What position are you running for, and what are the responsibilities of this position?
I’m running for Arts and Culture Commissioner! The main responsibilities will be to help produce The Bob Comedy revue (which I’ve had a blast being a part of for the past two years), to plan the Gardiner Gala, and to support student art creation and recreation.
Can you summarize the key points of your platform?
1. Create space for student art through events and displays: this includes continuing to improve on annual events like The Bob and the Gardiner Gala, bringing back Art at the Intersections with the Equity Commission, running a 24-hour short film challenge and more!
2. Making art more accessible to students: this means surveying student interest in art events around the city to determine if we can work to purchase tickets, subsidize costs to these events and plan group excursions to experience art and the city.
3. Making making art more accessible to students: this means creating reimbursement subsidies for art supplies for student art displays, awarding honorariums for artists featured. Fun stress relief events like Bob Ross paint nights, backpack embroidery, and more!
4. Monthly newsletter to promote art events and aesthetic locations around the city to visit.
With a curated Instagram to match! I hope no one will miss out on shows and art installations and films they would have loved.
Why do you want to run for this position, and what makes you best suited to fill this position?
For the past two years as a VUSAC councillor I’ve had awesome opportunities to see a cohesive team work together to bring events and new initiatives to the VCU. Knowing how much I have loved being on The Bob Comedy Revue and in campus theatre, I want to continue to champion creative minds as the Arts and Culture Commissioner. I love working with people and intend on giving my team everything they need to be autonomous and successful in their initiatives!
What goals do you hope to accomplish if you are elected to this position?
I hope to be more involved with producing The Bob Revue because I see a lot of potential and talent that has been fostered there. In particular, I’d love to see more performances from The Bob at Vic so more people can enjoy a different and unique show every time. I know from my own experience that with time pressures in university it is increasing difficult to find time and space for art, so I’d like to see VUSAC encourage students to create by decreasing any financial barriers to purchasing art supplies. This may include having request forms for art supplies for use to stock or reimburse the cost of materials when art is displayed at events. For example, I think it would be very helpful for VUSAC to have a sewing machine, which could be used for costuming shows, and for anyone to use to resize and repurpose outfits for Highball.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Voting is from March 14 to March 17 at voting.utoronto.ca
