Panel Moderated by

Liz Barron – Director of Operations, ICCA (Winnipeg)

Liz Barron has been self-employed in the arts for the last 25 years. She is dedicated to building strategies and programs that target, motivate, and engage Indigenous artists and organizations working in all cultural milieu. Her skills in arts management includes experience working with CARFAC, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, and numerous Indigenous led arts and culture not-for-profits. Liz is one of the original founders of Urban Shaman Gallery in Winnipeg, and she has served as a mentor with the Manitoba Music Indigenous Mentorship program. She was the project manager for one of the largest Indigenous contemporary exhibitions in Canada, Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years, led by four Indigenous curators which featured over 30 Indigenous contemporary artists. In 2021, she started the Barron Bursary at Digital Arts Resource Centre in Ottawa, to support an Indigenous moving image maker to study film at the University of Ottawa.

Panellists:

Justin Bear L’Arrivée, Artistic Director – Urban Shaman (Winnipeg)

Justin Bear L’Arrivee is of mixed Cree and Scottish ancestry from Peguis First Nation (maternal) and is a citizen of the Manitoba Métis Federation (paternal). An arts administrator, facilitator, and community worker, Justin is passionate about revitalizing Indigenous ways of being through arts and culture. With a focus on program development, community projects, and youth mentorship, Justin’s work is guided by a deep commitment to empowering and uplifting Indigenous voices. Their practice is firmly rooted in community needs and is deeply informed by experience within the child-welfare and disability systems as well as the artist-run centre sector.

Lori Beavis – Executive Director, Centre d’art Daphne(Tiohtià:ke/ Mooniyang/ Montreal)

Of Michi Saagiig Anishinaabe and Irish/Welchdescen, Lori Beavis is Executive Director of Centre d’art daphne, the first Indigenous artist-run centre in Tiohtià:ke/ Mooniyang/ Montreal. Beavis is an independent curator, art educator and art historian. Identifying as being of Michi Sagiig (Mississauga Anishinaabe) and Irish-Welsh descent, she is a citizen of Hiawatha First Nation at Rice Lake, Ontario. Her curatorial work, art practice and research, articulates narrative and memory in the context of family and cultural history, and reflects on cultural identity, art education and self-representation. Her independent curatorial practice – solo (Shelley Niro: Buffet (2016); Rebellion of my Ancestors: Jobena Petonoquot (2018); Shelley Niro: women land river (2019); mazinigwaaso / to bead something Barry Ace: Bandolier Bags as Cultural Conduit (2019) and with co-curators (The Rebel Yells; Dress and Political Re-dress in Contemporary Indigenous Art Rhonda L. Meier (2015), Maria Ezcurra and Natasha Reid (Invisible: body as reflective site, 2019) has objectively worked to further conversations on art, identity and self-representation. She serves on the Executive of the Indigenous Curatorial Collective/ Collectif des Commissaires Autochtones (IC/CA) Board of Directors.

Lori Blondeau, Associate Professor, School of Art – University of Manitoba (Winnipeg)

Lori Blondeau is an influential contemporary arti of Cree, Saulteaux, and Métis from Saskatchewan, Canada, Treaty Four. Since the 1990s, she has established an interdisciplinary artistic practice encompassing performance, photography, and installation art. Alongside her creative endeavors, Blondeau played a vital role in the Indigenous art community as the co-founder and Executive Director of the Indigenous art collective TRIBE, significantly contributing to the prominence of Indigenous art and knowledge in Canada.

Her notable performances, including “We Want to be Like Barbie that Bitch has Everything” (1995), “Are You My Mother?” (2002), “States of Grace” (2007), “Plains Horizon” (2024), reflect her profound engagement with themes of identity and culture, while her photographic works such as “COSMOSQUAW” (1996), “Lorely Surfer Squaw” (1997), and “Asinîy Iskwew” (2016) exhibit a compelling blend of precision, humour, and strength.

Blondeau’s work has been showcased in numerous group and solo exhibitions, earning her recognition as a pivotal figure in contemporary art. In addition to her artistic practice, she has served as an Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba School of Art since 2018, where she mentors emerging artists. Her contributions to the field were acknowledged when she received the prestigious Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2021, highlighting her significant impact on the art landscape in Canada and beyond.