Keely’s cultural industry expertise is earned from experience. As a whirlwind program consultant for the Ontario Media Development Corporation for 12 years, Keely developed and delivered government funding programs and growth opportunities for Ontario’s cultural industries. She’s travelled from Cannes to Austin and all points between, promoting, nurturing and growing the Canadian music industry. Keely knows the whole business, from boardroom to bandshell, and serves on several industry groups. A confident and inspiring leader, Keely won numerous awards at the OMDC and she’s already getting kudos for her work in the private sector.

With 15 years experience in digital program management in the online, mobile, CRM, and direct marketing domains, Andrea brings a unique and incredibly valuable skillset to the team. Andrea ensures long-term profitability by building sustainable, holistic digital programs. Her clients represent a who’s who of major brands like GM, Chrysler, KPMG, TD Bank, and our favourite, Absolut. Andrea creates flexible processes that meet market conditions and client needs, balancing efficiencies and long-term profitability. She has maintained a Project Management Professional designation since 2002.

Melissa’s career started in artist management, so she knows the biz from the ground up. Her eclectic roster included By Divine Right, Brian Borcherdt, Rebecca Higgs and Holy F*ck. Now president of MG Events, Melissa specializes in fundraising, sponsorship, volunteer engagement, marketing strategies and campaign development and delivery. In other words, she finds, gets, and invests some major capital from Canada’s largest corporations. In the past 10 years, she’s led teams that raised $2.5 million in donations for charities and non-profits, secured $1 million in sponsorship opportunities for corporate clients, and created/managed more than 120 signature events.

Sarah Norris says she loves to laugh. And it’s true! She loves challenges, and laughs while she overcomes them. She did that for several years in executive roles with three majors, EMI, BMG, and Universal Music. Universal’s shareholders were laughing too, because as senior VP, Sarah helped boost the company’s market share from 14% to almost 40%. Sarah was also responsible for multi-million dollar marketing, promotion, and advertising budgets at Universal, while shepherding sales that topped the $170 M mark. A happy entrepreneur at heart, Sarah is now working with music industry clients as a consultant, and adding her expertise and exuberance to the CultureCap team.

Nancy has worked with many businesses in a variety of sectors including; Arts & Entertainment, Media, Non-profits, Manufacturing and most recently Software Development. She offers a unique combination of traditional and cutting-edge business development tools and techniques. She is passionate about the trends that are fundamentally changing the way business gets done; Visual thinking, Design thinking and Gamification. Nancy is committed to helping businesses drive innovation and collaboration, and facilitate strategic decision-making to ensure successful business ventures. She believes that if you add play you can power up productivity, performance and profits. “Get it Done – Have More Fun”

With a background that combines illustration, video production, creative and technical writing, web development, and videogame design, Evan is a designer and producer with the creative, strategic, and analytical insight to grasp the entirety of any creative project. Evan has worked in interactive production for nearly a decade, seeing projects from every possible angle, before moving to a specialization in producing and grant writing. An expert in Canadian interactive funding, Evan has helped clients to access millions for projects including websites, mobile apps, and videogames. Bridging left and right brain thinking, Evan distills meaning and impact with artistic flair, while staying rooted in marketing and budgetary realities. Evan loves drawing, cycling, and oxford commas.

Ian's primary focus is helping places nurture their cultural scenes and arts and entertainment clusters. Ian has a deep knowledge of the literature and best practices of economic geography, from the foundational works of Jane Jacobs to the state-of-the-art. Quantitatively, he has extensive experience gathering, analyzing and manipulating datasets – including messy and unusual ones – and applying statistical methods to produce actionable insights. He puts great importance on getting to know places on a human scale, and believes combining lived experiences with data-driven insights is the best way to understand the unique character and potential of a place.

Aurora’s uniquely comprehensive music industry experience grounds her deep understanding of funding structures. In her 10+ years in music, she has worked in grant administration, event and tour management, performance, and music education. During her three years at FACTOR, Aurora became a policy whiz who developed processing tools, managed projects across all programs, and helped her clients access the maximum available support. Aurora earned her M.A. in Popular Music Studies from the University of Liverpool in 2008. Her keen eye for detail—combined with a firm grasp of funding mandates—means that Aurora delivers pragmatic advice and top-notch funding strategies to music businesses and artists.

Elisabeth Springate has a unique skill set: she’s an experienced art director and graphic designer who also has an M.A. in Communications. Elisabeth has broad experience providing visual design that delivers, for corporate, educational, and non-profit clients. She works closely with writers, photographers, web developers and other design professionals to produce targeted strategic messaging for a wide range of clients. Her trained analytical skills let her transform complex messages into clear visual presentations, for any audience. Elisabeth shares her artist’s eye as an educator, having taught creative and studio arts at Ontario-accredited institutions, including York University and OCADU.