About

Founded in 1986, the Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts is a community-based festival which annually presents new works by a diverse and broad range of artists, who are both workers and activists. The programming presents bold, insightful, responses to pressing issues at the intersection of art, social justice and labour.

Mayworks prioritizes the representation and participation of artists and audiences from communities facing systemic discrimination.

We encourage works rooted in the reality of working people’s lives that advance the struggle for improved working and living conditions. We are actively engaged in a social dialogue that challenges the logics of capitalism and seeks to reimagine and represent a just future.

Mayworks is situated upon the traditional territories of the Wendat, Anishinabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. We recognize the enduring presence of Indigenous peoples on this land.

Board Members

Emily Visser

Chair

Emily Visser has been a union staff member for more than 15 years, including work as a labour educator, communicator and graphic artist. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto and The Ontario College of Art and Design, and has designed museum exhibits and visitor centres and taught at George Brown College’s School of Design. It was while walking a picket line during the college faculty strike of 2006 that she was first hired to work for a union. As an activist, Emily believes the arts can be a catalyst for political and social change, and are an essential part of the struggle for workers rights and social justice.

Moumita Paul

Co-Chair

Moumita (she/her) is a graduate student at the Schulich School of Business. She is working towards a Sustainability specialization with a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and ethical business practices. She has also worked with student-led organizations that advocate for tenant rights. A classically trained Kathak dancer of twenty years, Moumita is involved with a Bengali socio-cultural organization to showcase and celebrate arts and culture, specifically working with the community’s children and youth. Moumita is grateful to have grown up with South-Asian music and dance and loves learning about the countless other forms of expression from around the world. She believes the arts are a powerful tool for fostering connection among marginalized communities and advocating for social justice. With Mayworks, she hopes to learn more about the intersection of contemporary labour and the arts and make meaningful contributions to the organization’s function and programming.

Alex Sawatzky

Treasurer

Alex Sawatzky (she/they) is a graphic designer, artist and photographer with a background in mental health and climate justice. Through ethical storytelling, collaborative communications and slow processes, Alex strives to help grassroots movements, organizations, artists and local businesses achieve their mission. They are the graphic design instructor for the Environmental Visual Communications course (EVC) at Fleming College, in partnership with the ROM. Alex is passionate about using art as a tool for liberation, and is learning methods of poster, zine and print-making — all forms of resistance throughout history.

Ikenna Agu

Ikenna Agu is a thought leader in digital inclusion, media and communications currently focused on providing workers from marginalized communities with opportunities to share their stories and experiences. He is currently implementing programs that communicate the equity-based initiatives of large organizations centring digital storytelling, media, and design as institutional and learning pathways.

Prior to his current work, Ikenna was Creative Director and Senior Producer at two of Canada’s largest media companies, leading talented teams tasked with developing content for television and digital platforms.

Pamela Arancibia

Pamela Arancibia is a staff organiser with an academic-sector local in Toronto. She has a research background in Early Modern Italian art and literature, and an interest in the use of the arts in social movements. She is a committed internationalist and stands in proud solidarity with Palestinian workers and civil society.

Sania Wadalia

Sania Wadalia wears many hats as a labour and community activist. She has the distinction of being the youngest South Asian president of Orangeville & District labour Council. She has a long history in a relatively short career of working in different capacities within OPSEU, Orangeville & Peel Regional Labour Councils. For instance, as part of her research Sania wrote a letter to the Orangeville City Council to denounce 7-Elevens’ application to the AGCO (Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario). She was able to get other organizations including UFCW 12R24, MADD and various other smaller community groups within Orangeville to support this campaign. She spoke directly with the City Council and they agreed to unanimously reject the proposal by 7-Eleven to sell alcohol for on-site consumption at its convenience store in the Orangeville Community. Currently, Sania is working with OPSEU/SEFPO as a Health and Safety Officer. She is also a Workers Health and Safety Center and First Aid/CPR instructor. Through her involvement as a youth representative she strives to get more young workers to participate in the labour movement. Her ultimate goal is to help unions progress and stay relevant to the young workers now entering the work force.

Jasmine Abdelhadi

Jasmine Abdelhadi is a publisher at Between the Lines—a left movement press situated on land subject to the Dish with One Spoon treaty.

Riese Stuber

Riese Stuber (they/them) is a long-time community activist and volunteer. They are a graduate of the University of Ottawa and Algonquin College. Currently working as a union staff member, they are a longtime union activist, with a passion for empowering working people. They have extensive experience being involved in community organizations. Riese loves exploring the arts and sharing their experiences. They believe in the power of arts and media to tell the stories of the working people.

Staff

Carolyn Combs

Executive Director

Carolyn Combs (she/her) has worked in the arts as a filmmaker and organizational leader for over twenty years. Prior to Mayworks, she was the Executive Director of Women in Film and Television Vancouver for eight years. Her focus is building community engagement and organizational capacity for the creation and presentation of original works by diverse artists. Her films, rooted in the neighbourhoods in which she has lived, have screened at both local and international festivals. Contact: director[at]mayworks[dot]ca

Mitra Fakhrashrafi

Programming & Curatorial Coordinator

Beginning in street art, Mitra (she/her) is a curator interested in creating places of sanctuary and indebted to border abolition organizing. Mapping the legacies of colonial infrastructure and the resistance which has always followed ground and guide her work. Mitra is chair of Whippersnapper Gallery’s Board of Director’s and was most recently awarded the 2021 Middlebrook Prize for Young Canadian Curator’s. Mitra holds a Master of Arts in Geography & Urban Planning and is completing a Master of Information in Library & Information Sciences at the University of Toronto’s iSchool. Mitra has previously organized alongside the UTSC Women & Trans Centre, the Canadian Federation of Students (Ontario), and UofT Divest. In her spare time she listens to music that emerges from Toronto; a since-always queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, and diasporic city. Contact: programming[at]mayworks[dot]ca

Farah Mailik

Bookkeeper

Farah has worked in the non-profit sector for over ten years with a range of experience from bookkeeping to Director of Finance. She undertakes Pakistani ethnic Truck Art on furniture as her hobby. Farah holds a close interest in the areas of social an economic justice. She is currently working towards her CPA designation.