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Shoshana Wasser

Associate Director of Public Affairs and Communications
416-969-7434
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New leadership team

January 31, 2020


The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) today announced staffing appointments for two important positions in the agency. Kelly Langgard, has been named OAC’s new Director of Granting, and Chris Black the new Associate Director of Granting for business operations. Chris joins Elise Chalmers, Associate Director of Granting, who is responsible for granting policies and programs.

 

“We are fortunate in hiring Kelly that she has deep knowledge of arts funding in Canada, cultural policy and international arts markets. Kelly will work with two Associate Directors, one with an internally-focused role related to granting systems (business operations) and the other focused on how our programs serve the arts sector and the public (granting policies and programs),” said Carolyn Vesely, CEO. “Given that we manage more than 12,000 grant applications per year, we are lucky to have such a strong leadership team.”


About Kelly Langgard

Kelly LanggardKelly has more than 20 years of experience in cultural policy and diplomacy, international exchange, partner and stakeholder engagement and event management. Her career has mostly focused on public arts funding, where she has led various programs and initiatives aimed at supporting more opportunities for artists and arts professionals.
 

Kelly began her career at Calgary’s Herland Feminist Film Festival before becoming Executive Director of Images Festival in Toronto, during which time she served on the boards of the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre and the Independent Media Arts Alliance. From there, she spent a year as Associate Visual and Media Arts Officer at OAC before moving to the Canada Council for the Arts where she held a number of positions: Media Arts Officer, Head of Audience and Market Development, Head of Partnership and International Coordination and Manager of Strategic Research Initiatives. Other positions she has held include Senior Advisor for Cultural Diplomacy at Global Affairs Canada, and Program Manager at the Canadian Commission for UNESCO.
 

Kelly will take up her new responsibilities as of March 2, 2020.
 

About Chris Black

Chris BlackChris joined OAC in 2014, working in Arts Education as a program developer. His role was to connect school boards with professional artists interested in working with students in classroom settings.
 

In 2016, he was seconded to Nova, OAC’s project to move its grant application and assessment processes online, working in various leadership capacities, including policy and granting processes.
 

Chris has worked for more than 20 years as a consultant in the not-for-profit world (arts, health and social services) helping organizations roll out technology-related projects as well as organizational development initiatives.
 

Chris moved into his new role on January 2, 2020.