Curatorial Mentorship Program

The Curatorial Mentorship Program is a national initiative of the ICCA designed to nurture the next generation of Indigenous curators through mentorship, collaborative exhibition-making, and critical discourse. Rooted in Indigenous knowledge, peer-led learning, and collective curatorial practice, this program fosters meaningful relationships between established Indigenous curators and emerging voices in the field.

About the Program

Through year-long mentorships, emerging Indigenous curators are paired with senior Indigenous curators to co-develop new exhibitions at partner galleries in Ottawa/Gatineau. The program supports ongoing research, writing, and dialogue, culminating in a series of exhibitions and public programs that reflect the unique vision and curatorial direction of each team.

The program includes:

• Weekly meetings between Mentors and Mentees

• Collaborative exhibition development

• Critical writing supported by the ICCA Digital Publications team

• In-person gatherings and mentorship intensives

• Exhibitions and panels presented as part of major events, including the ARCA Conference and the National Gallery of Canada’s quinquennial off-site programming

The Curators

Cass Gardiner is an Anishinaabe Algonquin filmmaker, curator, and writer from Kebaowek First Nation in what we now call Quebec, Canada. She directed the short film JANELLE NILES: INCONVENIENT, part of Citizen Minutes Season 2 JANELLE NILES: INCONVENIENT premiered at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival in 2023 and is streaming on CBC Gem and Crave. She produced the short documentary JEWELS HUNT, which was supported by ITVS and TFI, and broadcast on PBS Independent Lens in 2020. 

She was a 2017 Curatorial Fellow at the Center for Craft in Asheville, North Carolina, where she curated Crafted Strangers, exploring shared cultural struggles between Indigenous and immigrant communities through craft. In 2018, she co-curated Forward Facing with Critical Distance and the Indigenous Curatorial Collective, which was a featured show of the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival. Her writing on Indigenous art, film, and food has appeared in Inuit Art Quarterly, Cherry Bombe, and Compound Butter, and has been accepted to the Oxford Food Symposium in 2023 and 2024. 

Cass has held a variety of positions within documentary film institutions, namely the National FilmBoard of Canada, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival, and most recently the Tribeca Film Institute. She is an independent film curator for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York City, curating the annual Native Cinema Showcase in Santa Fe, New Mexico from 2020 to present. She holds a BA from NYU Gallatin and an MFA in Documentary Film from Toronto Metropolitan University.

Danielle Printup (she/her) is a Hodinohso:ni (Onondaga) / Anishinaabe (Algonquin) arts worker and curator from Kitigan Zibi Anishnabeg, QC, with maternal roots in Ohsweken, ON. She has a Bachelor of Honors in Art History from the University of Guelph (2012). She has interned at the National Gallery of Canada and completed the RBC Indigenous Training Program in Museum Practices at the Canadian Museum of History. She has worked at Galerie SAW Gallery, the Indigenous Art Centre and the City of Ottawa’s Public Art Program. She is the Indigenous Cultural Engagement Coordinator at Carleton University Art Gallery. Her most recent curatorial projects include curating a solo exhibition of Christian Chapman’s work titled “Run to the Hills!” and a co-curated exhibition with Carmen Robertson of Norval Morrisseau’s work titled “Medicine Currents,” which were both presented during the fall of 2023 at the Carleton University Art Gallery. She is a member of the Wolf Babe Collective, a group of curators and artists who create work that draws from their experiences as racialized First Nations non-binary people and women. She is currently enrolled in the Masters Program in Art & Architectural History at Carleton University.

Linda Grussani (Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg/Italian ancestry) is a curator, art historian,  and arts administrator born, raised, and living on Anishinàbe Akì in the Ottawa area.  Over the past two decades, Grussani has dedicated her work to advancing Indigenous arts and culture, advocating for positive structural change, and promoting Indigenous cultural diplomacy. She has served in various roles, including as the Curator of  Aboriginal Art at the Canadian Museum of History, Director of the Indigenous Art Centre for Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, and several curatorial positions at the National Gallery of Canada. 

Grussani is a doctoral candidate in the Cultural Studies program at Queen’s University,  focusing on research that examines the impact of recommendations, policies, and methodologies on Indigenous and institutional relationships in museums and galleries in  Anishinàbe Akì over the past 50 years. 

