Michele Decottignies receives MGLA and selects protégé Olivia Marie Golosky

The Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT) is pleased to present the annual Mallory Gilbert Leadership Award to multi-award winning producer, presenter, playwright, director, designer, and arts advocate Michele Decottignies. The award was presented at the annual PACT Conference in Charlottetown, PE. Michele was chosen from a list of seven nominees from across Canada and chose Olivia Marie Golosky as her protégé.

Michele Decottignies founded Stage Left Productions in 2003 to house her daring blend of professional arts production with bottom-up, radical social justice praxis. Within the broader arts community, Michele has worked in a variety of artistic, technical, administrative and/or advisory roles for many different professional and community arts companies throughout Alberta. Most notably, she assisted Michael Green in forming the Performance Creation Canada Network, founded the Disability Arts & Culture Presenters’ Network, chairs the Disability Arts Alliance of Canada, and most recently initiated the Calgary Congress for Equity & Diversity in the Arts. In the Theatre domain, Michele has produced, written and directed 15 original, collaboratively created productions. Michele is based in Canmore, Alberta.

In choosing the 2017 recipient, the selection panel were impressed with the passion of Decottignies’ nomination, and were eager to recognize Decottignies’ sustained leadership and profound impact on the arts community, much of which has been accomplished while working outside established groups.

Says Decottignies, on receiving the award: “I am honoured to find myself in the company of the distinguished cadre of past MGLA recipients, many of whom have served as beacons to me from the margins of the sector – where I tend to keep myself! I feel both humbled by and appreciative of this esteemed recognition.

Olivia Marie Golosky: A proud member of the Métis Nation of Alberta, Golosky is a queer artist and advocate for equity with a passion for grassroots community-building. Hailing from Treaty 8, Fort McMurray, her background is in theatre, film, music festivals and television production as a stage manager, technician and playwright. Currently, she sits on the Indigenous Steering Committee for the NCRA, produces/hosts a podcast through CJSW 90.9 FM, Through the Kaleidoscope, is a founding member of the Calgary Congress for Equity & Diversity in the Arts and the Treaty 7 Film Collective. Olivia is also the Production Manager for Indigenous Resilience in Music, the Stage Manager for REDx Talks, and an Artistic Associate with Stage Left.

On being named this year’s MGLA protégé, and of her mentor, Golosky says, “I am very humbled and grateful to be acknowledged among many peers and elders whose commitment to equity & diversity in the arts has paved the path that I now walk. Kinanâskomitin.

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