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Allison Ochoa (Grovenor)
Allison Ochoa (Grovenor) is a multidisciplinary artist, musician, and proud mother of three. Allison grew up in Glenwood, part of a multicultural family of musicians and educators. She is a contributing artist to the YEG Dignity Mural, a 127 foot mural located in the Churchill station LRT Pedway; and is an active collaborator with Action on Ableism, a working group of artists with disabilities who employ artistic processes to respond to lived experiences of ableism, and engage in meaningful community actions and dialogue. Allison is keenly interested in community based art as a healing cultural practice for community building, transformation, renewal and celebration. Allison is delighted to bring together diverse artistic collaborators to produce the Jasper Place Arts Festival, and form the Jasper Place Arts Society.
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Taro Hashimoto (Canora)
T22 (Taro Hashimoto) has a background of being a multi-disciplinary artist, musician, film/video creator and producer from western Canada. He is a second generation Japanese descent creator. Having rekindled a visual art career, while caring for his wife and children through medical complications pre and post birth of his third child, T22 had been facilitating and producing music and arts projects in community/social development settings (professional), but was born again as a panel artist in 2022; focussing exclusively on art, which allowed him to stay closer to home, and continue to produce creative works.
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Alex Labarda (Grovenor)
Alex Labarda is an arts educator specializing in children’s programs for City Arts Center and is the founder of his own online arts program Art Club Online. As a professional artist, his mural work can be found in schools throughout Alberta and his paintings have been displayed at the Art Gallery of Alberta and most recently The Naess Gallery. His cartoon characters, Polar and Brooklyn, have appeared in many of his works and an upcoming graphic novel is under development.
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Sheena Misenas (Jamieson)
Sheena Misenas is a graduate of the MacEwan University Music Program, is a vocalist, songwriter, and music educator. She co-owns and operates Edmonton Music Lessons with her husband providing music education in West Edmonton. As an Early Childhood Music Educator for the City Arts Centre and Literacy Specialist at the Centre for Family Literacy, she advocates for learners of all ages. Sheena performs with local bands, including her newest project Funk the Matriarchy - A Female Funk Revue. Sheena believes the arts can foster connection and create a sense of community.
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Elizabeth Sommer (Glenwood)
Elizabeth (Lisi) Sommer BMus 1993; has been a professional sound technician since 1993 working for the Edmonton Jazz Society which operates the Yardbird Suite, Edmonton Jazz Festival Society which produces the Edmonton International Jazz Festival and the Jazzworks Youth Music Festival, and also as a freelance sound technician. She has also been involved in planning and producing fundraisers for various charities, and producing shows for individual artists. In addition Elizabeth is an accomplished singer and songwriter who has performed at several music festivals in Eastern and Western Canada. Elizabeth has also held various volunteer positions with the Edmonton Jazz Society including Volunteer Coordinator and her current role as Production coordinator. She has volunteered for the North Country Fair as a Stage Manager, and for many theater and arts festivals in Edmonton.
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Don Ross (Meadowlark Park)
Don Ross is a clarinetist who plays some 150 shows a year, spli between classical, jazz, world and experimental music. He plays regularly with such groups as Saint Crispin’s Chamber Ensemble, the Gadjo Collective gypsy band, New Music Edmonton, the Alberta Symphony, Crescendo Orchestra, Opera Nuova, The Billie Zizi Swing Band, Mile Zero Dance and many others. He teaches clarinet at the University of Alberta, MacEwan, Concordia, King’s and MusiCamp Alberta. His work as a composer and project leader have won multiple grants from the Canada Council, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Edmonton Arts Council. He studied at the Universities of Alberta and Toronto and at Northwestern in Chicago.He has long service with arts boards including the Edmonton Arts Council, the Alberta Band Association, the Alberta Media Arts Alliance and the Boreal Electroacoustic Music Society. He is excited about building a local arts community within a walkable area in the west end. West end artists flourish in all disciplines he’s excited to see what new synergies evolve from bringing them together.
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Brett Myers (Patricia Heights)
Brett Myers is an experienced construction subcontractor and 15 years business owner. As a former director for the Rio Terrace community league, Brett coordinated the installation of a photovoltaic solar system and an energy efficiency retrofit, resulting in a 14 tonne reduction in annual emissions. Brett studied architecture, and is an active community member with a keen interest in the arts.
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Garth Prince (Canora)
Garth Prince is a JUNO award winning vocalist, drummer, educator and recording artist who delivers exciting and engaging concerts and workshops that treat audiences to a taste of his native homeland in southern Africa. Joy radiates through his original songs and his arrangements of traditional folk songs, taking listeners on a musical safari. His latest children’s album with picture-book garnered him multiple awards and nominations including the Canadian JUNO Award for "Children's Album of the Year" in 2022. Thousands of families and educators around the globe enjoy his educational music videos. He continues to produce music that preserves the cultural heritage of Africa for future generations and helps non-Africans discover exotic languages, cultural insight and musical tales from across the Motherland.