Find out more about the industry experts who shape the MACMP program, keeping it current and tailored to Manitoba’s arts and cultural sector.

Spencer Duncanson - 
MACMPAC Chair; Artistic Director, Little Opera Company

Spencer Duncanson is an arts educator and performer. A talented operatic singer, Spencer also has experience in film and stage as a narrator and actor. He is the founding Artistic Director of The Little Opera Company.

Spencer is the Visual and Performing Arts Department Head at Sisler High School in Winnipeg, where he coordinates the fine art, band, choral music, dance and drama programs. He has been a sessional arts instructor at the University of Manitoba and teaches voice at the Manitoba Conservatory of Music & Arts. He has initiated many arts based projects and programs, including the establishment of one of the first public school dance programs in Manitoba and the development of mentorship projects with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

Spencer is Past Chair the Winnipeg Arts Council and has served on the boards of Dance Manitoba and the Manitoba Music Educators Association. He is a member of ACTRA, the Manitoba Choral Association and the Arts Education Group. In the past, Spencer has been a committee member of the Manitoba Regional Music Festival and the Manitoba Provincial Honour Choir.

Spencer Duncanson holds a Masters of Education in Curriculum/Arts Education and a Post Baccalaureate Certificate in School Counseling from the University of Manitoba. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Music Education form Brooklyn College in New York and is a graduate of vocal performance at the University of Nevada-Reno.

Roberta Christianson - Chair, Manitoba Foundation for the Arts

Ms. Christianson is currently Chair of the Manitoba Foundation for the Arts, is Vice-Chair of Arts Stabilization Manitoba, President of the Portage and District Arts Council and a member of the ArtsSmarts Portage Committee.  She was Chair of the Manitoba Arts Council for seven years and in the past has served as Chair or President of the Manitoba Dance Theatre, and the Manitoba Arts Gaming Fund Commission.  She has served on the Board of Directors of Prairie Theatre Exchange and as Vice Chair of Manitoba’s Arts Policy Review Committee.

Larry Desrochers - 
General Director and CEO, Manitoba Opera

Larry Desrochers is a respected theatre director and arts administrator. His 25-year career spans work in the theatre, festivals, film, events and opera. Among the positions he has held are: Founding Executive Producer of the Winnipeg Fringe Festival; Associate Artistic Director of the Manitoba Theatre Centre; Marketing/Development Associate for Prairie Theatre Exchange; and Director/Producer of the 1999 Pan Am Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Desrochers also served as Executive Director of the Winnipeg Film Group prior to joining Manitoba Opera in 2001 where he is now General Director & CEO. In 2003, the University of Winnipeg made Desrochers a Distinguished Alumni in recognition of his contribution to the arts community in Manitoba.

Richard Irish - 
Vice President, Community Affairs & Area Marketing, Investors Group

Responsible for the strategic development and direction of Investors Group’s community investment and sponsorship programs, Richard also oversees a team of area marketers who support the local marketing activities of the Investors Group marketing councils and Region Offices. After five years in private practice in the areas of corporate and commercial law, Richard joined Investors Group in 1987. For more than 18 years, Richard and his team have created a wide range of marketing sponsorships, client and prospect events, referral and lead generation programs as well as community outreach programs ranging from professional golf and figure skating sponsorships to cultural events to social marketing initiatives. More recently, Richard’s role has been expanded to include the strategic direction and utilization of the Investors Group Charitable Giving Program.

A frequent presenter on sponsorship, community relations, and corporate citizenship issues, Richard is also an active community volunteer. He has chaired Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers and the Manitoba Opera. He has been a board member for Volunteer Manitoba, the Downtown Winnipeg Business Improvement Zone, United Way of Winnipeg and Pantages Playhouse Theatre. Richard was a founding member of the Conference Board of Canada’s Business-Education Partnerships Forum and was vice-chair of the Conference Board of Canada’s Corporate Community Investment Council. Other voluntary positions have included work for the 1999 Pan American Games Society, CancerCare Manitoba and the Juvenile Diabetes Association of Manitoba. 

Richard Irish is currently Deputy-Chair of the United Way of Winnipeg’s Community Investment Committee and an Agency Liaison Volunteer. He is also a member of the Corporate Citizenship Committee for Imagine Canada.

Barbara Anne Nepinak - 
Founder and Coordinator, Summer Bear Dance Troupe

Barbara Nepinak, a trained Cultural Awareness Coordinator, is a registered band member of the Pine Creek Ojibway First Nation who resides in urban Winnipeg. Barbara has mentored many individuals both in the federal government and other public sector agencies.

