The Gathering Divergence
Multi-Arts Festival & Conference Spring 2025
Now and for the Future: Steps Towards Dismantling Inequities in the Arts
May 21-23, 2025
Online and at East End Arts (Toronto, ON)
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, visual arts exhibition, panels, workshops and creative investigations from diverse practices. Join us online on May 21 and May 22-23 in-person at East End Arts (St. Matthew’s Clubhouse, 450 Broadview Avenue, Toronto, ON M4K 2N3).
Toward Pluralism: Organizational Development – Fri. May 23 schedule:
10:05 am Land Acknowledgment and Welcome
10:15 am Keynote by Kshama Patel and Wendy Rading, Etobicoke Arts
10:30 am Now and for the Future of the Arts Sector: Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity Towards
Pluralism (EDIP) in Action session
11:45 am Moving Together/Arriving Together (MT/AT) Toolkit workshop
12:45 pm Break
1:00 pm Artist Showcase: Roger Sinha
1:30 pm Advancing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: A Reunion of CPAMOPOC Organizations
session
2:30 pm Artist Showcase: Patrick Walters
2:45 pm Wildsoma Gathering in Motion: Embodied Practices for Collective Thriving workshop
Line Drawing Creative Process: Alek Phan
4:15 pm Artist Showcase: Robert Ball
About the sessions:
Now and for the Future of the Arts Sector: Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity Towards Pluralism (EDIP) in Action
Is there still a need for acronyms EDI, pluralism, accessibility, and inclusion? Seems like Passy conversations to have within the arts sector. This discussion will look at the need to continue the conversation around equity, diversity, and inclusion in the arts. It will assess the efficacy of EDI strategies to date and begin to strategize for the ongoing EDI work in the arts sector, which benefits all contributors to the sector.
Advancing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: A Reunion of CPAMOPOC Organizations
Over almost the past 10 years, CPAMO has supported the education of Arts organizations in developing their education and strategies in Pluralism and Organizational Change (CPAMOPOC) with 74 organizations. This session will be specific to the organizations that have developed and been educated through the process of pluralism and organizational change. This is the first convening of the 74 organizations that have been impacted by this particular program with CPAMO. This session will include strategies for continuing the work within organizations, explorations of shared practice, and envisioning partnerships through organizations in the future. Organizations interested in joining CPAMOPOC 6 are encouraged to email education[@]cpamo.org with an expression of interest to join this session.
About the workshops:
Moving Together/Arriving Together (MT/AT) Toolkit
The Decolonising Creative Partnerships Toolkit was developed in collaboration with artists and organisations connected to the Arrivals Legacy Project community. Our exploration is intentional, evolutionary, and creative. The tools found here are creative seeds, or in-process artistic works across mediums, planted to spark discourse amongst artists responding to prompts under the six themes: https://arrivalslegacy.com/knowledge-base/mtattoolkit/
We are Arrivals Legacy Project
We guide, we gather and we challenge artists and creators to access and re-route their creative impulses by attuning to the wisdom of their ancestral stories.
We are here to ignite the joy of deepening creative collaborations that amplify and re-centre the rich cultural legacy of BIPOC artistry.
Wildsoma Gathering in Motion: Embodied Practices for Collective Thriving
Join Wild Soma as we explore embodied practices that centre creativity, connection and care. In these times of uncertainty and dissonance, this session offers practices that support and nurture an embodied, creative and responsive self, aligned with thriving in reciprocity with other beings. We will explore together across cultures, generations and diversity of practices, sharing intentional time and space, extending possibilities for learning from one another in movement, in embodied voicework, and in dialogue.
About Wild Soma
Wild Soma was formed in 2021 to support the research and practice of embodiment as a world making process. Core members Julia Aplin, Shannon Litzenberger, Andrea Nann and Roula Said are established dance artists, performance makers, movement facilitators and community mobilizers. Their shared interest in embodiment practice as a world-making proposal is the basis of their collaboration. Interested in animating the self-in-the-world relationship, Wild Soma is a platform to research, design, prototype and experiment with interventions that centre new ways of being through aesthetic embodied participatory experience. Concerned with the state of climate emergency and inspired by this time of important social change and growing interconnection, Wild Soma aims to recast the body as self, in specific relationships to the social, cultural, temporal and planetary ecosystems we live within. By illuminating a sense of interconnectedness within the living world, Wild Soma transforms aesthetic processes into a collective world-making practice. Wild Soma’s advisory circle includes Philip Davis, Danielle Denichaud, and Michelle Silagy.
About the artists:
Roger Sinha
Roger was born in London, England, to an Armenian mother and an Indian father. In 1968, his family immigrated to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He graduated from the School of the Toronto Dance Theatre in 1986, moved to Montreal in 1989, and founded Sinha Danse in 1991.
