News & Updates | Community & Cultural Spaces Trust

CCST forms Advisory Committee to guide organizational strategy

Hannah Fleisher
Apr 28
5 min read

The Community and Cultural Spaces Trust (CCST) is thrilled to share our latest Advisory Committee cohort made up of arts, culture, community, and real estate experts. The Advisory Committee meets quarterly to provide strategic guidance to the Board of Directors on complex and emerging issues relevant to CCST's mission.

Our current Advisory Committee members are:

Darren is an arts fabricator, facilitator and community coordinator. Since 2010, he has developed DIY art spaces and events, fostering a vast network among production studios, venues, BIA's and non-profits. He is the Festival Director of BIG on Bloor, Operational Manager for Do West Fest and co-produces the Geary Art Crawl. His entrepreneurial spirit and expertise in accounting, business development and construction has kept him busy with many self-started ventures, including All Our Studios, a shared artist studio, gallery and retrofitted shipping containers, Trivia Escape Rooms, and DCP, a fabrication collective creating outdoor installations focused on public participation and conversations.

Debbie is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and consultant with a keen interest in mission-driven, sustainable finance models that foster impactful, inclusive, and accessible creative and community spaces. Her investment management experience includes financial modeling, investment analysis, portfolio management, and product development within fund management organizations. She later founded and operated a Toronto art studio and co-working space for self-identifying women artists and creative entrepreneurs. Long passionate about socially responsible investing and social-purpose finance, Debbie now supports businesses and nonprofit organizations through finance and strategic consulting, and enjoys working on creative passion projects, developing apps and websites, and studying psychology part-time.

Ebony Davitt

Ebony (she/her) is a research and public policy expert working on nonprofit housing and nonprofit sustainability public policy initiatives. With years of experience collaborating with community organizations, funders, and government, Ebony continues to find joy in working alongside, sharing knowledge with, and building community throughout Toronto.

Faizaan is an urban and cultural planner, designer, and researcher. His practice prioritizes collaboration, community, fun, and empathy. Faizaan’s research focuses on cultural heritage, place-keeping, and anti-displacement in the context of racialized urban peripheries. Faizaan holds an MSc in Planning and an HBA in Architecture specializing in technology. Faizaan is part of a robust ecology of artists and cultural practitioners rooted in Scarborough. He strives to connect his broad multidisciplinary expertise in planning and design to issues of spatial injustice, particularly in the context of spaces and places for culture in the inner suburbs.

Lakshmi is a Tamil Canadian urban planner and bharatanatyam dancer, who blends her passion for culture with her work in city building. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto's MSc in Planning program, and currently works as a Planner at SvN Architects + Planners. With a background in GIS, Lakshmi specializes in land use planning, development approvals in Ontario, and community engagement. She is also a graduate of Mandala Arts and Culture in Vancouver, and has performed across Canada, Singapore, and India. Whether it be as a dancer or planner, Lakshmi aims to support the local and global movement of arts- and community-led urbanism.

Izzy is a recent graduate from the Masters of Landscape Architecture at UofT. She is also a visual artist working between performance art, landscape, and building. She has experience (and enjoys) working in a collective capacity to achieve goals around labour rights and environmental justice. She is excited to collaborate with the team at CCST, developing new infrastructure to support community and culture in Toronto.

Joanna (she/her) is a community and culture planner with over a decade of experience working in community engagement across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). She is passionate about parks and public spaces as vital sites of memory, belonging, and health equity. At the City of Toronto, she works as a Senior Public Consultation Coordinator at the City of Toronto's Parks and Recreation team. Previously, at 8 80 Cities, she supported young civic innovators and co-created public engagement and placemaking strategies with municipalities. Joanna’s work exploring queer of color space-making has been featured in Diasporic Intimacies (Northwestern University Press, 2017) and Marvellous Grounds online anthology (2023). She holds a Master’s in Environmental Studies, Planning from York University and is also a musician with the Polaris-shortlisted and Juno-nominated bands Pantayo and Yamantaka//Sonic Titan.

John is an urban planner and organizer interested in economic development programs that build equitable and sustainable futures. John’s spatial interventions range from neighborhood planning, community engagement, construction carpentry, property management, DIY cultural venue activation, labor organizing, development finance and capital markets. John currently administers development subsidies as Senior Project Manager of Special Needs Housing at the NYC Department of Housing, Preservation and Development.

Julian has more than 40 years experience in the performing arts, from theatre, dance and opera production to the technical design of cultural spaces such as the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Koerner Hall and Theatre Direct’s studio theatre for young people at the Wychwood Barns. He is currently General Manager of Sankofa Square, an agency of the City of Toronto and was the founding CEO of “Project Under the Gardiner” now better known as The Bentway. He is very interested in the models of governance for not for profits and how public spaces can be operated in ways to benefit community engagement. In a volunteer capacity, he is a Pick Leader for Not Far From The Tree, picking urban fruit and distributing it across the city via it’s network of food partners.

Kristine is a multidisciplinary artist with a practice rooted in visual/installation art and live performance. She collaborates with other artists, dancers, poets, directors, and musicians to create new worlds. As an artist, Kristine has created and produced performances and installations independently, and worked for national and international theatre companies designing puppets, props, and costumes. She also regularly leads arts workshops and facilitates community-based creative activities. She has worked as a designer and performer with Clay and Paper Theatre (Canada), Shadowland Theatre (Canada), Volcano Theatre (Canada), and others. Fascinated by the simplicity of light and shadow, much of Kristine's work uses shadow puppetry, light boxes, and/or paper-cut shadow castings. Collaboration, conversation, and experimentation are at the forefront of Kristine's work.

Margaux (they/them) is a Ward 9 resident, and a cultural planner / placemaking strategist whose work bridges urban planning, contemporary art, and public space design to strengthen arts and culture across the Americas. Their practice spans municipal cultural policy and governance, community arts, public art consulting, and creative placemaking, offering a holistic perspective on how culture shapes the social and spatial fabric of communities. Educated in urban planning and shaped by a family of visual artists, musicians, and filmmakers, Margaux’s work is guided by a belief that arts and culture serve as essential infrastructure in cities, a catalyst for connection, belonging, and building futures that are creative, livable, and just.

Wesley works at the intersection of civic engagement, design, and the arts, with a practice rooted in community care and the belief that creative work can strengthen how people relate to place. His recent work includes producing The Don River Awakens Festival at Biidaasige Park, advancing research on queer urban space with the Queer Storytelling Congress, and contributing writing to Messy Cities and an upcoming book on Jane's Walk and City Building. Wesley brings more than a decade of experience leading public space programming, cultural projects, and community activation across Toronto and the globe. He currently serves as Toronto Program Manager of Networks and Partnerships at Park People, co-led Jane’s Walk Toronto and the global network for 4.5 years, and is co-founder of The Public Great, a collective working where arts, culture, equity, and public space meet.

We Are Hiring!

CCST forms Advisory Committee to guide organizational strategy

CCST's 2025 Annual Report is Live!