Call for Applications: Creative Catalyst

We’re officially relaunching Creative Catalyst—and we’re looking for a new slate of mentees!

Creative Catalyst is our multidisciplinary initiative that pairs emerging Black artists with mid-career/established Black artists over the course of four months (November-March) for participant-led consulting, guidance, and mentorship. The program also creates space for network and community building exclusive workshops and events.

If you have an artistic project you’re looking for support on, consider applying to Creative Catalyst as a mentee.

Current Mentors

Dance: Ronald A. Taylor

Ronald A. Taylor is the Artistic Director of the Toronto-based company Ronald Taylor Dance founded in 1993. 

After leaving Trinidad/Tobago in 1986, home to the renowned Astor Johnson Repertory Dance Theatre and Taylor’s mentor/teacher, Ronald moved swiftly to pursue his dream and enrolled in the Juilliard School Dance division in New York.  His stay with Dance Theatre of Harlem afforded him two prestigious awards, the DTH Scholarship Award and the Maxwell and Muriel Bluck Scholarship Award.  

Taylor’s move to Canada in the early ’90’s and eventual MA from York University, catapulted him to a “leading force in dance”.  Over the course of many years, Ronald Taylor Dance has premiered many thought-provoking productions. Remaining true to his Caribbean roots, his cutting-edge work fuses Caribbean Folk, Modern and traditional Ballet, in a distinctive style which Taylor best describes as “Contemporary Caribbean” Ronald is presently on the teaching staff at York University.

Visual Arts: Kestin Cornwall

Kestin Cornwall is a Toronto-based artist known for his bold, graphic portraits that blend the energy of street art with the layered storytelling of comics and pop culture. Growing up in the Windsor, Ontario area, with family roots in Grenada and Detroit, Cornwall brings a cross-border perspective to his work, reflecting on how race, media, and history shape what it means to be Black in North America. He studied at Sheridan College, completing the Art Fundamentals and Illustration programs, where he began combining traditional drawing and painting with contemporary digital reproduction and screen-printing techniques. 

Cornwall’s artwork often features powerful subjects with brown skin. His creative process involves hand-drawing, purposefully redrawing in Adobe Illustrator, and then utilizing analog techniques to take the images off the computer. He reworks and enhances these images through painting and layering to create striking compositions. The artist often intentionally adds the pottery and foliage last, covering up fully rendered sections of the painting.

Photography: Adeyemi Agbesan

Adeyemi Adegbesan is a Toronto-based multi-disciplinary artist whose practice aims to examine the intersectionality of Black identity. Reflecting on Black cultural ideologies from pre-colonial, colonial, present day and future timelines; across regions, religions, varying levels of income and political lines, Adegbesan examines the dichotomy of the richness of Black experiences with the imposed societal homogeneity of ‘Blackness’. Through his work Adegbesan pulls from these varying elements to create Afro-futuristic portraits that embody themes of history, fantasy, speculative futures, and spirituality.

Adeyemi is a self-taught artist whose practice incorporates photography, mixed media collage, murals and assemblage. He works out of his studio in Toronto’s Kensington Market neighborhood and has shown work in Canada and the United States. He has also worked with brands such as HBO, Instagram, and the Toronto Raptors on commercial collaborations.

Music: Elizabeth Lewis

With a strong background in public relations, social media marketing, event curation, and media planning, Elizabeth Lewis has applied her expertise at Fortune 500 companies such as Sephora Canada, Live Nation, and Warner Music Group.

She now brings that experience to her work as an event planner for her own brand Plus One Inc and entertainment publicist, managing a roster of artists that includes Burna Boy, Gunna, Don Toliver, Pink Pantheress, and more.

Filmmaking: Gabriel Badejo

Gabriel Badejo is a trailblazing Nigerian/Canadian Producer and Director, with a rich 10+ year career in filmmaking that spans across content creation, TV and documentaries. His work crafting compelling narratives and innovative visual content captivates audiences worldwide. As a producer and director, he’s managed diverse teams and multifaceted projects. This dedication to excellence in filmmaking has earned him respect in Canadian and international film communities, as his work pushes the boundaries of storytelling.

In 2015, Badejo directed the short film They Made Me Pornography, and has since helmed music videos for artists such as LIZA, LOONY, Jasmine Kiara, Sauceboy, and Pierre Pharaoh. He has also worked on high-profile productions with artists like Billie Eilish and Popcaan, and commercial campaigns for Land Rover, Roots, Converse, and the NBA All-Star Weekend (2016) and NBA Finals (2019), and TV series such as the CBC’s ‘The 410’ and History Channel’s ‘Sounds Black’.

Badejo is currently working on his debut feature documentary, an intimate, global exploration of sickle cell disease through his own journey and the wider systemic inequities that shape it. 

Writing: Nehal El-Hadi

Nehal El-Hadi is a writer, researcher, and editor based in Toronto.