Platform membership is made up of a diverse cross-section of visual, performing and literary artists, arts patrons, educators, craftspeople, civic activists, local food advocates, business people, and students. We are delighted that the Platform Board encompasses this diversity.
Kathleen Vanessa Hyland (President) is a grad from the University of Guelph School of Environment and Rural Extension which promotes communication strategies for social and environmental change. She has been a resident of Guelph for 3 decades and has a passion for community.
James Gordon (Vice-President, Chair of Property Committee) is a songwriter/producer/playwright/musician who has been a change agent in Guelph’s activist community for many years. Founder of one of Canada’s pioneering folk groups TAMARACK, he has been touring the world with his own material that often explores social justice and environmental issues. His songwriting-in-the-schools program “Rhyme Capsules” is popular throughout North America. Recent theatrical productions include Nasteé Business and “Tryst And Snout” which has just been translated into Italian for a European production. In our community he was the first Artistic Director of the Hillside Festival, Founding President of the Guelph Civic League, co-founder of the Wellington Water Watchers, first chair of the Family Mental Health Network, and a founder of the Guelph Arts Platform.
Tannis Maynard-Langedijk (Treasurer) is the newest member of The Platform board. She has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Guelph majoring in Sociology/Gerontology. Tannis works in Property Management Administration and performs Bookkeeping Services for several clients. Tannis is part of the local music scene in Guelph, and has been a performer with The Funky Mamas for 28 years.
Amy Calder (Secretary, Chair of Marketing & Programming Committee) holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Studio Arts from the University of Guelph and enjoys working with many different artistic mediums. She most commonly works in graphic design, photography and textiles, however she has a burning passion for history and architecture. She is entering into the University of Waterloo’s Master of Arts in Planning program in September 2012, where she will focus on built heritage and cultural space making.
Jenny Mitchell (Chair of Special Invents Committee), also known as Jenny Omnichord, is a musician and a mom. She plays with several local bands, such as the Barmitzvah Brothers, Richard Laviolette and the Oil Spills, Jessy Bell Smith, and Pauly and the Blowbots. She is a volunteer band manager, runs a record label called “Label Fantastic!“, sews stuffed animals, and also enjoys constructing tiny cardboard buildings.
Ross Davidson-Pilon is a commercial advertising photographer. His work appears regularly in regional and national trade publications and magazines through the Studio 404 group of companies. He drives a cool motorcycle with a sidecar and all.
Nan Hogg (Chair of Nominating Committee) promotes the idea that the people of Guelph deserve a special place where they can create, learn or simply enjoy all the arts. She is a painter whose work ranges from large oils of buildings to abstract watercolours. She taught in the school system and in her own teaching studio and knows first-hand the challenges of finding good, affordable space. Mostly retired now, she still teaches some workshops, and does some jurying and consulting. She co-ordinates the adult art programme for the Wellington County Museum. Nan is the chair of the Visual Arts Steering Team. Her future plans include making art, playing with her grandchildren and helping Platform reach its goals.
Alan Filewod is Professor of Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph. His books include Collective Encounters: Documentary Theatre in English Canada (1987), Performing “Canada”: The Nation Enacted in the Imagined Theatre (2002), and, with David Watt, Workers’ Playtime: Theatre and the Labour Movement since 1970
Image Credit: Vanessa K. Hyland makes a presentation about the Platform at Ed Video, September 2010. Photographer: Randy Sutherland.
