Executive Director
Gillian is responsible for the leadership of Dance Victoria, including programming, development and fundraising in collaboration with Bernard Sauvé. Gillian is delighted to return to Victoria after living and working in the U.S. and abroad for the past 14 years – and to be raising her family in the city she loves.
Before joining Dance Victoria, Gillian was Associate Executive Director at Edmonds Center for the Arts in Edmonds, WA, where she programmed a multi-disciplinary series of 25 performances. Previously, she was Director of Interpretation at SALT, an arts and cultural institution in Istanbul, Turkey. Gillian is most passionate about access and developing programs that are welcoming and responsive to community members of diverse backgrounds, ages and abilities.
Gillian enjoys traveling, cooking, walking her two dogs, and entertainment that swings from “films with laurel leaves” (according to her husband), to puppet theatre, to reality TV. A dance highlight was presenting the 2018 premiere of Love Heals All Wounds by Lil Buck & Jon Boogz / Movement Art Is. The piece was opened by youth dancers from Northwest Tap Connection, a race and social justice-oriented tap studio in Seattle. “Seeing the connection between professional artists and young people always inspires me – it was incredibly powerful to watch the dancers interact, and to experience the conversation their work sparked for the audience.”