As artistic director and choreographer, Roger developed a distinctive hybrid style rooted in his Indian heritage and contemporary dance. His 1991 solo Burning Skin, addressing racism, remains a powerful and memorable work.
Over the years, more than 30 of his productions have toured across Canada and internationally. His choreography blends Bharata Natyam—a classical dance from Southern India—with martial arts and contemporary movement, creating a unique and original language.
Later in his career, he turned to music and spoken word. Under the name D3 EEZY—short for Didgeridoo, Dance, and Drum—he explored the fusion of sound and movement in new, innovative ways.
Patrick Walters
Patrick Walters is a recording artist and arts educator, originally from St. Kitts & Nevis, who is dedicated to storytelling. His work is a constant reminder to us to never give up on our own hopes and dreams, even in the face of the harsh realities of the world we live in.
After establishing himself as an arts educator and public speaker (York U 2015, TedxUTSC 2016, Toronto Public Library 2016 -2019), Patrick then released his debut album, The OffShore Account (October 2018).
He then performed at the Sony Centre for the Arts (November 2019) as a part of When Brother’s Speak, a showcase of some of the premiere Black male poets in North America. He also went on to release his 2nd studio album, “Human Nature” in November of 2022. Throughout this time, Patrick has also been focused on his arts education career as well as sharing his works of poetry on stages across North American cities and the Caribbean.
His ideals of perseverance and hope in the face of adversity have helped him to this point. A reminder that the sky’s the limit for us all.
Alek Phan Trúc
Alek Phan Trúc creates art that explores cultural heritage, identity, and nature. Their work uses cultural totems as a metaphor for time, bridging past, present, and future. They hold a B.A in Cultures and Literature, and postgraduate certificates in Arts Education, Community Engagement, and Digital Performance. Their work has been exhibited across Vietnam and Canada, and they have facilitated workshops internationally.
Line Drawing Creative Process:
Alek Phan Trúc creates a continuous one-line live drawing of diverse faces—representing people we encounter in life, from marginalized voices to those in positions of power. The unbroken line signifies the interwoven nature of our experiences in the arts, while the variations in detail or prominence can highlight systemic inequities—who gets to be fully seen, who fades into the background, and who is missing entirely.
Robert Ball
Robert Ball (He / Him) is a singer, multi-hyphenate artist and advocate “a voice that’s smooth as silk” – BroadwayWorld.com. His Theatre credits include; Evita, Jospeh, Chicago, Songs For A New World and Treemonisha. Robert appeared as principle character ‘Arthur’ in the movie ‘Christmas On 5th Ave’. He was featured in the Stratford Festivals Streaming Cabaret series “Canadian Mix-Tape” and “Up Close & Musical”. Robert is a Vocal Coach and Mentor with NIA Centre for the Arts and Vocal Tutorial Coach at Sheridan College, and the recipient of the inaugural ‘Black Shoulders Award’.
As a solo artist Robert has opened for Mya, Big Freeda and toured Pride festivals – Toronto, Kingston – Jamaica, Brooklyn – NY, Washington – DC, London – Ontario and toured with the ‘Freedom Cabaret’ and ‘The Legends of Motown”.
Robert has produced; ‘JOY’ a livestream concert featuring; Gary Beals, Tafari Anthony & R.Flex – ‘FOPOV’ – podcast hosted by Hollywood Jade – currently; Tweetations Musical Review. “
Sehar Bhojani is an actor and producer based in Hamilton. 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.. As a producer, Sehar has worked with a number of Canadian Theatre companies and is currently Associate Artistic Director of Theatre Direct.
Christina Loewen (she/her), Executive Director, Association for Opera in Canada
Jennifer Brown, Chief Executive Officer
Jacoba Knaapen is the Executive Director at the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), an arts service organization that represents 107 professional theatre, dance and opera companies in Toronto. As a champion for the performing arts, Jacoba has worked in Toronto’s cultural sector for over four decades. She is the founder of hipTIX and the citySPECIAL, two popular TAPA programs that help to reach youth, new Canadians and marginalized communities. At TAPA she is also the long-time Producer of the Dora Mavor Moore Awards, Canada’s largest and oldest theatre award show and recently led the DORAS to become the first professional theatre award show in Canada to present gender-neutral awards. 
Parul Pandya has been skillfully working in non-profit in various roles through the past decade, including as a community builder, consultant, programmer and producer. After managing in community granting for the largest government funder in Canada, she seamlessly transferred her knowledge, passion and skills to open her own consulting practice. Community Impact Non-Profit Consulting strategically enables community engagement and equitable innovation. She has had the honour to work with such clients as StreetART Toronto, North York Arts, WorkinCulture and many other local service organizations. Parul is a highly in- demand teacher and facilitator, delivering over 30 trainings around anti- oppression, equity and community-engaged arts education.
Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO) 
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