About Us

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.

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.

Ashley Huston is excited to join the team, bringing her passion and expertise to our Aki Creators platform. With over 20 years of experience in advertising sales, she has built strong relationships with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit organizations, including the Canadian Council for Indigenous Business, the Ontario Native Women’s Association, and the Chiefs of Ontario.

Originally from Manitoba, Ashley’s deep connection to nature has shaped her personal and professional journey. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, hiking, and exploring new destinations. She also volunteers as a Community Connector and Champion for the Moose Hide Campaign.

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.

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.

Luana Shirt is Plains Cree - Anishinaabe kwe. Born in Treaty 6 Territory in Alberta, Luana's family relocated east in her early years and she was raised in Toronto among her Great Lakes relatives, the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Nations.

In the 1980s, she graduated from Wandering Spirit Survival School, Canada’s first urban Indigenous school, founded by her parents on the principle of ‘Self-Determination through Native Way Education’. A visual artist, chartered herbalist, and Indigenous language curriculum developer, Luana is deeply committed to promoting Indigenous ways of knowing and being.

Her work centers on Indigenous language advocacy, women’s holistic health and wellness, the arts, and the revitalization of traditional medicines. A mother of two, she currently resides in the Simcoe County region.

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.