Lori Baxter
Strong leadership at key cultural organizations is the hallmark of Lori Baxter’s career in arts management. With more than 25 years as a senior executive in the social profit sector, her reputation for creative thinking, fiscal responsibility and professional integrity has led her to establish Lori Baxter Consulting.
Immediately prior, she served as Director of Arts at 2010 Legacies Now, a partner organization of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. There she led a multi-layered team, leveraging more than $21 million in investments towards the province of British Columbia’s arts and cultural industries.
For ten years, Lori was the Executive Director of the Greater Vancouver Alliance for Arts and Culture, where she worked extensively in advocacy efforts at all levels of government, as well as with the business community and the general public. While she was at the Alliance, Lori spearheaded a joint cultural tourism initiative that resulted in the establishment of Tickets Tonight, a full service and day-of, half-priced ticketing outlet located in the primary tourist information centre.
Lori has served on the boards of the Canadian Conference of the Arts, Tourism Vancouver and the Leon and Thea Koerner Foundation.
She has mentored many young arts administrators as an instructor at Capilano College, British Columbia Institute of Technology and Douglas College.
Lori holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in theatre from Queen’s University and, from the University of British Columbia, a Masters of Business Administration.
Judi Piggott
Judi Piggott is best known in the creative sector for fifteen years of work with artists and cultural workers from all disciplines, and the inventive entrepreneurial and employment programs she developed at the Alliance for Arts and Culture. This ‘participatory research’ has helped her built a reputation as a resource who knows the issues that affect the daily working lives of artists, who can also make links between this micro view to the larger landscape of business and the economy. Her work is rooted in a lifetime of community and organizational development experience that crosses the boundaries of not-for-profit, public and private sectors.
Over the years, Judy has contributed to the development of many new organizations and programs, and to the change and renewal process of older institutions, and this has fuelled her interest in systems thinking and group effectiveness. She holds a number of certificates in adult education and facilitation, and a B.A. in Psychology, is an active Board Member of the Community Arts Council of Vancouver, a member of the Steering Committee of the Voluntary Organizations Consortium of BC and of the international team organizing the second Design Thinking unConference in 2012.
Sandra Thomson
Sandra Thomson is the former Director of Programming and Development for the Port Theatre Society in Nanaimo, B.C. She has worked in the performing arts industry for over thirty-five years specializing in marketing, volunteer management and fundraising.
Originally from Prince George, she worked for The Banff Centre, Festival Concerts Touring Society and the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, operated an artist management company and consulted for Alberta Culture. In 1990 she became the Development Officer for the non-profit society that was formed by the City of Nanaimo to raise $13.1 million and build the 800-seat theatre on the waterfront in downtown Nanaimo. Sandra was responsible for creating and implementing the strategic plan to accomplish this major community development project. Sandra was General Manager of the Port Theatre from 2001-06 during which time her programming of “Port Presents” events won provincial and national awards for excellence.
Over the years Sandra has served on many boards including a term as President of the Canadian Association of Arts Presenters based in Ottawa. She currently volunteers as the President of the Mt. Benson Seniors Housing Society and as Treasurer for Made In BC Dance On Tour. For many years she has conducted workshops for non-profit groups throughout BC on strategic planning, fundraising and board development.
In April 2011, Sandra received the BC Touring Council’s Performing Arts Touring Award of Excellence. In May 2011, she received the City of Nanaimo’s Honour in Culture Award for her contributions to the cultural development of the city.
