Our Board

Ken Chapman

Chair

Ken Chapman believes infrastructure needs to go beyond the physical sense for a thriving arts community but the physical spaces in which artists work, practice, rehearse, and perform are vital. He knows we must make them available in ways that are both secured and sustainable. He understands the special challenges abound in the kind of capital-based market model we are required to work in. He is intrigued by the combination of unconventional collaborative creativity and conventional development skills it takes to achieve this.

Ken is currently quasi-retired from law and recently has completed Small and Midsized productivity, collaborative contracting with a focus on construction. He has also been involved as a consultant on public policy design, development, and deployment. Ken is currently running a not-for-profit corporation, trade-named Reboot Alberta. The focus is on informed active citizenship and changing the political culture in Alberta.

Ken is committed to continuous learning and this suits his curious nature. He considers himself a Maven and Connector in the Gladwell sense. He can be concurrently Left and Right-Brained and able to see issues convergently and divergently in the same context.

He brings a wide array of legal experience including development, construction, and entertainment law. As a writer, host producer, and entrepreneur, he offers valuable media experience as well. He also has many years of experience of board governance in the arts, culture, education from K to the coffin, and economic development. He was awarded the Queens Golden Jubilee Medal in service to the Community.

Ken is a quick study with a passion for issues in the realm of great-than-self concerns and doesn’t suffer fools. He is persistent when it counts but bores easily over the pedantic.

Stephanie Chai

DIRECTOR

Stephanie Chai is a registered professional planner who practices regional planning at the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board. She is a born and raised Edmontonian with lived experiences in Finland, Trinidad and Tobago, and Halifax. With local, regional, and international planning expertise, Stephanie believes in creating community and collaborative partnerships. She also understands the complexity of housing and affordability through her work in the Edmonton region and the Caribbean Network of Urban and Land Management (UN-Habitat Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme). 

Over the years, Stephanie’s engagement with The Local Good, MADE (Media Architecture Design Edmonton), TIME (Today’s Innovative Music Edmonton), and CIP (Canadian Institute of Planners) has enabled opportunities to appreciate different perspectives, especially in the arts. Particularly interested in urban interventions, Stephanie’s curiosity propels her to re-imagine underutilized spaces and look innovatively at buildings, infrastructure, and everywhere in-between. Stephanie has been recognized in the community including Edmonton’s Top 40 Under 40 (2018), Urban Design Awards Honourable Mention (2017), Canadian Institute of Planners Award of Merit (2017) and Recognition Award (2011), Alberta Professional Planners Institute Award of Merit (2017), Make Something Edmonton Changemaker (2017), and Dance Like No One Is Watching IllumiNITe People’s Choice (2015). She completed her Master’s in Planning at Dalhousie University and her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Alberta.

Stephanie is passionate about building a more livable, creative, and vibrant city and region for her family and community.

Erick Estrada

Treasurer

Erick is a passionate advocate for the arts. He is fully aligned with the values of Arts Habitat Edmonton. With a diverse background in both operational management and community engagement, he is committed to advocating for, building, and managing appropriate and accessible art spaces in Edmonton.

As the Executive Director of the Alberta Avenue Business Association, Erick fosters a thriving business environment while recognizing the vital role of the arts in creating dynamic and vibrant communities. In his previous role at the Canadian Mental Health Association Edmonton Region, he optimized operational capacity, identified gaps, and modernized processes and systems to increase value for their program participants.

Beyond Erick’s professional experience, he has actively engaged in volunteer positions and served on various committees, demonstrating his dedication to community development. Erick is eager to contribute to Arts Habitat’s mission of creating sustainable and entrepreneurial artistic communities through appropriate art spaces. Erick believes these spaces are essential for nurturing creativity and fostering a vibrant arts scene in Edmonton.

Viktoria Grynenko

Director

Viktoria Grynenko is a violinist born in Kyiv, Ukraine. She has graduated from Kyiv Glier Music Institute. In 2011 Viktoria received a scholarship from Desautels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba and came to Canada to study with Oleg Pokhanovski. Viktoria holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance from the University of Manitoba and a Master of Music degree in Violin Performance from the University of Ottawa. In Ottawa, her studies under the tutelage of Yehonatan Berick were funded by the prestigious KUN scholarship. Grynenko has just received a Doctor of Music degree from the University of Alberta studying with Guillaume Tardif. Her research explores the idea of ‘metaphoric intersectionality’ between violin and dance gestures.

