KATERI AKIWENZIE-DAMM is a writer, publisher, poet, editor, activist, and Indigenous arts advocate from the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation at Neyaashiinigmiing on the Saugeen Peninsula in Ontario. She has released a collection of poetry, my heart is a stray bullet, a chapbook, bloodriver woman, and two acclaimed poetry and music CDs. The CDs are standing ground, and the soundtrack from A Constellation of Bones with Kateri’s lyrics and vocals. A Constellation of Bones was done in collaboration with choreographer Santee Smith and Maori hip hop artist and producer Te Kupu, and it was nominated for a 2008 Canadian Aboriginal Music Award. Kateri’s literary work has been published in journals, anthologies, and magazines in Italy, Canada, the USA, Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Germany, and Ireland. She has edited two trailblazing anthologies, Without Reservation: Indigenous Erotica and the award-winning skins: contemporary Indigenous writing, as well as a special issue of Rampike magazine featuring the work of Indigenous writers and artists.
Kateri wrote the libretto for two classical choral music compositions by composer Timothy Sullivan. “birdsongs” was performed by the Penthelia Singers in 2009 in Toronto. “Between Earth and Sky” was commissioned by The Belle Arte Singers and premiered in Toronto in 2003. Composer Peter Skoggard has set two of Kateri’s poems to music for the performance “Songs of Sky Woman,” which debuted at the Cambridge Centre for the Arts in 2011.
Kateri has performed and lectured widely in Canada and abroad. She was named Poet Laureate of Owen Sound and North Grey for 2011 and 2012.
An Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, WADE DAVIS holds degrees in anthropology and biology and received his Ph.D. in Ethnobotany, all from Harvard University. Davis is the author of 15 books including The Serpent and the Rainbow (1986), One River (1996), The Wayfinders (2009), and Into the Silence (2011). His many film credits include Light at the Edge of the World, an eight-hour documentary series produced for the National Geographic Channel. In 2009 he received the Gold Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society for his contributions to anthropology and conservation, and he is the 2011 recipient of the Explorers Medal, the highest award of the Explorers’ Club. In 2012 he will receive the Fairchild Medal for Plant Exploration.
DELUXE DESIGN GROUP is a small but specialized team of broadcast artists based in Calgary. DDG was launched in 2008 by Chris Krieger and Nick Thomas. Balancing creativity with commerce, the co-founders have built a boutique production company collaborating with artists of all disciplines. For the Mise En Scene – Hey Velvet project, DDG partnered with James Heppner and Brock Mitchell. Deluxe Design Group was awarded an AMPIA for Best Digital Program in 2011.
MISE EN SCENE is a female duo indie pop rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Jodi, the punk rock power drummer sits stage right to Stef, vocals/guitar, whose voice has been compared to that of Neko Case and Zooey Deschanel. Unique, fresh and creative, this band demands attention and never disappoints at a live show.
Stefanie began performing her own songs at open mic nights in Montreal while studying at McGill University. At the age of eight, Jodi picked up the sticks for the first time and has since developed into a punk rock drummer with jazz training. The two met over their shared love for art and painting (both attended fine arts universities, Jodi at the University of Manitoba and Stefanie at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design), they eventually developed into a band, Mise en Scene over their shared love for 60’s girl groups, David Bowie and Rock ‘n’ Roll.
The girls released their first EP in November of 2010. Topping local college radio charts for 9 months, this band has turned heads as they charged into the Manitoba Music scene full force. Having already been on tour, showcased at NXNE music festival, and caught the interest of Vancouver producer Howard Redekopp (Tegan & Sara, Mother Mother) in just one year, Mise en Scene has proved they are the ones to watch.
Mise en Scene is currently recording a single with Vancouver producer Howard Redekopp (Tegan & Sara, Mother Mother) and recently attended the Banff Indie Band Residency at the Banff Centre in Alberta, where they were recording with Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire) and Tony Berg (Jakob Dylan).
DOROTA MYTYCH grew up in Poland. She received a Diploma of Fine Arts at the Art Institute Lorenzo de Medici and an Honours degree in Fine Arts from the Accademia di Belle Arti, in Florence, Italy, in 1996. Recent solo exhibitions have been held in USA at the Roswell Museum in New Mexico (2010) and Australia at the Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne (2010); Stills Gallery, Sydney (2009); Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, Melbourne (2007); and the Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne (2006). Her work has been featured in important group exhibitions including MCA Collection: New Acquisitions in Context, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2011); Experimenta Utopia Now International Biennial of Media Art, Melbourne (2010); I walk the line: new Australian Drawing – Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2009); and The more you ignore me, the closer I get, The University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane (2009).
Mytych has been the recipient of many fellowships and residencies, including The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, and an Australia Council for the Arts Grant. Her work is held in numerous public and private collections nationally and internationally. She divides her time among Poland, Italy, Australia, and the US.
Based in Toronto, CAROL PEREHUDOFF is an award-winning freelance writer with a passion for travel. Her articles have appeared in a number of publications including enRoute Magazine, the Chicago Tribune and Endless Vacations, and she writes a travel column for the Toronto Star. She blogs at www.wanderingcarol.com, has recently launched into making travel videos, and is currently working on a memoir entitled Married to My Suitcase: a Single Woman’s Quest for Balance on the Road.
IRINA ROZOVSKY (b. 1981, Moscow) studied French and Spanish literature as an undergraduate at Tufts University, and received an MFA in photography from Massachusetts College of Art in 2007. Her work has been featured in numerous national and international exhibitions and publications, including 25 under 25: Up and Coming American Photographers (powerHouse Books and Duke University); 31 Women in Art Photography, curated by Charlotte Cotton and Jon Feinstein; Exposure at the PRC, curated by Mia Hamm; the Magnum Expression Award juried by Martin Parr; Collector’s Guide to New Art Photography (Humble Arts, NYC) ; Rencontres, Arles; PhotoEspaña, Madrid. Most recently, her work was the subject of a solo exhibition at the New England School of Photography, Boston. This spring she published her first monograph, One to Nothing (Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg). The book was named Selected Title at the German Photo Book Award and is represented at Alec Soth’s Top 20 Photo Books of 2011. Irina lives in Brooklyn, NY, and teaches at Parsons the New School for Design, and at the International Center of Photography.
