Ted Strauss is a filmmaker, artist, techie, singer, project manager, cook, and prolific worrier.

Colleen is a freelance journalist who writes about food, science and the environment. She teaches the workshop ‘Write like a pro’ at Surplace.

Marianne is a researcher, analyst, copywriter and part-time poet. She works with Surplace on business development, project management and translation. She specializes in cultural and social impact projects.

John Jacob is a prolific musician, sound designer, video creator, event planner, and all around party bringer.

Willow is a writer, poet, teacher, and freelance editor whose work has appeared in places like The Dalhousie Review and On Spec.  

Julie is a podcast enthusiast, hand balancer, contortionist, and environmentalist. She co-manages the production, publishing, and distribution of Sur Place’s podcasts.

Claire is a learning experience designer who uses illustration, vibrant presentations, and group facilitation to help organisations nurture their creative culture and get their message across.

Anna is a graphic designer, illustrator and researcher. She teaches the graphic design workshop at Sur Place.

Pascal is an animator, podcast producer, workshop leader, youth facilitator, and multi-disciplinary artist extraordinaire.

Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Damaris is a filmmaker, animator, radio producer, musician, and choir leader. Damaris also does healing practices with voices, resonating bowls, and the body.

Natasha is a hard working photog, ready for a wide range of shooting scenarios. She is also developing a documentary on the culinary history of Bangladesh.

With a foundation of painting and murals Bronwen’s work also extends into photography, design/illustration, large-scale puppets, and sets and props within tv/film and theatre productions.  This multi-disciplinary practice also extends into teaching and facilitation and is woven together with themes of embodiment, agency and connection.

Hannah does graphic design and illustration work in the areas of branding + logo, booklet, packaging, information design, textile design and art direction. Hannah see a future where the human environment is closer to the joy, peace and whimsy of the natural world.

Matthieu is an expert in organizational development, service design, game design, empowerment through art practice, youth intervention, social innovation and event planning. He uses these skills to bring meaning into change projects, and to improve entrepreneurial impacts through educational intervention and collaborative facilitation.

Amy writes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. As a former professional dancer she applies the following beliefs to the literary life: you only get better through practice, creative work should still be fun, and we thrive in the company of others. She’s originally from the US.

Simon is a filmmaker based in Paris who has directed and developed documentaries for network television, including the National Geographic and Planète+ channels. In addition to his television work, Simon has directed a number of self-produced short documentaries. His personal practice privileges intimates portraits of peoples, places and institutions in interstitial moment.

Payton is a comic book creator and aficionado. In addition to pencils and inks, Payton works with a variety of digital editing programs to create comics, publish them online, find collaborators, print and bind small books, and more.

Jeannette is a multi-media artist and vocalist who works with photography, video, and music. She studied film at York University and runs the independent music label Jazz from Rant.

Wiebke is an award-winning writer and filmmaker, who has directed three critically acclaimed theatrical feature films (Marion Bridge, STAY, The Saver), Her films have played at festivals around the world (TIFF, Rotterdam (competition), Karlovy Vary, Sydney, Pusan etc), winning many awards including Best First Feature at TIFF. Claremont, her first novel, was published to much acclaim in the fall of 2019. The German edition, by Kiepenheuer&Witsch, is forthcoming.

Rosanna is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter from Edinburgh, Scotland whose work has been produced across the UK and in Russia.

Denise writes YA sci-fi and fantasy under Day Leitao and has published three independent novels, two novellas, and three audiobooks. She also knows a lot about making book covers, websites, and indie publishing and marketing.

Elian is a queer filmmaker, editor, and installation artist. Their work focuses on metaphoric queer and trans narratives through film and expanded cinema. Elian holds an MFA in Media Production from the University of Regina and a BA in Journalism from Tampere University. Their work has screened in several film festivals including International Film Festival Rotterdam, TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma and WNDX.

Liza is an artist who specializes in paper creations. Liza’s art has been exhibited around Winnipeg and Montreal, both in solo showcases and group vernissages.

Su is a writer of speculative and interstitial fiction. She is the author of Cycling to Asylum, which was long-listed for the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic and optioned for a film, and Run J Run, published in 2019 by Renaissance Press.

Austin is an artist and writer who has studied internationally at UNSW Art & Design and the New York Academy of Art and participates in exhibitions across Canada and the US. He is currently pursuing his MA in Art History at Concordia University.

Solomon creates innovative music and sound for video, film, podcasts, games, apps, and ads, and produces songs across many genres for both local and international artists. He’s an Ableton Live expert with over ten years of experience.