Barbara is the Founder and Coordinator of the SummerBear Dance Troupe, a First Nation performing group. The Dance Troupe has received several awards and has had the opportunity to travel such places as Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Sweden and recently Taiwan.

Barbara has received the Recognition Award for ‘Honouring Women of Distinction’ from the Original Women’s Network in Manitoba.  Barbara was recognized by the Inter-provincial Association of Native Employment in Manitoba for her contributions in support of Aboriginal employment.

Currently, Barbara is a national board member for Cultural Human Resources Council and First Director of the Manitoba Aboriginal Arts Council Inc. She is a member of the Canadian Executive Service Organization, the Inter-Provincial Association of Native Employment, and the Manitoba Aboriginal Human Resources Strategists.

Cynthia Rempel-Patrick - 
Executive Director, Steinbach Arts Council

Cynthia (Cindi) is the Executive Director of the Steinbach Arts Council, where she has initiated program development in dance, music, theatre and visual arts. She has completed the Arts and Cultural Management Certificate Program at the University of Winnipeg. Cyndi is classically trained in voice and piano, and has taught music privately for 22 years. She performed for six years with the Treble Teens show choir, touring Europe and North America. She has been an accompanist on piano a solo organist, choral director and stage manager. Cyndi has an entrepreneurial background and has designed, manufactured and sold custom clothing throughout Western Canada.

Cyndi’s extensive volunteer service includes serving as President of Southeastern Manitoba Music and Arts Festival, member of Southeastern Manitoba Music Teachers Association, and the Eastman representative for the Manitoba Arts Network. She is also the Board Treasurer for the Arts & Cultural Industries Association of Manitoba.

Douglas Riske - 
Executive Director, Manitoba Arts Council

Douglas Riske has been Executive Director of the Manitoba Arts Council, a provincial agency responsible for the funding of professional artists and arts organizations in Manitoba for the past nine years.

Riske has 40 years of experience in the Canadian professional arts and cultural sector, including work as an actor, stage manager, director, artistic director, producer, consultant, teacher and cultural manager.

Trained at the Banff Centre of Fine Arts and the University of Alberta, Douglas has also studied in England and Europe courtesy of Canada Council awards. His work as an artistic director and director has taken him across Canada to theatres in Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna, Richmond, Victoria, Vancouver, plus the Stratford Festival and Winnipeg’s Manitoba Theatre Centre. In 1996 he was appointed Executive Director of the Yukon Arts Centre Corporation in Whitehorse.

Riske has also been active in various industry associations including Canadian Actors Equity Association and ACTRA, the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres, the Association of Cultural Executives and is the Past Chair of the Steering Committee of the Canadian Public Arts Funders. He has received both the Queen’s Silver and Golden Jubilee Medals, recognizing his work in the sector.

Thom Sparling - 
Executive Director, Arts & Cultural Industries Association of Manitoba

Thom Sparling has spent many years working in the local music industry in Winnipeg, playing various roles such as record label owner, venue manager, record producer, band manager, consultant, and live sound and lighting technician.

At the University of Manitoba Programming Department Thom was involved in the production of shows at various university venues. Thom helped to found the West End Cultural Centre as venue manager, publicist, show producer and acting general manager. In 1991 he launched the critically acclaimed indie label, Oh Yah! Records.

Thom was the founding Executive Director of the Western Canadian Music Awards from 2002 to 2005.

Currently Thom is the Executive Director of ACI Manitoba, an organization dedicated to training, infrastructure development and sustainability in the arts and cultural sector in Manitoba.

Andrea Reichert - Curator, Manitoba Crafts Museum and Library

Andrea Reichert has been the Curator of the Manitoba Crafts Museum and Library since 2000. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto’s Master of Museum Studies Program and has been an active member of the museum community in Winnipeg since the early 1990s. She has taught the Association of Manitoba Museum’s Collections Management Course for many years. She is also Collections Manager at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame & Museum.

In her spare time, she enjoys reading, various crafts, cycling, gardening, and spending time with her 3 year old daughter.

Trudy Schroeder, Executive Director, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

Trudy believes in the importance of a strong arts presence in a community to inspire, entertain, renew, and challenge its citizens. She started her career in arts administration as an arts and cultural policy and programs consultant for the cities of Gloucester and Ottawa. After moving to Winnipeg, she worked on a series of arts and cultural policy projects including the City of Winnipeg Cultural Policy Review. Trudy Schroeder is currently the Executive Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. The WSO is noted for its openness to new programs, new music, and new collaborations. The WSO New Music Festival is known internationally for its commitment to new works and new partnerships. In 2010, the WSO collaborated with climate change scientists from the U of M to highlight the concerns about the arctic and global warming. Recently, the WSO completed its second Indigenous Festival, an exciting program that found extraordinary musicians from a range of indigenous musical traditions and created a week of exploration and discovery.

