Arts Leadership Training Program

Fostering the future of the arts

In its inaugural year, The Arts Leadership Training Program hopes to help move the future of the arts in a positive direction for all, and to give BIPoC creatives a seat at a table they historically have been excluded from: arts leadership. Designed with a dual system of seminars and internships, mentorship is a key element of this program, allowing the participants to create strong relationships with the professionals that they are involved with throughout the year. With arts and educational institutions across the country taking part, this program fosters career growth and real-life experience for upcoming arts leaders.

Arts Leadership Participants

Top row: Sima Saxena, Charles Umeh, Colin Wolf, Justin Lee
Middle row: Rosemary Jeffery, Ming Hudson, Pedro Marcio Siqueira, kattieQ
Bottom Row: Yulissa Campos, Kevin Takahide Lee, Andrea Lemus

Kevin Takahide Lee

Kevin will be interning with Pacific Opera Victoria through April 2022.

Chinese and Japanese (yonsei) Canadian, Kevin Takahide Lee descends from a family who experienced the head tax and the Japanese Canadian Internment of WWII. Growing up in BC’s Lower Mainland he witnessed first hand the challenges immigrants faced regarding accessibility to services and preservation of their culture.

As a firm believer that the arts must be interwoven with social needs they created and directed the Newcomers’ Choir as a way to bridge divides between immigrants and established Canadians. He has participated in panels and conferences in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto and Ottawa concerning Truth and Reconciliation, disability and youth, as well as exhibited at the Canadian Museum of Human Rights. For the past nine years they have been a member of the Powell Street Festival Programming Committee.

Partner Organizations

  • Belfry Theatre | Victoria
  • Canadian College of Performing Arts | Victoria
  • Common Weal Community Arts | Regina
  • Electric Company Theatre | Vancouver
  • Globe Theatre | Regina
  • Neworld Theatre | Vancouver
  • Pacific Opera Victoria | Victoria
  • Persephone Theatre | Saskatoon
  • University of Regina, Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance | Regina
  • University of Victoria, Faculty of Fine Arts | Victoria
  • Victoria Conservatory of Music | Victoria
  • Victoria Symphony | Victoria