Opportunities for Artists

Shanique Peart is a Toronto turned Kingston-based interdisciplinary artist. She has a passion for creation, dance and photography. Shanique began her dance journey as a self-trained dancer exploring movement through hip-hop and freestyle dance. Over the years she has had the opportunity to train in a variety of settings. This allowed her to develop her skills in dance styles such as hip-hop, dancehall, Afro fusion, modern and urban contemporary. This diverse background has influenced her journey as an interdisciplinary artist. She explores and creates through movement, intertwining dance and performance with her many different artistic mediums. Shanique is moving into more creation-based and collaboration projects. As we as the theatre, education and administrative space within the dance and arts community.

Shenel Williams was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. Shenel is a professional dancer, choreographer and teacher. In her early years of dance, Shenel self-trained in hip-hop and dancehall and learned traditional African dances, Ndombolo and Kpanlogo. She spent time in Downsview Secondary School’s Arts Advantage Program. Here she practiced multiple artistic disciplines including dance styles directed by various artists such as Martin “Prempz” Prempeh, Jaz “Fairy J” Simone, Brandon “Bizzy” Owusu, and many more. Shenel graduated from York University’s Dance Program in 2022 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. She is currently pursuing her Masters of Education focusing on inequitable hiring practices and policies in post-secondary dance. Outside of school, Shenel is an active choreographer and performer in the Toronto dance scene. She teaches hip-hop classes at the junior, intermediate and advanced levels. In her free time, Shenel continues to use her voice to initiate change in the dance community and beyond.

Krista Muir is a modern-day troubadour and a multi-disciplinary artist with a focus on music composition, performance and video making. Armed with a baritone ukulele, omnichord and other portable instruments she travels from city to city singing all things. From anthemic Leave Alight to comedic Social Pariah, Muir brings light to health issues, day-to-day life and interstellar dreams. She toured internationally as electro pop alter ego Lederhosen Lucil. She also has collaborated with award winning filmmaker Kara Blake, visual artist Stefanos Rokos, and turntablist DJ Kid Koala. Other projects include composing for the mini operetta Kit Operette, Chanson-OGramme custom song project, and a mini album of bilingual lullabies A Pocket Full of Lullabies. Muir was the inaugural artist-in-residence at Fisch Haus in 2016 and FL!GHT Gallery in 2017. There she gave performances, organized multidisciplinary events and collaborated with local artists to create new work and foster cultural exchange.

Chantal Thompson is a vocalist, composer, multidisciplinary artist and organizer/founder of (h)EAR, an Improvising music collective in Kingston. She/They studied philosophy at Queens and film at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto and has a BED from Queen’s Artist In the Community program. Chantal recently composed music for the Paramount documentary, 500 Days In The Wild by film maker Dianne Whelan. She is a touring musician who has featured in festivals such as the Montreal Jazz festival and the Isabel Bader Jazz Series. She is an active community member in Kingston who has played important roles on six different charity boards. She has hosted many talks for The Kingston Grand Theatre’s Jazz series over the years and the city commissioned her to present lectures on Jazz musicians for the Theatre’s patrons.