OUR TEAM

Red Sky Performance is at the forefront of contemporary Indigenous performance in Canada and worldwide.

Since its creation in 2000 by founder Sandra Laronde, Red Sky’s vision is to lead in the creation, elevation, and evolution of contemporary Indigenous performance and make a significant contribution to the vibrancy of Canada and the world.

Touring since 2003, we have garnered critical acclaim both at home and abroad. Since our inception, we have proudly delivered close to 3,000 performances across Canada, including international performances in 21 countries on four continents.

SANDRA LARONDE

Executive & Artistic Director
         

Executive & Artistic Director of Red Sky, Sandra Laronde, M.S.C, OOnt, O.M.C., B.A. (Hon), Hon. LL.D is from the Teme-Augama-Anishinaabe (People of the Deep Water) in Temagami, northern Ontario and based in Toronto. A highly accomplished innovator, artist, and visionary leader in arts and culture, Sandra has conceived, developed, produced, and disseminated award-winning productions that are Indigenous, multi and inter-disciplinary, and intergenerational in scope. She consistently creates exceptional new work that elevates Indigenous artistry and contributes significantly to the vibrancy of Canada and the world.

Click here for Sandra Laronde's full biography.

GENERAL MANAGER

KATHY MORRISON

General Manager

Kathy Morrison (Scottish/Anishinaabe/French) began her career in arts management at the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity where she worked as Program Manager in Writing & Publishing for 4 years. Following a writing sabbatical, she returned as Program Manager of Indigenous Arts at Banff for eight years. Under the leadership of Sandra Laronde, she contributed to the successful delivery of exceptional programming for Indigenous storytellers, musicians, singers, dancers, writers, and filmmakers. From 2017-2019, she worked at ILBIJERRI Theatre in Melbourne, Australia's leading First Nations theatre company. She has a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University in Montreal and a Master of Science in Writing & Cultural Politics from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

FINANCE ADMINISTRATOR

EMMA WALKER

Finance Administrator

Emma Walker is an arts and financial manager who has done work for several charities and non-profits including Toronto Dance Theatre, Tarragon Theatre, and the Heliconian Club. She also teaches in the arts management program at the University of Toronto, Scarborough. Emma completed an M.B.A. specializing in non-profit management, arts administration, and public policy at the Schulich School of Business. Before studying business, she studied fine arts, earning a Master’s in dance and BFAs in both dance and music.

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

YUI UGAI

Administrative Assistant

Yui Ugai is thrilled to join Red Sky Performance as Administrative Assistant. She is a Toronto-based movement artist originally from Hiroshima, Japan. She holds a BFA in Dance and Music from Kobe Jogakuin University and an Honours BFA and MFA in Dance at York University in Toronto. Yui is passionate in her pursuit of arts administration and supporting dance companies, artists, and community with her experience as a dance artist and an educator. 

ELIOT BRITTON

Composer + Sound Designer

Eliot Britton is passionate about Canadian music culture, seeking new and engaging aesthetic directions that use technology to enhance expression. His eclectic music experience ranges from gramophones to video games, drum machines, orchestra to electronic chamber music. A member of the Manitoba Métis Federation, Eliot recently completed his PhD at Schulich School of Music at McGill University. He is the recipient of the SSHRC Bombardier Scholarship, the Hugh Le Caine and Serge Garant SOCAN awards, and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation Award. He is the composer of Adizokan, a TSO Commission in partnership with Red Sky Performance and he won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Composition and Sound Design for Trace and AF (both with Red Sky). He is currently an assistant professor of composition at the University of Toronto, a co-director of the Cluster New Music and Integrated Arts Festival, and Composer-in-Residence at Red Sky Performance.

