The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) today announced staffing appointments for two important granting roles at the agency. Clelia Farrugia has been named the OAC’s new Theatre Officer, and Soraya Peerbaye the new Dance Officer. Both will start in these positions in January 2020 following the December retirements of longtime OAC officers Pat Bradley (Theatre, Compass & Major Organizations) and Myles Warren (Dance & Awards).
“We are delighted to announce our new officers, both of whom are respected arts managers who bring years of experience to their roles,” said Carolyn Vesely, OAC Director of Granting & incoming CEO. “For Clelia, this is a return to her first love and training in theatre after years of working in several arts capacities. For Soraya, who brings an artist’s experience as well as her history as an arts manager and consultant, it is a way to continue to connect both perspectives.”
About Soraya Peerbaye
Soraya’s dance experience covers a range of specialties, including programmer, consultant, producer and grants officer. Most recently Soraya has been the Senior Program Advisor with the Canada Arts Presentation Fund at the Department of Canadian Heritage. From 2014 to 2018, she was Program Co-Director with Anandam Dancetheatre in Toronto. Prior to that, Soraya was a field researcher and consultant for several Canadian arts organizations, chief among them the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists/East, the Canadian Dance Assembly, and Orchestras Canada. Soraya was the Dance Officer at the Toronto Arts Council from 2004 to 2012. She began her career with arts funding agencies as the Equity Coordinator for the Canada Council for the Arts.
Soraya is a published poet and the author of Tell: Poems for a Girlhood, shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize and winner of the Trillium Book Award for Poetry in 2016. She has a bachelor of arts in theatre from York University and a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Guelph.