Home / About Us / Organization /

Karen Kain - Chair, Canada Council for the Arts

Karen Kain is a nationally and internationally-renowned ballerina. Admired during her years on stage for her singular and defining performances in an extraordinary range of ballets, she continues to serve as a role model for younger dancers and has made invaluable contributions to strengthening the art of ballet in Canada. Karen Kain is also a tireless promoter of the arts as a central element of Canadian life.

Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Ms. Kain studied at the National Ballet School, joining the National Ballet of Canada in 1969. She was promoted to Principal Dancer in 1971, after her debut as the Swan Queen in Swan Lake. Her silver medal at the International Ballet Competition in Moscow in 1973 helped launch an extraordinary international career which saw her dance many of ballet’s greatest roles with some of the world’s finest ballet companies. She teamed with some of the most illustrious choreographers and dancers of her day. She was Artistic Associate with the Ballet from 2001 to 2005. In June 2005, she was named Artistic Director (effective July 1, 2005).

In 1976, Ms. Kain was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada, and in 1991 was promoted to Companion of the Order. She has received numerous awards in Canada and abroad for her artistic accomplishments and cultural work. She is the first Canadian to receive the international Cartier Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2001, she was named an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Government. In 2002, she received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement. She holds honorary degrees from Toronto, York, McMaster and Trent universities.

Karen Kain was appointed Chair of the Canada Council on September 14, 2004 for a five-year term.

Simon Brault - Vice-Chair of the Canada Council

(Montréal, Québec)

Originally from Montreal, Simon Brault has been Director General of the National Theatre School of Canada since 1997. He was the School’s Administrative Director from 1992 to 1997, during which time he was the driving force behind the project to restore the historic Monument-National in Montreal.

Convinced that the cultural milieu needed to increase its connections with other players in society, Mr. Brault was closely associated with the Forum d'action des milieux culturels de la Métropole from 1994 to 1999. He also initiated Journées de la culture, a massive undertaking first held in 1997 to popularize the arts and culture across Quebec. During the Sommet de Montréal in June 2002, he led a delegation of 20 leaders of the cultural community. He is also a founding member of Culture Montréal and has been its elected Chair since it began in 2002. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada In 2005.

A long-time advocate for cultural communities and a self-described “cultural development activist,” Mr. Brault began a five-year term as Vice-Chair of the Canada Council on March 31, 2004.

David Thauberger

(Regina, Saskatchewan)

David Thauberger is a visual artist educated at the University of Saskatchewan, where he graduated with a Fine Arts degree in 1971. He also holds a Master of Arts degree from California State University and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Montana. In 1976, he organized Grassroots Saskatchewan, the first major exhibition of Saskatchewan folk art from the Mackenzie Art Gallery, where he sat on the executive of their Board of Directors from 1995 to 2000. He also worked as a visual arts consultant for the Saskatchewan Arts Board from 1983 to 1985.

Represented in numerous Canadian collections, including the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, his award-winning artwork has been shown all across Canada and has earned him many commissions, including the design for two stamps for Canada Post: Regional Centennial 1882-1982, in 1982, and Our Home and Native Land, ten years later.

David Thauberger became a member of the Canada Council for the Arts on 26 February 2002. His term was renewed for an additional three years effective 26 February 2005.

Laurent Lapierre

(Montreal, Quebec)

Laurent Lapierre is a tenured professor who holds the Pierre Péladeau Chair in Leadership at HEC Montreal (formerly the School of Higher Commercial Studies of Montreal). He was the first Director-General of the Société artistique de l’Université Laval and the first Administrative Director of Théâtre du Trident. He has also served on the boards of directors of several other theatre companies, as well as that of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Lapierre is currently a member of the board of the Fonds d’investissement de la culture et des communications.

In 1997, Mr. Lapierre received the prestigious Teaching Award from the HEC, and, in 2001, the 3M Recognition in Education Award from the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. In 2003, the National Post, in collaboration with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, awarded him the Prix d’excellence in management studies (Quebec Region). In June of 2007, Mr. Lapierre was named a Member of the Order of Canada.

Laurent Lapierre was named to the board of the Canada Council on November 5, 2004, for a three-year term.

