CARFAC Alberta Staff
INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Tara Vahab is an artist, educator, entrepreneur and motivator. Tara received her BFA from University of Calgary in 2015 although she has been practicing visual arts professionally since the age of nine. Tara believes she has two main missions:
1) continue producing more art, and 2) promote arts values, its benefits and importance in our multicultural society. Coming from a diverse background, Tara has advocated for arts in every city she has ever lived. As a founder of LOUD Art Society, a non-profit organization that enhances mental health through art and creativity, she provides access to public art education and promotes art as a practice for positive psychology and development of higher emotional intelligence.
In her role as an engagement coordinator, Tara is a source of empowerment for Alberta professional visual artists. Tara’s vision is to spread awareness and create peace and unity. Through her art, she explores subjects of humanity, empathy and joy using newspapers and bright colours.
PROGRAM + DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR: Sharon Moore-Foster is a professional visual artist, art educator, motivational speaker and facilitator with over forty years experience. In her 20 years experience in non-profit arts organizations, and currently in her role as the Program and Development Coordinator, she provides mentorship and professional development opportunities to help artists build their professional practices. She is dedicated both personally and professionally to developing involved artistic / creative communities.
OPERATIONS COODINATOR: Danyon Reeves graduated from the University of Alberta’s BDes program in 1996, majoring in Visual Communications Design and minoring in Sculpture. He has lived and worked in Calgary and Toronto, where he developed award-winning websites for VTape and The Walrus magazine. He is not looking forward to the impending dark age.
CARFAC – Alberta Board of Directors
2024-25 Board
PRESIDENT: Todd Janes is a cultural worker who loves both casual and intentional interactions with people. He is a contemporary recovering performance artist and curator having curated and organised hundreds of exhibitions, interventions and exhibitions. He is one of the founding members of Nuit Blanche Edmonton; Visualeyez, an annual festival of performance art; and worked with Latitude 53 for over 20 years as their Executive Director where he placed the treatment of artists as professionals foremost. He has served on community, provincial and national Boards including a fairly notable stint as President of ARCA for nine years. He is deeply invested in advocacy work and community development as a settler based in Amiskwaciwâskahikan – Edmonton. He is excited to join the Board of CARFAC Alberta and to work with the membership, Board and staff to help build upon the strong organization created through the good work of others.
VICE PRESIDENT (SOUTHERN ALBERTA): Gurjit Mann Toor is a transformational project management professional with extensive technical and management experience. With a strategic and governance-focused approach, she excels in delivering solutions for complex systems and process challenges across diverse industries. Gurjit’s entrepreneurial passion has led her to initiate a variety of businesses in construction, fitness, consulting, fine art, public speaking, and mentorship.
Her specialty lies in strategy and planning, where she aligns vision with actionable roadmaps in construction projects, digital transformation projects, and operational models. Gurjit is adept at managing projects from initiation to execution, ensuring milestone-based deliverables with turnkey solutions. Committed to governance and audit excellence, she offers insightful assessments and recommendations. Gurjit prioritizes stakeholder engagement, maintaining clear communication to facilitate swift and sound decision-making.
Gurjit brings valuable insights and leadership to guide organizational growth with strategic initiatives.
TREASURER: Abdul Anjum, CPA As a senior accountant at Crowe Mackay LLP, I am responsible for leading and managing Assurance services across multiple industry sectors most notably, government, privately held businesses and not-for-profits. Having also worked in public service at the government and provincial levels, I am able to bring a different perspective to the table. The best part about my jobs is being the advisor who can help find solutions for my clients, and I enjoy playing this role.
Hailing from the small town of Wetaskiwin, Alberta I completed by undergraduate degree from NAIT before pursuing my master’s at the University of Alberta and I have successfully passed by CPA exam back in 2021. I have also worked in different industries such as construction, logistics, retail, and manufacturing. I enjoy travelling and exploring new cultures and places. I have also taken a keen interest in cooking and love outdoor cooking and grilling. I also enjoy hip-pop and rap music and you will likely find more memes in my phone gallery than selfies.
