Angela Chalmers (she/her) is a disabled, queer white settler originally from Treaty 5 territory. A dynamic leader in the film and broader arts community, she works as a Creative and Executive Producer, Accessibility Consultant and Equity Advocate, as well as a Mentor and Filmmaking Facilitator.

Angela is dedicated to using her position of privilege to hold space for those who historically have not had agency over the telling of their own stories. Using Queer, Feminist and Disabled lenses to guide her work, she is committed to contributing to a healthy, diverse and safe arts industry through the advocacy for and application of equity, access and sustainable artmaking practices.

Guided by the ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’ principle, Angela has assisted in creating inclusive spaces, coordinating access supports and organizing consultation and collaboration opportunities for systemic, organizational change in the film community. She is thrilled to bring this knowledge and experience to a new broader arts community in what is known colonially as Vancouver to work in partnership with community to amplify the right voices for each story told.

After almost three years on the Board of Directors, Angela is humbled to be able to support Kickstart Disability Arts and Culture as their Acting Executive Director during this time of transition.

Modeste “Monday” Zankpe is an Afro-Indigenous creative force whose work defies convention and champions liberation. She is Esk’etemc of the Secwépemculecw (Secwépemc Nation) on her mother’s side and from the Ewe people of Togo on her father’s side. Named after the day of her birth in Ewe tradition, Monday channels her heritage into every facet of her artistry.

As a multidisciplinary artist, she seamlessly moves between commanding the stage as Monday Blues and crafting bold, statement-making jewelry through her brand, Monday May Jewelry (MMJ). As a burlesque performer and member of the award-winning Virago Nation, Monday reclaims Indigenous sexuality through fearless storytelling and ancestral power.

Beyond the stage, Monday has served on the board of the Vancouver International Burlesque Festival, worked with Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week and Supernaturals Modelling, and draws on her background in social work and coaching to mentor others and to inspire change. For her, art is more than expression, it’s a call to action, a celebration, and a way to connect with future generations and to honour the ones that came before us.

Jillian Christmas is a queer, afro-caribbean writer living on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Musqueam people (Vancouver, BC). Jillian works as an artist, educator, curator and consultant, appointed inaugural Poet-in-Residence at the Vancouver Art Gallery (2023-2024), she is the long-time spoken word curator of Vancouver Writers Fest, and the former artistic director of Verses Festival of Words. Jillian was the recipient of the 2021 Sheri-D Golden Beret Award for Spoken Word Poetry and the 2021 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ emerging writers. She has won numerous Grand Poetry Slam Championship titles and represented both Toronto and Vancouver at eleven national poetry events, notably breaking ground as the first Canadian to perform on the final stage of the Women of the World Poetry Slam. Christmas has presented poetry and theory in a multitude of venues including the BC Civil Liberties gala, the SFU 2018 grad conference closing keynote, and numerous panels focussed on  the intersections of critical race theory and contemporary art. Her debut collection, The Gospel of Breaking (Arsenal Pulp Press 2020), was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, and the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and her children’s book, The Magic Shell (Flamingo Rampant Press 2022) has been recommended by both CBC kids, and the Festival of Literary Diversity. Christmas moves with intentional slowness through creative cultivation processes of personal and collective ceremony, and wears the title ‘Aunty Jilly-Bean’ like a badge of honour.