Canadian Arts Management + Governance Incubator

CECILIA ARANEDA: As a cultural worker, Cecilia Araneda is most widely recognized for her decade-plus tenure at the helm of the storied Winnipeg Film Group / Winnipeg Cinematheque, serving as Executive Director from 2006 to 2017. The Winnipeg Film Group is the largest media arts centre on the prairies, with a budget of over $1M. During her tenure, Araneda oversaw a permanent staff base of 14, and transformed the organization into a new era of unprecedented artistic clarity, technical excellence, financial growth, stability and inclusion. From 2017 to 2018, Araneda served as Executive Director of VUCAVU.com. She then took on a two-year consulting scope with the Brandon-based Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba from 2018 to 2020, spearheading its Manitoba Digital Initiatives project to support media art development capacity in Manitoba outside of Winnipeg. From 2015 to 2022, Araneda initiated and led the prairie region Mujer Artista project, connecting Latin women artists from the prairies with collective professional development. Mujer Artista held three group shows at aceartinc., in 2017, 2020 and 2022. In 2005, Araneda initiated the Winnipeg-based WNDX Festival of Moving Image as a volunteer, developing it from an idea and an initial project grant to a charitable, non profit organization with operating funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council and the Winnipeg Arts Council, and an annual festival programming framework that it continues to-date. Araneda has served as President of Artspace, the WNDX Festival of Moving Image and the Winnipeg Film Group, as Vice President of IMAA: Independent Media Arts Alliance, and as Treasurer of the Elmwood Community Resource Centre. Araneda is additionally a practicing independent filmmaker and media art curator.

PENNY MCCANN: Ottawa-based Penny McCann brings to her work decades of experience as an arts administrator, production manager, grant writer, and media artist. McCann was employed as Director of SAW Video Media Art Centre (now Digital Art Resource Centre) in Ottawa, from 2004-2018. In that role, she expanded the organization’s capacity significantly and spearheaded SAW Video’s participation in the Arts Court Redevelopment project which saw the organization move into a transformative new space in early 2018. As an independent arts consultant, McCann specializes in working with media arts organizations in the areas of strategic planning, governance, organizational development, mentorship, and facility planning. Past clients include AFCOOP (Halifax), this town is small (Charlottetown), MediaNet (Victoria), Near North Mobile Media Lab (North Bay), Toronto Animated Image Society, the Winnipeg Film Group, the Canadian Coalition of Independent Media Art Distributors/VUCAVU (Toronto), and Enriched Bread Artists (Ottawa). In 2019-20, she additionally worked as the Independent Media Arts Alliance’s Strategic Development Director, where she dramatically expanded their operating revenues. Most recently, in 2021, she worked with two artist-run centres in North Bay, Ontario on the development of an arts hub. In recognition of her contribution to the arts, in 2007 Penny was awarded the prestigious Ottawa Art Council’s Victor Tolgesy Award for Achievement in the Arts and in 2014, was awarded the Artist-run Centres and Collectives of Ontario (ARCCO) Achievement Award.