Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre (See map)
10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. / Discussion: Curating Live Art: Crosscurrents of Thinking on Identity
The Roundhouse With panelists River Lin,Camille Larrivée, Fay Nass, and Godlive Lawani. Moderated by Dena DavidaandDerek Chan.
Part panel discussion, part community conversation, this session launches the sixth edition of TURBA: The Journal for Global Practices in Live Arts Curation, and will explore the complex dynamics of identity within curation and the evolving responsibilities of curators in an interconnected cultural landscape. Engaging with identity politics, cultural appropriation, and representation, we will share thoughts on balancing artistic expression with cultural responsibility in a globalized world and negotiating the expectations of both traditional and transgressive identities within the live arts sphere.
Meet the Panelists: Curating Live Art
Camille Larivée (they/them/iel)
Camille Larivée is a street artist, independent curator, and cultural worker based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. They hold a bachelor’s degree in art history and a certificate in gender studies from the University of Quebec in Montreal. Their artistic and curatorial practice is anchored around collective memories in urban public spaces and love for local biodiversity. Camille is the Executive and Artistic Director for the Montréal, arts interculturels. Email: dg@m-a-i.qc.ca
Dena Davida (she/her/elle)
Dena Davida is an elder artivist dance curator, performer, educator, and researcher. Co-founder/curator for Montréal’s Tangente performance venue (1980-2019) and the Festival international de la nouvelle danse (1985-2001), she taught in UQÀM’s Dance Department (1979-2010) where she completed her doctorate (2006). Publishing widely on dance and culture, she edited seminal anthologies on artworld dance ethnography and live arts curation, and now edits the Turba journal.
Fay Nass (She/He/They)
Fay Nass is a multi-disciplinary artist, director, writer, dramaturg, innovator, producer and educator . They are the Artistic Director of the frank theatre company and the founder/Artistic Director of Aphotic Theatre.
Fay has over 20 years of experience in text-based and devised work deeply rooted in inter-cultural and collaborative approaches. Fay’s work often examines questions of race, gender, sexuality, culture and language through an intersectional lens in order to shift meanings and de-construct paradigms rooted in our society. Fay’s work celebrates liminality and trans-culturalism, and blurs the line between politics and intimate personal stories.
Fay’s work has been presented at PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, SummerWorks Festival, Queer Arts Festival, the CULTCH and Firehall Arts Centre. Her readings and experimental work have been presented at various conferences and artist-run galleries in Spain, Berlin and Paris. Their co-creation project Be-Longing was part of the 2021 New York international Film Festival, NICE International Film Festival and Madrid International Film Festival.
Godlive Lawani (She/her)
Godlive Lawani is the Founder and Director of Stane Performing Arts Management, an arts agency in Berlin specializing in promoting dance companies worldwide. As a cultural promoter, manager, and producer, she focuses on international promotion, production, and distribution of contemporary performing arts. She also co-curates the Frei Art Festival in Freiburg and programs the ATLAS MÉXICO Biennial Dance Festival in Guanajuato.
River Lin (he/him)
Working with Live Art, dance, and queer culture, Paris-based Taiwanese artist River Lin is Curator of the Taipei Arts Festival, ADAM, Camping Asia, and Curatoké: Performance Curator Academy at the Taipei Performing Arts Center. He is also Co-Curator of the Indonesian Dance Festival, Guest-Curator of the 2025 Biennale de la Danse de Lyon, and Guest Co-Editor for the online journal OnCurating. His artistic work has been presented internationally by Centre Pompidou, Centre National de la Danse, Live Art Prize, M+ Museum, and Taipei Fine Arts Museum among others.
The Roundhouse With panelists Cecilia Kuska, Emilie Monnet, Joseph K Kasua Wa Mambwe,andSage Wright.
This discussion is about the solidarity-driven practices of artists, curators, and producers. Sharing firsthand experiences, the panelists explore how they’ve built equitable partnerships, fostered networks rooted in decolonial values, prioritized global majority arts practices, and redefined programming and partnerships to redistribute access and influence. What begins as a panel discussion will open into a participatory conversation where we can share approaches to building collaborative, solidarity-rooted relationships across diverse cultural contexts, and inspire actionable practices and shared responsibility in the international arts landscape.
Meet the Panelists: Solidarity Practices
Cecilia Kuska (she/her)
Cecilia Kuska is a cultural worker (creative producer, curator, and artist manager) with expertise in interdisciplinary collaboration and promoting cultural diversity on an international scale. Starting her career in South America before moving to Europe, she has spent 15 years working with prominent artists and organizations worldwide.
Cecilia is dedicated to fostering professional growth among artists and team members through a supportive, holistic approach. Passionate about creating inclusive spaces for connection and collective reflection, while she embraces the challenges this work entails. She has a proven track record in developing international cooperation projects and programmes through horizontal and cooperative methods, actively advocating for female representation in institutional structures and elevating the voices of artists from marginalized communities.
Émilie Monnet
At the intersection of theatre, performance and sound, Émilie Monnet’s work is most often presented in the form of interdisciplinary theatre or performative installations. Her artistic approach favors collaborative and multilingual creative processes, and explores themes of memory, history and transformation. A committed interdisciplinary artist, she founded Onishka Productions in 2011 in order to forge links between artists from different Aboriginal communities, regardless of their discipline.
Since 2016, she has presented Indigenous Contemporary Scene / Scène contemporaine autochtone, a nomadic platform for the dissemination of Aboriginal performing arts. Five editions have been created to date. She is currently completing a three-year residency at the Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui where she will present her next creation Marguerite, after Okinum (2018) and Kiciweok: Lexique de treize mots autochtones qui donnent un sens (2019).
As the Associate artist at the Théâtre de la Ville in Longueuil, she will also be the next artist in residence at the Espace Go theatre. Émilie is of Anishnaabe-Algonquin and French descent and currently lives between the Outaouais and Tiohtià:ke / Mooniyaang / Montreal.
Joseph K. Kasau Wa Mambwe (Him/His)
I’m an artist with a cross-disciplinary practice whose gesture is built around the urgency to produce new narratives. From theater and cinema to photography, installation and creative writing, my artistic work addresses the complexity of memory and identity in a postcolonial urban context. My research and productions pay close attention to social interactions, highlighting power relations and proposing alternatives for change and togetherness.
4:00 – 6:00 p.m. / Off-Programming: Dance West Network Showcase
This quirky yet poignant examination of the intersections between queerness and brownness is a self-reflexive dialogue that explores multifaceted layers of identity and experience through voice, music and drag. More show info
9:00 p.m. – Midnight / Industry Track Festival Performance
Club PuSh is teaming up once again with QT Cabaret on Wednesday, January 29th! Join us for an unforgettable mix of electrifying dance, outrageous drag and heart-thumping music, held at the iconic Fox Cabaret. Part dance party, part variety show and all queer joy, this night promises to be an explosion of queer brilliance you won’t want to miss! More show info
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