Ann Thomas, formerly Senior Curator of Photographs and Interim Chief Curator at the National Gallery of Canada, organized numerous exhibitions and installations, among them Lisette Model, Beauty of Another Order: Photography in Science; No Man’s Land: Lynne Cohen Photographs; Donald McCullin, The Great War and the Persuasive Power of Photography; The Intimate World of Joseph Sudek; The Extended Moment: 50 years of Collecting Photographs at the National Gallery of Canada. She curated Max Dean: Portrait of the Artist as Artist for the Portrait Gallery of Canada.

She is the author of many catalogues and publications and contributed several articles and essays. She has lectured widely and served on many juries and portfolio reviews nationally and internationally.

Robert Steven is the Executive Director of the Portrait Gallery of Canada, an emerging organization that seeks to collect and share the stories of Canadians from every walk of life. He is also the current Vice President of Galeries Ontario / Ontario Galleries. He has previously served as President and CEO of the Art Gallery of Burlington, Culture and Heritage Manager at the City of Grande Prairie, Alberta, and Executive Director and Curator of the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie. Robert holds a Master of Museum Studies from the University of Toronto and an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts Studio from the University of Waterloo; he also completed the Getty Leadership Institute’s Museum Leadership Institute in 2009. His leadership practice is guided by empathy and is informed by his lived experience of neurodivergence and mental illness.

Based in Toronto, Sandra Brewster works in drawing, video, photo-based works, and installation. At times, her work refers to the migration of Caribbean people from the region, suggesting a formation of identity that encompasses multiple geographies and temporalities, a sense of identity that exists within the diaspora. Recent exhibitions include the Musée d’art Rouyn-Noranda (2023), the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2022-23), The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto (2022), Les Rencontres d’Arles (2022), Hartnett Gallery, Rochester (2022), Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2018–2022), and Or Gallery, Vancouver (2019). Her public sculpture A Place to Put Your Things is currently on view at Harbourfront Centre, Toronto.

Image Credit: Jalani Morgan

Born in France, Frédéric Loury opened Gallery SAS in February 2002 in Montreal and has presented over 250 exhibitions on three continents. He is the interim director of the AGAC and co-founded the Foire Papier. In January 2009, he launched Art Souterrain, an organization that promotes contemporary art in the public space.

To this day, Art Souterrain has become a Canadian reference for the integration of artworks in public spaces and atypical environments with more than 900 artist projects and coverage by more than 1000 media.

In 2018, he co-founded Artch. This new organization supports and promotes emerging artists by offering them training, a grant and an exhibition. In 2020, he concluded a historic agreement with the real estate community in Montreal by creating artist residences in vacant businesses.

Sylvia Dreaver ᑳᓂᑲᒧᐟ ᐱᔨᓯᐤ is Nēhiyaw (Plains Cree) and a member of Mistawasis First Nation. A curator and cultural worker, Sylvia currently works at the Canada Council for the Arts with the Creating, Knowing and Sharing: The Arts and Cultures of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples team. She has previously held positions at the Canadian Museum of History, the Banff Centre, The Canadian Museum for Human Rights, and Mentoring Artists for Woman’s Arts.