She organizes numerous concerts in collaboration with ballet dancers and explores rare violin repertoire related to ballet music. Viktoria holds the Beryl Barnes Memorial Graduate Award, Pamela Farmer Graduate Scholarship, Maria Yaworska Scholarship, Barbara Newbegin Scholarship, Stephanie Perozak Scholarship, St. Andrews College Scholarship, Strauss Foundation Award, Kun Scholarship, Desautels Music Scholarship, and others. Throughout her studies, Viktoria had an opportunity to work with Michael Vaiman, Yosuke Kawasaki, Janusz Wawrowski, Sigrun Edvaldsdottir, Axel Struss, Anatoly Bazhenov, Taras Gabora, and others. Grynenko appeared as a soloist with Oslo Symphony Orchestra (Norway) and Glier Music Institute Symphony Orchestra (Ukraine), she also performed as a soloist, chamber and orchestra musician throughout Canada, Germany, Austria, and Ukraine. She has been serving as a concertmaster and Teaching Assistant for the University of Alberta Symphony Orchestra between 2017 and 2020 under Petar Dundjerski.

Passionate about education, Viktoria leads numerous masterclasses for violin and chamber music students through community organizations and higher education institutions. She has presented at conferences and lectures with such topics as “Hristoskov’s Rachenitsa, an adaptation of Bulgarian Dance for Solo Violin,” “Violin Gestures in Bach’s ‘Erbarme Dich,” and “Rethinking Ysaye: Hidden Treasures in 6 Sonatas for Solo Violin.” In March 2020 Viktoria also served as strings and chamber music adjudicator for the Winnipeg Music Festival.

Viktoria’s interest in new music encouraged her to commission and premiere pieces by such composers as Henry J. Ng, Valentin Bibik, Zach Bales, Jennifer Bachynsky, Jerry Semchyshyn, Mika Pelo, Maxim Shalygin, and others. As a dedicated supporter of El Sistema program of music education for children from low-income families, Viktoria has worked and volunteered with the program in Winnipeg, Ottawa, and Edmonton. Currently, Viktoria works as a Music Director and Violin Teacher at the Society for Talent Education.

Heather Inglis

Director

Heather Inglis believes that for artists to flourish, they need affordable, accessible spaces to work and present in. She has a passion for sourcing and animating non-traditional artistic spaces and facilitating large-scale artistic activities in our city.

Recently named the Artistic Producer at Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre Heather is also the founder of Edmonton’s Theatre Yes an award-winning experimental theatre company that has toured across the county.

Finding creative solutions to problems is a natural part of Heather’s repertoire and she prides herself on being one of the people that can make projects that seem impossible, possible. A brilliant collaborator, she is tenacious when focused on a goal. For Heather problems are solutions waiting to be found.

A graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, Heather is an award-winning director, producer, and dramaturg whose career has taken her across the country. In 2019, Heather was nominated for the Playwrights’ Guild of Canada’s Bra D’Or Award, recognizing her support and promotion of Canadian women playwrights via Theatre Yes. Heather has directed and assistant directed over 40 productions, many of which have been new Canadian works. Heather has received the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Award (2014) for her work at Theatre Yes, the Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund (twice), the Celebration of Women in the Arts Award (twice), and the Telus Courage to Innovate Award (Edmonton). Nine of her productions have been nominated for 17 Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards, including 7 nominations for Outstanding Independent Production and nominations for Outstanding Director and Outstanding Fringe Director. Theatre Yes received a special Sterling Award for Outstanding Innovation in Theatre (2014).

Jenna Stanton

Director

Jenna Stanton is an artist and arts administrator who understands how impactful arts space can be to an individual artist’s career. As a past tenant of ArtsHab 1, an Arts Habitat project, she knows first-hand how cultural hubs can connect the community with artists while offering the support needed for creative placemaking. While living at ArtsHab 1, and it was under threat of closure, she saw how the community came together to show how these spaces are vital to more than just the artists.

As a connector, a creative schemer and enabler, Jenna enjoys seeing artists thrive and bring people together, especially when engaging the broader community. She is thrilled to be able to share her research on successful live/work models of artist communities from around the world. Over the last 16 years of her career as both an artist and Arts Administrator, Jenna has connected with creatives locally in Edmonton as well as internationally. This experience affords her an in-depth knowledge of how hard artists work to develop their careers and what types of support they need to allow them to thrive or not.

Jenna’s experience and studies on Creative Placemaking will be refreshing for the Arts Habitat Board, and we look forward to her contributions.