Ginger Garden: Difference between revisions

==Himmat Shinhat==

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When Himmat Shinhat, BComm 80, moved to Canada from England in the late 1970s, he felt a sense of disappointment. Montreal, in his experience as a member of a visible minority, was years behind England regarding multiculturalism and integration. Eventually Shinhat found his way to a place where things seemed different — Concordia. There, Shinhat found a “network of South Asian friends” and a “very progressive” student body and faculty that gave him the sense of be- longing he longed for. “There was a lot more attention paid to being inclusive with respect to racial and class diversity,” he says. The university was also a hotbed of progressive politics, which resonated with him.After graduating, Shinhat began working with a South Asian advocacy organization. Quickly rising through the ranks, within four years he was named the organization’s executive director. In the 1980s, he was recruited by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (now Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada).After a long career with Immigration and Citizenship Canada, in 2016 Himmat Shinhat began working with Syrian refugees as director of outreach for the Syrian Refugee Resettlement Initiative in Ottawa, his last stop before retiring in 2017.

Marie Leofeli Romero Barlizo is a Filipino-Chinese playwright, dramaturg and screenwriter who was born in the Philippines but grew up in Montreal. She is a graduate of the University of British Columbia's Optional-Residency Creative Writing MFA Program and holds a BFA in Theatre from Concordia University. She is the first visible minority to graduate from the National Theatre School's Playwriting Program. Marie interned at Nightswimming Theatre, courtesy of the Metcalf Foundation Grant for Professional Development (2009) in dramaturgy, where she assisted Brian Quirt on Nightswimming's projects. As a dramaturg, she has also worked at Alberta Theatre Projects (Calgary), fu-Gen Asian Canadian Theatre Company (Toronto), Out Productions and Centaur Theatre (Montreal). Her plays have been showcased at Playwrights Theatre Centre’s New Play Festival in Vancouver, fu-Gen Asian-Canadian Theatre Company’s Annual Potluck Festival (Toronto), Playwrights' Workshop Montreal, Teesri Duniya Theatre (Montreal) and at Factory Theatre's CrossCurrent Festival (Toronto). She was the Artist-in-Residence at Black Theatre Workshop in dramaturgy for the 2015-2016 season and currently mentors their emerging playwrights in their Artist Mentorship Program. She developed her playLucky at Banff Playwrights Retreat last February 2017. Her play, Unang Pasko Sa Montreal(First Christmas in Montreal) was part of Urban Tales Series at the Centaur Theatre this past December (2017). Excerpts of her play Lucky was performed in PlayShed's WRK N PRGRSSMultidisciplinary Showcase (2017) and will be in the Montreal Off-Fringe Festival this summer 2018. She will be directing parts of Lynn Kozak's translation of the Iliad in the spring and will be a Resident Artist at The MAI (Montreal's Intercultural Arts Centre)) in May-June 2018. She is a board member of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of America (LMDA). Her article “Diversity in Bloom in Montreal English Theatre” was recently published in the spring edition of TicArtToc No. 10 (Diversite Artistique Montreal).

https://www.facebook.com/marieleofeli.barlizo?fref=pb&hc_location=friends_tab&pnref=friends

==Viviene Tam==

Vivienne calls Waterloo, Ontario, home, though she was born in Singapore and completed her bachelor’s degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering with a minor in Neuroscience at Princeton University, NJ. During her study there, she became interested in drug delivery to the brain, especially theranostic solutions. Her thesis project developed super paramagnetic iron oxide theranostic nanoparticles for MRI imaging and targeted drug delivery to the brain. She has also completed research internships at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, working on layer-by-layer nanoparticles, as well as liposomes, for anti-fibrotic treatment following glaucoma filtration surgeries. Then, she spent two years in Fuzhou, China, at a special needs foster home teaching and developing its creative arts program. She is now back in Canada as a Masters/PhD student working on creating upconversion nanoparticles for on-demand drug release upon NIR irradiation, and other biomedical applications, like bioimaging and biosensing. In her free time, she volunteers at an art co-operative, cooks experimentally with various cuisines and camps out at cafes where she writes and does all things creative.  

==Dawn Bramadat==

The work that I have been called to weaves together the seemingly disparate aspects of Being and guides one to a vision of his or her own wholeness and perfection…I simply love someone for Who (S)He Is, and ease that person to a place of wonderment and gratitude for the Life that (s)he has created…WHATEVER that Life may be. Together, we open an attitude of joyful responsibility and active serenity… I watch with awe as one by one we step into our destiny and heal our pools of influence through Love…

==Khosro Berahmandi==

Khosro Berahmandi, Iranian-born painter, moved to Canada in 1983. He currently lives and works in Montreal. Graduate in Fine Arts from Concordia University in Montreal, as well as the University of Paris VIII, he has already participated in over thirty solo and group exhibitions in Canada, the United States and Europe. Recipient of several awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, he is engaged in various artistic projects exploring the relationship between his art and other forms of artistic expressions. Three art books on Khosro’s work have already been published by Maison d’édition Ketabe Iran Canada and by Les éditions du Noroît. Khosro is presented by MEKIC gallery in Montreal and Queen gallery in Toronto.

https://khosro.info/about/

==Naghmeh Sharifi==

Born in Iran, Naghmeh Sharifi immigrated to Canada at the age of sixteen. She attended the University of British Columbia, where she obtained a BA in visual arts and one in psychology.  Since 2006, her artwork has been exhibited in Tehran, Berlin, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Toronto and Skopje. In Montreal, she has presented her work at such sites as Les Territoires Gallery (2013), Montreal Council of the Arts (2015) and Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery (2017). In 2015, Naghmeh Sharifi was the recipient of the Impressions Residency at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

==Maleesa Phommavongsay==

Maleesa Phommavongsay, Ac., is an acupuncturist at “La Vie est Qi” clinic located in Lasalle, Montreal. (www.lavieestqi.com) She recently finished years of studies in traditional asian medecine at the “Collège de Rosemont”, the only official establishment to offer the acupuncture program and license in Quebec province. After finishing a bachelor in psychology and working for a few years with underpriviledged youth, she decided to broaden up her accompanying skills to include health related matters only to find out that her ancestors were very fond of traditional medicines (herbal saunas, cupping, post-birthing rituals, etc.). She can be contacted at maleesa@lavieestqi.com

==Khando Langri==

Khando Langri is a joint honours student at McGill University studying anthropology and political science. She currently works as a research assistant for the Canada Tibet Committee and has been a long and ardent supporter of Students for a Free Tibet having completed an internship at their flagship chapter in Dharamsala, India, in 2016. Her research interests are geared towards (post)colonialism, exile and displacement, identity, disability, aesthetics and Tibet-China matters.

==Kyungseo Min==

Kyungseo Min is a playwright and performer currently based in Montreal. Her specialization lies in physical theatre. Her training includes: BA of Theatre from University of Southern California; Body Weather Laboratory from Oguri, one of the foremost dancers of butoh; traditional Japanese dance (Nihonbuyo) from Wakayagi's Kabuki School from Kyoto Art Centre's TTT program.