator, touring across North America hosting workshops in theatre performance, spoken word, and artist self care. Johnny is interested in autoethnographic performance, understanding the cultural significance and social impact of telling one’s story. Through his training, he applies collective creation, devised theatre, and improvisation to facilitate community-engaged art. He is especially interested in how people create community and build networks, and the process of performing their stories online through social and digital media.
Lori Baxter, Project Manager
Strong leadership at key cultural organizations is the hallmark of Lori Baxter’s stellar career in arts management. With more than 25 years as a senior executive in the not-for-profit sector, Lori’s reputation for creative thinking, fiscal responsibility and professional integrity led her to develop and manage the Arts program of 2010 Legacies Now. Leading a multi-layered team, she leveraged more than $21 million in investments towards the province of British Columbia’s arts and cultural industries. As executive director of the Greater Vancouver Alliance for Arts and Culture, her strength in developing partnerships led to the phenomenal growth of this key advocacy organization, bringing business and the arts together in several unique programs such as Tickets Tonight and the Vancouver Arts Awards. Lori has been an event producer, advocate, college instructor, board member, speaker and leader in the creative sector.
Michelle Richard, Project Support
Michelle Richard has worked in various roles within cultural organizations from an historic site, to an international auction house, educational art centres, history museums, art galleries, and currently a community arts council. Working as a costumed historic interpreter at a young age encouraged a passion for understanding history and how one’s cultural heritage is so important in personal and social development. Following an undergraduate degree in history and fine arts, Michelle studied French as a second language in Canada, France, and Switzerland, as well as educational sciences and art history. With a strong interest in culture and history, Michelle obtained a diploma in Cultural Resource Management, focusing on identifying significance and stewardship of natural and cultural resources. Michelle brings to the North Shore Cultural Mapping Team an understanding of the importance of an awareness of place, through history and expressions of culture, to build strong and positive environments to live and thrive.
Nancy Cottingham Powell, Project Lead
Nancy‘s background is steeped in the arts, training to be in front of the lights at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in California, then evolving into behind-the-scenes production during Vancouver’s Expo ‘86. In 1987, along with her husband and partner Ross Powell, she launched Arcadian Productions Inc., an events management company based out of North Vancouver. Through Arcadian, Nancy has worked with a wide variety of events and organizations including: Made in BC – Dance on Tour, MusicFest Vancouver, CelticFest Vancouver, the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, the Pacific National Exhibition, and the Vancouver Symphony Summer Series. She has also worked with visual artist Gordon Halloran in presenting his unique ice painting installations, Paintings Below Zero, around the world, representing Canada in two Olympic Cultural Olympiads. She helped found the Sechelt Arts Festival, a multi-disciplinary community arts event on the Sunshine Coast and is currently the executive director of the North Vancouver Community Arts Council. Nancy’s passion is supporting artists to help their visions come alive, encouraging innovation, collaboration, and diversity to help build dynamic communities through arts and culture.
Sheryl McGraw, Project Manager
Sheryl has over 25 years’ experience working as a manager and leader in the arts and culture sector. She has worked with organizations including the Creative City Network initially as Operations & Conference Coordinator, eventually taking on the role of General Manager during a time of transition. She was Coordinator of Projects & Events for the Centre of Expertise on Culture and Communities at Simon Fraser University, a three-year research initiative focusing on cultural infrastructure and community cultural development. In 2008, Sheryl joined 2010 Legacies Now as their Manager of Arts Sector Engagement where she developed programs and projects that helped build the capacity of cultural workers and arts organizations in BC. Throughout her career, she has administered several funding programs including Creative Communities, Spirit Festivals, Community Presenters Assistance and Warming up the Act. She has also coordinated publications such as the Cultural Mapping and Community Arts Toolkits. Sheryl’s work with arts service and community cultural development organizations helps her reach her own goal of contributing to a vibrant, diverse arts community at the local, regional, provincial and national levels.
Zoe Greenberg, GIS Specialist
Zoe Greenberg is the GIS Specialist on the Cultural Mapping Team. Zoe brings industry experience and a deep technical understanding to the project. With a background in anthropology and geography, previous non-profit experience, and a strong interest in simplifying complex information, she acts as a sort of translator between the project’s goals and the capabilities of GIS technology. She enjoys the challenge of making data easily accessible and understandable to the public with the goal of promoting and preserving culture. Her interests reach beyond cartography and data, spilling into conservation and preservation. Born and raised in Vancouver, Zoe values the natural landscape she grew up in and developed a deep appreciation for all things blue and green. Her two favourite map categories happen to be blue and green, too! When she’s not working on the technical side of the project, she’s working to populate the Heritage and Intangible categories to showcase the rich natural and cultural history on the North Shore.
Contact the project team by email (culturemap[at]northvanarts.ca) or by calling North Van Arts at 604.988.6844.