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49th Annual General Meeting
All members are invited to attend Craft Ontario's 49th Annual General Meeting!
Coming up on Wednesday, June 25, 6:00 pm, members will gather to review the past year, thank outgoing Board Directors, confirm the Board for the 2025-2026 year, and celebrate future plans.
We will be hosting the Annual General Meeting both in-person at 1106 Queen St W, Toronto, and online via zoom to support participation and accessibility across the province. Please RSVP for either option below:
This is an event for you – as a member-based organization, your participation makes all the difference.
Not a member? There's no time like the present! Join today
Once you have registered for the AGM, you will receive an email reminder closer to the date along with meeting documents for review.
Please note that if you cannot attend the AGM, you can use the proxy ballot form below to submit your member vote, which can easily be filled out online and submitted by Tuesday, June 24, 2025, 11:59 EST:
Outgoing Directors:
Virginia Eichhorn, Brandon Sousa, Katy Baker, Helen Song, Barbara Banfield
New Slate of Directors:
Annette Borger-Snel, Dianne Lee, Sam Mogelonsky (biographies listed below)
Directors continuing in their terms:
2nd year/3rd term: Celeste Scopelites
1st year/3rd term: Christy Haldane, José Niaison, Jeanette Romkema
2nd year/2nd term: Viktoriya Mikhaylova, Nikesh Shah
1st year/2nd term: Christian Bernard Singer, Darryl Kyte, Jon Packer
Incoming Board Director Biographies:
ANETTE BORGER-SNEL
TORONTO, ONTARIO
Having educated and mentored thousands of communications professionals, Annette has been on the leading edge of innovative, strategic, and memorable stories and events for over 20 years. She has a global perspective, a commitment to meaningful communications, and an entrepreneurial drive rooted in helping others achieve success. Her ability to build authentic relationships enables her to create positive change and amplify voices needing to be heard in the world. She is an award-winning educator currently heading one of Canada’s leading PR training programs at Toronto’s Humber College.
DIANNE LEE
TORONTO, ONTARIO
Dianne Lee is a Toronto based ceramic artist and graduate of OCAD University. After graduation, Dianne lived and worked in England, during which time she interned with British potter Deborah Baynes. Later, Dianne worked in New Zealand where she was a member of the Wellington Potter’s Association. Dianne uses clay to explore and examine process art, personal narratives and the vessel. She explores this through functional objects, installation and multimedia. The notion of the vessel and its historical relationship to narratives further informs her practice as she creates work that examines ideas of containment, fragility, and permanence. Dianne has exhibited internationally, and sells locally. She teaches out of her studio in Toronto’s east end.
SAM MOGELONSKY
TORONTO, ONTARIO
Sam Mogelonsky is a Toronto-based artist, curator, designer and arts professional. She holds a BFAH from Queen’s University and an MFA from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design. Sam is the Director of Arts, Culture and Heritage for the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and works with the Kultura Collective, a network of contemporary Toronto-based Jewish Arts, Culture and Heritage organizations. In addition, Mogelonsky specializes in promoting the visual arts, combining her art-world wisdom with her marketing and design acumen. In her artistic practice, Sam’s culptures use embellishment to speak to notions of craft production and decoration, while also engaging the dialogue between the mass-produced and the handmade. She has received grants from the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Returning Board Director Biographies:
CHRISTIAN BERNARD SINGER
GEORGIAN BLUFFS, ONTARIO
Christian Bernard Singer is an eco-artist, independent curator, teacher and writer. Working with ephemeral materials from nature, his practice explores notions of consciousness, Queer and more-than-human ecologies, place, and time-passing as a way to explore his relationship to the natural world. Singer holds an AOCAD from the Ontario College of Art and Design and an MFA from The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. His works have been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout Canada and the United States and published in 20 catalogues and books. Singer was also Senior Curator of the Tom Thomson Art Gallery and Curator of the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery. He has curated nearly 100 exhibitions of national and international artists, including three major retrospectives, and his writings have been published internationally. Singer is also Director and Curator of the Green Cube Gallery, a hub for environmental art and teaches sculpture at the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU).
CHRISTY HALDANE
DOURO-DUMMER, ONTARIO
Christy Haldane joined the Glass program at Sheridan College in 1996 and has been working with glass as her primary medium ever since. She further participated in a student exchange program with the Canberra School of Art in Australia, which expanded her experience of the intrinsic value of the relationships between art, artists and the broader community. With over two decades as a practicing glass artist, Christy rarely relegates her work to the confines of the studio, and exercises her diverse set of skills in fostering relationships. This is demonstrated through her work as website and membership coordinator with the Glass Art Association of Canada (GAAC), the pivotal role she played in establishing the Electric City Culture Council (EC3) as a sustainable arts incubator in Peterborough, as well as her proprietorship of Proximity Fine Art; a gallery hub on Stoney Lake that made the work of Peterborough Country available to collectors and enthusiasts from across the continent.
DARRYL KYTE
TORONTO, ONTARIO
Darryl Kyte brings a wealth of experience in communications, entertainment, media, and law to his role on Craft Ontario Board of Directors. He started his career at the CBC where he distinguished himself as a host and producer on the award-winning television series Street Cents. Darryl continued his career working as a journalist on several investigative television series which include the CBC’s flagship program The National. In 2010, Darryl transitioned to a career in law cultivating his legal expertise in entertainment law at a top firm in Toronto. Darryl has worked with an array of creative entities, artists, and musicians at all levels of their careers. While he still works with clients in the arts his professional focus now centers on class action litigation. He remains deeply engaged in the arts community and is currently working on a variety of creative endeavors which include podcasts and documentaries. Darryl also volunteers his time and expertise to mentorship programs, educational initiatives, and charitable organizations; he hopes his contributions can help empower the next generation of aspiring artists and advocates.
