Gathering Divergence Multi-Arts Festival & Conference Spring 2023
Register today!
May 16 & 18 online | May 19 in-person
Location: Winchester Street Theatre
80 Winchester St, Toronto, ON M4X 1B2
The Gathering Divergence Interdisciplinary Festival & Conference is a festival and conference with a specific focus on Indigenous, racialized, deaf, disabled and mad, women and other historically – marginalized arts communities. Held over 3 days, GDMAF/C features performances, literary readings, panels, workshops and creative investigations from diverse practices.
Artist Showcase: Gauri Sharma
Date: May 18, 2023 at 12:40 pm via Zoom
Gauri Sharma has been a dancer and a dance teacher for 15 years. She was Dr. Santosh Vyas’ student and has masters in Indian Classical Form-Kathak. For the last 5 years, Gauri has been teaching dance at local festivals, dance groups and school across the GTA including Guelph, Cambridge, and Kitchener. She performed and choreographed creative dances, Indian folk, classical form – Kathak and Bollywood in Canada.
Artist Showcase: Faith Jade
Date: May 18, 2023 at 3:00 pm via Zoom
Faith Jade is a dance artist, choreographer and educator in Toronto, Ontario. As an accomplished performer, Faith Jade works professionally as a choreographer and commercially as a dancer across the GTA. She is a proud graduate of York University’s Bachelor of Fine Arts program in Dance and Education, Bachelor of Education program, and is currently completing a Masters of Education focused on Blackness in Arts Education.
Faith Jade’s recent dance film titled “Feel” centres the connection between blackness, police brutality and mental health. This work captures the duality between outer perception and inner turmoil that often contribute the intersections of Blackness. This short work was presented at Toronto’s annual fundraising gala for mental health called “Let The Elephants Dance” in 2022.
Her passion for arts education and Black liberation through the arts stems form a desire to use her gift of creation to facilitate and hold space for underrepresented voices. As a Black-identifying dance artist, Faith Jade recognizes the need for black-affirming, excellence driven spaces and opportunities in order to elevate Black art within the Toronto community.
Register today!
General admission (per day): $15
Accessibility pricing (per day): $5
The full schedule is available here.
Jessica Singh is social development professional with 15+ years of experience in arts and community engagement. She is an Oxford graduate with excellent evidence-based research and documentation skills. She has been writing grants for artists and arts and culture organizations and has raised $2 million+ single handedly through government grants at municipal, provincial, and federal level. She was recently on the grant review committee for Canada Council for the Arts. Jessica is the Founder and Director of Logic Lane Consulting Inc. She currently serves on the board of North York Arts and Council of Agencies Serving South Asians and has had the opportunity to work with organizations like the World Bank, Plan UK, Credit Suisse, GIZ, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, US Department of State, Centre for Social Innovation, TedX Toronto and Plan International Canada.
Emily Peltier is an independent curator, programmer, and advocate for the wellbeing of 2SLGBTQ+ people and communities, everywhere.
Sehar Bhojani is a Muslim-Canadian artist, producer, arts leader, and dog-mom. She is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada’s acting program. As an actor, she has appeared in various commercials, television shows such as The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu) and Coroner (CBC), and films Punchline (short) and feature film SLAXX (EMA Films/Amazon Prime Video). As a producer, Sehar has worked with a number of Canadian Theatre companies and is currently Associate Artistic Director of Theatre Direct in Toronto.
Kshama Patel is the Operations Manager at Arts Etobicoke. With a health promotion background, she has utilized her community building and program development/management skills in industries such as community health, education, tourism and small business. Whether working with students, parents and teachers to rebuild a playground or creating a program to welcome visitors to her mandir, her passion to create space where all people can participate has been integral to anything in which she becomes involved. She is passionate about community engagement and knows it’s the little things that make the big projects happen.
Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO) 
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