SECRETARY: Jessica Plattner is an American/Canadian artist and educator. She earned a BFA from Washington University School of Fine Art in St. Louis, and an MFA in painting from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and Temple Rome, Italy. She has exhibited her work in the USA, Canada, Mexico, and Italy. Artist residencies include Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, The Vermont Studio Center, SACI (Studio Art Centers International) and a Fulbright Scholarship in Mexico. Since moving to Canada, Plattner has had solo exhibitions at the ASA Gallery in Calgary, the Art Gallery of St. Albert, the Okotoks Art Gallery, and the Esplanade Art Gallery in Medicine Hat, with upcoming exhibitions at the ACE Gallery in Oregon, and Gallery@501 in Sherwood Park. Her work is held in the public collections of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA), the City of Medicine Hat, and the City of St. Albert. She currently teaches in the Art & Design Program at Medicine Hat College and lives with her partner, artist/musician Dean Smale, their 12 year old daughter, and their poodle Caniche.
DIRECTOR: Shelby Charlesworth is a visual artist and educator currently located in Mohkinstsis (Calgary). She received her Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art from the University of Connecticut in 2021 and was Instructor of Record for Sculpture. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Alberta University of the Arts (formerly Alberta College of Art + Design) in 2017 and attended an exchange program at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon in 2015. She worked as a studio assistant, sculptor and ceramicist in Los Angeles prior to returning to Alberta in December of 2022. Through her residency at Casa in August of 2022, the Allied Arts Council of Lethbridge presented her with the Artist in Residence Award and she was the recipient of the Pilot Art Award for 2022-23.
Charlesworth’s practice is centred around themes of collective trauma, loss, longing, grief and empathy. Personal experiences, repetition and labour are used to respond in an interdisciplinary manner to larger social issues. Her primary focus both through education and personal practice is community engagement and arts accessibility through visual language. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally.
DIRECTOR: John Diep John has enjoyed a fulfilling 20-year career as an Engineering Scientist and Executive before shifting his focus to photography and personal development coaching.
In his first decade in engineering, he applied his analytical and research skills to tackle complex problems in industrial fluid dynamics. In the second decade in an executive role, he found fulfillment in building teams and business, while finding joy in helping people discover and achieve their potential.
As a photographer and coach, John is passionate about illuminating the unseen and offering perspectives that make the world feel richer. Specializing in fashion and portrait photography, he explores the relationship of people with their environments to motivate emotional connection and the euphoria of motion and energy. As a coach, he believes in the power of steady, forward progress – no matter how small – toward achieving one’s goals.
Having grown up in Edmonton, John appreciates the appeal of raising his young family in the city, and endeavours to support and help grow the local creative community. He has done this through volunteer work at events with various performance and textile artists, and also working to build bridges between art and commerce both locally and overseas. His personal mission is to help creatives build their own skills and infrastructure to turn their passions into anything they desire, including a sustainable career.
DIRECTOR: George Lessard From a community access & media training base, George Lessard creates in print, broadcast radio & TV and educational media. Now a Lethbridge artist in electronic & digital media, George is a Francophone Quebecois born / brought up in Rosemère, north of Montreal, Canada.
A Kodak Brownie box camera in his hands at 12, encouragement from a family of artists, opened up a beginning back at 1969’s Montreal’s first English language CEGEP, Dawson College through with the unboxing of the student radio station’s Revox stereo reel-to-reel tape recorders and a subsequent immersion in the dawn of Canadian community access radio at the then Radio McGill (now CKUT 90.3 FM) where we were part of the enabling of Montreal’s Radio Centre-Ville 102.3 FM (the city’s first multilingual/cultural broadcast community station) and the fight for community access cable TV in Canada…
DIRECTOR: Andrea Tucker-Hatch At the beginning of my career I worked in the Newfoundland Museum and then The Manitoba Museum then the Museum Association in Newfoundland. I have been a curator, book illustrator, painter and a host of other hats, then went on to teach school for a couple of years and almost 20 years ago I opened an art gallery and picture frame shop in Stettler. Four years ago a second gallery in Red Deer. On top of that I compete internationally in picture framing. So art is an integral part of my everyday life and I think I have a lot of experience to offer the organization. I see many sides of issues facing artists, I think I can help guide policies that will assist artists.
For all general inquiries and to contact any CARFAC Alberta Board Member, please send an email to general@carfacalberta.com indicating who the email is for.