VIKTORIYA MIKHAYLOVA
OTTAWA, ONTARIO
Viktoriya Mikhaylova is a visual artist with over 43 years of experience in the field of visual arts. She studied art and design in Ukraine and Russia, and moved to Canada in 2009. After focusing on learning English and taking on different roles, she rediscovered her passion for art in 2014 and began painting as a way of expression. Since then, she has studied new art mediums such as glassblowing and has exhibited her work. She is also a committee member of the Royal Ontario Museum and has received grants from the Ontario Arts Council for professional development. Recently, Viktoriya participated in the Disability Holiday Market in Toronto, Ontario, and is a member of the Deaf Culture Centre. She is known for bringing new methods of art and representation to the Deaf community through her work.
JOSÉ NIAISON
OTTAWA, ONTARIO
José Niaison has over thirty-five years of experience in the field of visual arts. He recently retired from the Canada Council for the Arts where he spent the last twenty-two years. Among his responsibilities as a Program Officer were all grant programs to fine craft artists and organizations, including the Jean A. Chalmers Fund for the Crafts and, until 2018, the Saidye Bronfman Award (now a Governor General Award). Fully bilingual, José cultivated relationships with provincial/territorial craft councils and the Canadian Crafts Federation, facilitating access to public funding opportunities for the craft sector nationally. Before joining Council, he also gained invaluable experience in the management of commercial and public galleries, both in Montreal and Ottawa. Trained as an artist and an educator, José has hands-on experience of many craft practices, with an emphasis on ceramics, and a deep enthusiasm and appreciation for the creative process and technical skills of craft artists.
JON PACKER
TORONTO, ONTARIO
Jon is an experienced senior communications professional. As an entrepreneur he founded and operated an award-winning Canadian public relations agency with a particular client focus in the areas of culture, design, and the built environment. Jon now partners with select executive leaders in Canada and globally on marketing/communications activities focused to influence positive business and social outcomes. Jon is a part-time faculty member at Seneca Polytechnic in the Corporate Communications program. Educated in the UK with a speciality in 3-D Design (ceramics), Jon is a long-time, passionate advocate for the arts as a writer, educator, supporter, and sometime maker. He served three terms on the Board of Directors at the Gardiner Museum, Canada’s ceramics museum, and is closely involved with the Toronto School of Art, an independent, non-profit offering an array of accessible arts programming. Jon continues to expand his Board governance experience as an active Board member with the Impakt Foundation for Social Change.
JEANETTE ROMKEMA
TORONTO, ONTARIO
Jeanette Romkema is an educator and artist, with a long history of volunteer and community involvement. As an educator, Jeanette currently holds a Masters Degree in Education, serves as Strategic Director and Senior Partner with Global Learning Partners, Inc., a global education and training firm, and is adjunct faculty at the University of Toronto. As an artist, Jeanette earned her Bachelors in Fine Arts in Michigan and a graduate degree in fine arts from Belgium with a focus on photography. In her vocation, she has always woven education and art together. As a customer of Craft Ontario, Jeanette has long admired the craftspeople whose work is featured in the Shop and desired to make a contribution to the craft community. As she has served on several Boards in leadership roles, she brings a wealth of governance experience to the position at Craft Ontario. Jeanette further brings a special interest in the collection and appreciation for Indigenous art and artists. Her profession has allowed her to travel extensively around the globe, and she has a solid collection of artwork from many corners of the world.
CELESTE SCOPELITES
PETERBOROUGH, ONTARIO
Celeste Scopelites is the Director of the Art Gallery of Peterborough, previously the Director/Curator at the Art Gallery of Sudbury, and prior to that Manager of the Residency Program and Curator at the Living Arts Centre. Her education was both in fine art and craft, specifically textiles. She graduated from the OCA Textiles Department and continued her studies at Cranbrook Academy of Art's Fibre Department. In her early career as a craftsperson she ran her own weaving business and studio shop. This practical experience served her well in future roles, and her interest and passion for craft has influenced many of the public gallery exhibitions she has programmed. In her current role at the Art Gallery of Peterborough she has helped build its Shop reputation for representing craft, and works with local initiatives, such as the Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour, to connect with and support craft. She has hands-on experience in dealing with critical and time sensitive organizational challenges, and she welcomes the opportunity to bring the expertise of her experiences to help support the ongoing vitality of Craft Ontario.
NIKESH SHAH
STOUFFVILLE, ONTARIO
Nikesh Shah is a Chartered Professional Accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner. Nikesh has nearly ten years of experience supporting and guiding board of directors on financial planning and reporting as well as strategic decision making and change management. Nikesh also has significant experience in supporting the growth of small business through financial planning, marketing, and retail. Having observed the use of art and craft in paediatric healthcare settings, Nikesh is a great believer in the therapeutic benefits of creativity and self-exploration. Nikesh is an aspiring adventure photographer and is passionate about photographing nature, culture, and architecture. Nikesh also has great appreciation for architecture, contemporary art, and music, and thoroughly enjoys observing the creative process and the discovery of aspiring artists across all disciplines.