LESLEY HAMPTON

Costume Designer 

Lesley is a rising fashion designer of Anishinaabe and Mohawk ancestry. Her formative years were spent in Canada's Arctic and Atlantic regions as well as Australia, England, Indonesia, and New Caledonia. Currently based in Toronto, Lesley received her International Baccalaureate Diploma from ACS Hillingdon International School in London, England, a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Toronto and Sheridan College, with a specialty in Art Studio and Art History, and an Ontario College Diploma in Fashion Techniques and Design Diploma from George Brown College.

After graduation, Lesley established her headquarters and launched her atelier at the Toronto Fashion Incubator, LESLEY HAMPTON. Since then, she was featured in international press such as Vogue UK, Vogue Italia, Teen Vogue, Elle, Flare, The Kit, USA TODAY, FOX, CBC, ETalk, and Your Morning. Her collections have shown at Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto, Vancouver, London Fashion week, Santa Fe Indian Market, and she represented First Nations women at the “Every Woman Campaign”. Lesley made her debut as a Costume Designer with Red Sky Performance and has designed for Flow and Miigis: Underwater Panther.

CARLOS RIVERA

Inaugural Associate  Artist

Carlos Rivera is a director, choreographer, performer and the inaugural Associate Artist of Red Sky Performance. Originally from Mexico City and of Mixteco Indigenous descent, he graduated from the National Theatre School in 2018 and is currently enrolled in the MFA in Directing for Theatre at the University of Ottawa. Carlos has performed in seven of Red Sky’s productions, toured extensively with the company all over the world, and still collaborates with Red Sky in various creative capacities. Recently, he created Tlakentli (Ondinook), a dance work with Leticia Vera about inhabiting multiple cultural identities which toured across Canada.

WISDOM + CULTURE KEEPERS

DON KAVANAUGH

Wisdom + Culture Keeper

Niigaanipinens izhiniikaazo, Makwan ododeman (Don Kavanaugh) is Anishinaabe from the Lake of the Woods and lives in Animakee Wa Zhing First Nation. Don currently works as a Mineral Development Advisor for Anishinaabeg of Kabapikotawangag Resource Council. He became involved in theatre in 1996 while working as the Executive Director for the Lake of the Woods Ojibway Cultural Centre. As a participant of traditional powwow dance for more than four decades, Don is a firm believer in his culture and its traditional teachings. Since 1991, his work has been integral to arts and cultural development in the Kenora area where he supports artists and community members to pursue arts activities. Don has been a Cultural Advisor, instructor and performer at the Centre for Indigenous Theatre’s Summer South Program at Trent University, and at the Summer West Program at the University of Lethbridge. Following a 7-year hiatus from arts, Don returned to pursue the arts in a more supportive role. In 2016, he supported the Lake of the Woods Ojibway Cultural Centre’s arts programming revitalization efforts and in 2017, he was involved in 2 projects- No Wilderness: This Is Home and Summer Stories: The Northwest Angle- Treaty 3 Territory.

AMOS KEY

Wisdom + Culture Keeper

Taehowęhs - Amos Key - was born into the Onkwehonweh Civilization and is a member of Mohawk Nation, gifted into the Turtle Clan of his Mother and conferred to the Sacred Circle of Faith Keepers of the Longhouse at Six Nations of Grand River Territory. Amos is an educator and staunch advocate for Civil and Linguistic Rights, Social Justice, Indigenous Education and Self-Governance for Indigenous Peoples. His early career began as First Nation Guidance Counselor and Native Studies Teacher at the London Board of Education. He continues to be an an advocate for ‘synchronous’ e-learning secondary school education and has held elected appointments and engagements at local, provincial and federal levels. He provides leadership on a reconciliation project called ‘Save the Evidence' which would create a museum and interpretation centre at the former Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School and establish Canada’s first ‘Canadian Museum of Conscience’ (CMC). He is currently Vice-Provost of Indigenous Engagement at Brock University and in 2017, was also appointed to the University of Toronto’s Centre for Indigenous Studies to lead courses on Reconciliation and Languages in a tenure track position as Assistant Professor.