Prior to accepting her current leadership role in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, she held the position of Executive Director for the Winnipeg Folk Festival for ten years. While she worked at the Folk Festival, the organization entered a period of significant growth, stability and creativity. New programs including education and outreach initiatives were added and a year round presence was established. The Winnipeg Folk Festival was recognized as the best folk festival in North America by the North American Folk Alliance and as the Festival or Tourism Event of the year by the Canadian Tourism Council.

Trudy is active as a volunteer in Winnipeg and on national boards relating to the arts and civic engagement. Trudy has been recognized for her contribution to community projects and organizational development with a number of awards: Mayor’s Award for outstanding contributions to the Exchange District Business Improvement Zone, May 2010; CMU Alumni Blazer Award, October 2009; Exchange District BIZ Award of Excellence, November 2008; Winnipeg YM/YWCA Woman of Distinction, arts and culture, May 2008.

Trudy holds an MBA from the University of Manitoba, an Arts Management Certificate from the University of Ottawa, an ARCT (Vocal Performance) from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and a B.A. (Political Science) from the University of Winnipeg. She also studied in the Vocal Performance program at Laval University in Quebec City for three years.

Vicki Young - Arts Administrator

Vicki Young has been working as an arts administrator for over 30 years with organizations across Canada and in the UK. She has worked as a general manager, consultant, manager of multiple concurrent small arts organizations, administrator of a university department and artists’ agent. After studying ballet for nearly 15 years, including a year in London, England, she obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration and then an MBA, and has taught business courses through the Department of Continuing Education for the University of Manitoba. She has served on the boards of a nursery school, rowing club, arts council, new music series, contemporary dance company, and the Alliance for Arts Education in Manitoba, and was co-founder of a children’s performing arts series in Fredericton that has continued to thrive in the ensuing 23 years.

Jean Armstrong - Executive Director, Portage and District Arts Centre

Jean Armstrong has been the Executive Director of the Portage & District Arts Centre since early 2005. She moved to Portage la Prairie from Thunder Bay, Ontario where she worked for the Thunder Bay Symphony and served on several boards including the Ontario Crafts Council, the Thunder Bay Symphony, and the Ontario Trillium Foundation. She was a potter for 25 years before developing an interest in arts administration. Her training took place “on the job” for the most part, although she has taken courses in business administration and accounting.

Mike Malyk - Human Resources Manager, Winnipeg Art Gallery

Mike Malyk has more than 25 years experience in Human Resources and General management in diverse business environments. Mike is an excellent recruiter skilled at recruiting, interviewing and selecting candidates up to and including professional positions. He is a strong counselor skilled at a helping individuals make appropriate career and life choices. Mike is a superior communicator and facilitator adept at verbal and written communication to all levels of an organization. He is currently completing his qualifications as a Certified Professional with the International Personnel Management Association (IPMA-CP) and currently is the Human Resources Manager at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Carman Johnston - Capital and Endowment Campaign Manager, Prairie Theatre Exchange

Carman is currently the Capital and Endowment Campaign Manager for Prairie Theatre Exchange’s $2.2 million capital and $4 million endowment project. He has been with PTE since 2002 working on the marketing and promotion of PTE as well as fundraising. He has a Bachelor of Journalism with Honours from Carleton University.

Carman is actively involved in the volunteer run gay and lesbian film festival, Reel Pride for the past ten years. He was on the Board of Winnipeg Arts Council for two terms. He volunteered on Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers’ fundraising committee.

Prior to working at Prairie Theatre Exchange, Carman worked on the Centre for Music, Art and Design at the University of Manitoba and worked in the development department at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

Carol Finlay - Director, Education & Training Development, ACI Manitoba

Carol Finlay grew up in a family in Winnipeg where creativity is valued. Her sister is a professional jazz musician and Carol’s passion is arts management. As the Director, Education and Training Development at the Arts and Cultural Industries Association of Manitoba, Carol’s focus is to deliver training programs that help artists develop business and career management skills, and to help people working in arts and cultural organizations learn administrative and management skills.

Carol’s musical background paved the way for another passion of the past 15 years: teaching piano. Carol has worked in business, not for profit, government, and union settings; all within the arts and culture sector.

As a lifelong learner, Carol earned her Bachelor of Arts, a Management Certificate, and the Manitoba Arts and Cultural Management Certificate. She sits on two Advisory Councils: Red River College’s Volunteer Management Program and the University of Winnipeg Arts and Cultural Management Program.