Tom Hill

(Ohsweken, Ontario)

Tom Hill has held prominent positions in the arts in Canada for over 30 years. As a curator, writer, art historian, volunteer and artist, he has played an influential role in the development of Aboriginal visual arts. A Konadaha Seneca, Hill studied at the Ontario College of Art; he also has a certificate in museums studies from the Ontario Museums Association. From his involvement in the Indians of Canada Pavilion at Expo ’67, he went on to become the first Aboriginal art curator in Canada.

A tireless contributor to countless committees and boards, he has lectured and written extensively. In 2004, he received a Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts for his many contributions to the arts in Canada. He also has an honorary doctorate from Wilfrid Laurier University. He has been museum director at the Woodland Cultural Centre near Brantford for over 20 years. Tom Hill lives in Ohsweken, Ontario.

Mr. Hill was appointed to the board of the Canada Council on November 25, 2004. His term is for three years.

Amir Ali Alibhai

(Burnaby, British Columbia)

Amir Ali Alibhai is a visual artist, independent curator and writer, who has been arts programmer at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Vancouver since it opened its doors in 1997. Before that, he worked for several years as an educator and guest curator at the Richmond Art Gallery and was Assistant Curator at the Surrey Art Gallery from 1995 to 1997. Mr. Amir Ali Alibhai earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts from the University of British Columbia in 1989. His professional practice led him back to university to complete a master's degree in curriculum studies in 2000; his thesis was on cross-cultural collaboration.

Amir Ali Alibhai was appointed for a 3-year term, effective May 12, 2005.

Manon Blanchette

(Montreal, Quebec)

Manon Blanchette began her career at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal in 1978 as an education officer. She was subsequently curator, senior curator, director of marketing and communications and director of client services.  From 1986 to 1991, she was senior curator at the Walter Phillips Gallery in Banff and from 1991 to 1992, cultural counsellor at the Canadian embassy in Paris as well as director of the Canadian Cultural Centre in the French capital.
 
Ms. Blanchette has written widely on contemporary art. She pursued post-graduate studies in Paris in 1984, and earned a doctorate in art practices and studies at UQAM in 2003.  She has taught art history and art criticism at the Université de Montréal and the Université de Chicoutimi. She is currently writing a book on video artist Bill Viola. A Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des lettres (France, 1992) and a Woman of Merit (Montreal Chamber of Commerce, 1997), she has lectured on art and art management in Canada and abroad for over 25 years. Since March of  2007, Manon Blanchette has been a consultant in arts management and in the acquisition of contemporary art.

President of the Canadian Music Centre (until 2003), Ms. Blanchette is a member of numerous boards, including the Board of Montreal Museum Directors. She was appointed to the board of the Canada Council on May 12, 2005 for a three-year term.

Esther S. Ondrack

(Spruce Grove, Alberta)

Esther S. Ondrack has extensive management experience in the petroleum industry. Currently associated with Chieftain Financial Ltd., Ms. Ondrack began her career at Canadian Chieftain Petroleums and was later employed at Chieftain Development Co. In 1981, she became Director of Chieftain Development and served in this capacity until the company was sold to Alberta Energy Company Ltd. She then participated in the formation of Chieftain International, a public company engaged in oil and gas exploration and production. She served as Director of this company until it was sold to an American company in 2001. Ms. Ondrack holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Alberta and sits on the boards of several organizations, including the Alberta Performing Arts Stabilization Fund and the Edmonton Symphony Society.

Esther S. Ondrack was appointed for a 3-year term, effective May 12, 2005.

Susan Mary (Dyer) Knight

(St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador)

Susan Knight is a choral conductor and music educator of international repute. A relentless advocate for music education, she also serves as a consultant, keynote speaker, clinician, adjudicator, editor and guest conductor. A socio-cultural entrepreneur, Ms. Knight follows a philosophy that celebrates the value of the arts to society, yet seeks to transcend that intrinsic value with extrinsic application. In her artistic and cultural practice with young people, she intentionally works through the transformative power of the arts to create community, nurture cultural identity, promote leadership and consciously develop critical agents of change.

Ms. Knight is the artistic director of Shallaway (formerly the Newfoundland Symphony Youth Choir) which she founded in 1992. She also founded Festival 500 in 1994, a biennial international choral festival in St. John’s, which she initiated as a means of cultural affirmation and exponential economic renewal for Newfoundland and Labrador. She was invested in the Order of Canada in 2004, and the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2005, and holds an honorary doctorate from Memorial University.

She was appointed to the board of the Canada Council for the Arts for a 3-year term, effective September 15, 2006.