The Nextfest Arts Company is made up of hundreds of young and emerging artists from a wide variety of disciplines, banding together to present Edmonton’s most unique annual multi-disciplinary arts festival: Nextfest. Founded in 1996 by Bradley Moss, Nextfest is a common ground for the next generation of creators and producers. The future is theirs!
Nextfest shepherds the development of emerging artists. It is curated on the basis of providing development opportunities for emerging professional artists to hone their craft, gain experience, make contacts, and step forward as the future of professional arts. In doing so, we instill in the emerging generation an appreciation for the importance of mentorship. There are many ways in which artistic entities, products, and relationship have grown out of Nextfest, and there are numerous examples of new works of theatre and dance, that may have never made it to the stage, and ongoing artist collaborations that may have never come to be, without the existence of Nextfest.
Nextfest marks the beginning of a long creative journey for a huge array of artists. For more than twenty years, we have fostered the growth and learning of thousands of artists who continue to practice and create on Treaty 6 land. We embody the spirit of newness and growth while respecting the deep roots planted by those who came before us. We are a platform for emerging artists, a meeting ground for community, a springboard for creative invention. Mentorship, inclusion, learning, creative risk, and vulnerability are at the core of everything we stand for.
HISTORY OF NEXTFEST
Nextfest was created out of the need to support the voice of the emerging professional artist, a place where the young artist was nurtured. Like any occupation, you cannot get opportunities until you get the experience, a twenty-something loop that is hard to break. Nextfest is a multidisciplinary festival where artists from different fields develop relationships, a meeting place to exchange ideas and grow. What we did not realize is that what Nextfest is truly doing is building our artistic community.
In 1996, Bradley Moss created the festival and it was launched with over 100 artists and six days of events, and we knew immediately we had something special. Bradley Moss was the festival director from 1996 thru 1998, with Glenda Sterling becoming the new festival director in 1999 and 2000. During Glenda’s time, Nextfest published its first anthology of plays. In 2001, Steve Pirot became the Festival Director and he expanded the festival from 6 days to 11 days. Festival Director from 2001 thru 2016, Steve published a second anthology of new plays and brought many new initiatives to Nextfest. Our garden grew under Steve Pirot so much that we created a new Festival Manager position and brought Murray Utas aboard in 2008. Together they pushed the festival to serve over 500 emerging artists on a yearly basis that we maintain today. In 2014 Maggie Barton Baird became the new Festival Manager and with Steve, they helped Nextfest evolve and grow, and they had the difficult task of creating a festival without its home venue, as the Roxy Theatre was lost to a fire in 2015. In 2016, Steve Pirot stepped aside and Ellen Chorley became the Festival Director.
In 2020, after Nextfest’s first online version of the festival, Maggie Barton Baird announced that she was to transition out of this role to create room for new energy and perspective while staying on to offer mentorship to the next Festival Producer. Simone A. Medina Polo held the role of Festival Producer from 2020 to 2022.
Today, the Nextfest team are working together as leaders of Edmonton’s “Art of a Generation,” where new stories, new music, and new emerging voices are celebrated.
Nextfest Staff
Artistic & Festival Director: Ellen Chorley
Marketing and Communications Manager: Angie Bustos
Social Media Manager: Miracle Mopera
Production Manager: Brian Maxwell
Technicians: Ashley Carter, Will Chichak, Caitlan Argueta, Aryanna Sliftka, Mattias Sousa, Jadey Capaldo, Amelia Chan, Nico Hines, Katrina Morel
Accessibility Coordinator: Carly Neis
Nextfest Curators
Dance Curator: Deviani Andrea, Good Women Dance Collective
Film Curator: Cassandra Paige Johnston
High School Curator: Jennifer Peebles
Music Curators: Crystal Eyo and Angela Proulx, Mercy Funk
Theatre Curator: Ellen Chorley
Visual Art Curator: Shawnee Danielle
Nite Club Curators: Katelyn Cabalo, Angie Bustos, Gemma Nye, and Emily Smith
Mentors
High School Mentors: Jennifer Peebles, Jayce McKenzie, Madi May, Amanda Samuelson, Michaela Demeo, Josh Languedoc, and Mhairi Berg
Theatre Talk Back Facilitator: Hayley Moorhouse
Visuals & Multimedia
Festival Image: Shawnee Danielle
Festival Photographer: Jennifer Galm
Graphic Designer: Yu-Chen Tseng
Nextfest Board Members
Bradley Moss
Mike Kennard
Andy Laskiwsky
Kevin Henricks
Murray Utas
Lora Brovold
Ken Williams
Ash Howard-Morison
Theatre Network Staff
Artistic Director: Bradley Moss
TN Summer Academy Director & Nextfest Festival Director: Ellen Chorley
Curator & Director, Visual Arts Programs: Jared Tabler
Director of Production & Facility: Brian Maxwell
Business Development Director: Jill Roszell
Director of Operations: Nelly Song
Bookkeeper: Stephanie Keirstead
Communications Manager: Crystal Eyo
@ROXY124STREET social media: Ellie Heath
Head Technician: Ashley Carter
Art Gallery Technician: Will Chichak
Patron Services Manager: Asia Weinkauf-Bowman
Front of House Leads: Candice Stollery, Kate Couture
Front of House: Aidan Laudersmith, Aran Wilson-McAnally, Ashlin Turcotte, Brooke Fersovitch, Chris Neill, Curtis Gauthier, Daisy Brazil, Dustyn Tennessen, Elyse Roszell, Giulia Romano, Lily Davies, Logan Stefura, Meredith Black, Neon, Rory Turner, Sarah Dolman, Steven Sobolewski
THEATRE NETWORK BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President: Jared Tabler
Vice President: Marianne Stewart
Treasurer: Roger Thomson
Secretary: Greg Zinter
Theatre Network Board Members: Briana Miller, Catherine Greig, Catherine McNalty, Jody Peck, Katie Loutitt
THEATRE NETWORK AND NEXTFEST VOLUNTEERS
Ann McClusky, Ash Howard, Bob Morter, Chris Pederson, Citlalic Mendoza, Dana Mauer, Darlene Elias, Dave Couture, Elva Rice, Emily Nunes, Esther Malzahn, Gail Kelly, Gloria Carr, Hitomi Suzuta, Ingrid Pederson, Jacquie Skeffington, James Smibert, Jem Golveo Toribio, Joan Damkjar, John Brisson, Judy Collister, Judy Stelck, Katharine Sammer, Katie Kupchenko, Kendall Saunders, Leland Stelck, Linda Smibert, Louise Mallory, Maria Basaraba, Marie Fontaine, Melinda Coetzee, Nicole Bouclin-Graves, Patrick Houston, Pierette Buchanan, Priyanna Nair, Rhonda Jessen, Rita Klasson, Roxy Mosher, Ruth Arkless, Sarah Yue, Sari Haas, Sasha Petrechenko, Shannon Joyes, Sheila McNamara, Sue Quon, Sue Sohnle, Susan May, Tetsuya Michael, Theresa Agnew, Veronica Keuchel, Walter Kehl