Kevin Takahide Lee
Arts Leadership Training Program
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.
Kevin has a Bachelors of Opera Performance from the University of British Columbia and a Master of Voice Performance from the University or Western Ontario where he studied with Gwenlynn Little, the understudy for Beverly Sills at New York City Opera.
Performances include Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre, Carousel Theatre, Vancouver Opera, various TV shows and seasonal performances with the Surrey ReEnactors. In spring of 2022 they will be on a Western Canada tour of the production ‘Hold These Truths’ through the University of Alberta Drama and Dept. of Sociology, Edmonton Japanese Community and Prince Takamodo Japan Centre.
In 2021 they received the honour of the BC Arts Council’s Pivot Grant, Arts Club Theatre Company’s Bill Millerd Artist Fund and the National Association of Japanese Canadians Endowment Fund to study the Japanese language and the instrument, the shamisen.
Kevin is grateful to Belfry Theatre for their Art Leadership program and is excited to be part of Pacific Opera Victoria internship program.