In addition to her professional work, Grussani is actively involved in various boards and committees. She serves on the Board of Governors for Carleton University, the Inuit Art  Foundation’s Board of Directors, and the Indigenous Advisory Circle of the Agnes  Etherington Art Gallery at Queen’s University. She is also a member of the Indigenous  Archives Gathering Steering Committee for Archive/Counter-Archive at York University and the North American Cultural Diplomacy Initiative at Queen’s University. 

As an independent curator, her current project is a two-part exhibition series titled  Mawadishiwewin (Visits). This series, which will be on display at Onsite Gallery (OCAD  U) throughout 2024, explores connections made by visiting, creating, and sharing and features solo exhibitions of the work of artists Taqralik Partridge and Jean Marshall.

The Mentees

Joi T. Arcand is an artist from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, Saskatchewan, Treaty 6 Territory, currently residing in Ottawa, Ontario. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with Great Distinction from the University of Saskatchewan in 2006. In 2018, Arcand was shortlisted for the prestigious Sobey Art Award. Her practice includes installation, photography and design and is characterized by a visionary and subversive reclamation and indigenization of public spaces through the use of Cree language and syllabics.

Recent solo exhibitions include Central Art Garage (Ottawa, ON); College Art Galleries (Saskatoon, SK); ODD Gallery (Dawson City, Yukon); Mendel Art Gallery (Saskatoon); Wanuskewin Heritage Park (Saskatoon); Dunlop Art Gallery (Regina). Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions, including Àbadakone at the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, ON) and INSURGENCE/RESURGENCE at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Arcand has been artist-in-residence at Wanuskewin Heritage Park (Saskatoon); OCAD University (Toronto); Plug-In Institute of Contemporary Art (Winnipeg); the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity; and Klondike Institute of Art and Culture (Dawson City, Yukon); and Harbourfront Centre (Toronto).

She was the co-founder of the Red Shift Gallery, a contemporary Indigenous art gallery in Saskatoon. She was founder and editor of the Indigenous art magazine, kimiwan (2012-2014). She has curated various exhibitions including Language of Puncture at Gallery 101 (Ottawa, 2017), nākatēyimisowin an outdoor mural exhibition in Ottawa. In her role as Director of SAW Gallery’s Nordic Lab she curated The Travellers (Supermarket Art Fair, Stockholm, Sweden, 2018). She recently graduated from University nuhelotʼįne thaiyotsʼį nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills and is a member of the art and curatorial collective: Wolf Babe.

Malaya Kisa-Knickelbein (they/she) is a young Inuk artist born in Iqaluit and raised through the three regions of Nunavut. They showcase their culture through art, an important aspect in all their work, as they continue their family history of artists.

Malaya is both self-taught and community-taught; with expertise in beadwork, traditional tattooing, digital art, printmaking, and painting. They grew up inspired by family members who were printmakers and seamstresses in Pangnirtung, as well as by the multidisciplinary craft techniques learned throughout their education. Malaya is dedicated to developing a unique artistic voice that is contemporary yet incorporates traditional elements and imagery. They aspire to use their artistic production to help fundraise for various community programs. In their spare time, Malaya enjoys spending time on the land with family and friends, learning new artistic techniques and practicing their Inuktitut

Feather Miigwans is an artist and curator from the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians whose transdisciplinary practice bridges technology, fashion, storytelling, and exhibition-making to center Indigenous knowledge systems and futurisms. She creates immersive experiences using augmented reality, virtual reality, and 360° media to activate ancestral memory and explore survivance through digital ceremony.

As a curator and writer specializing in contemporary Indigenous art, she is committed to creating spaces that honor Native voices, hold space for grief and resilience, and confront the layered impacts of colonial violence. Her curatorial work is deeply rooted in Anishinaabe values of kinship, responsibility, and cultural continuity—seeking to amplify community narratives of strength, care, and creative persistence.

She is also active in Indigenous fashion, blending cultural aesthetics with modern design to assert identity and visibility. Across all forms, her work invites audiences to engage with Indigenous worlds—past, present, and future—through immersive and embodied storytelling.

Stay Connected

Explore critical writing from the program through our Digital Publications portal. To stay connected with future programs, projects, and initiatives, follow us on social media and sign up for the ICCA newsletter, find this information on ICCA’s contact us page.