About - OUR BOARD

Christene was born and grew up in Edmonton until high school when she moved to the south edge of Calgary where she enjoyed riding her horses. She began studying voice at age 9 and later obtained her Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto (ARCT) in Performance.

Christene enjoys the wide variety of music that she gets to sing, the community of people and the sense of spirit that ARC gathers. She is grateful to have singing as her escape and healing place. Her favourite song comes from her fond memories of hearing “The Flower Duet” from the opera Lakme when she was 15 in Covent Garden, London, with her Gran.

Sara grew up in New Brunswick. She moved to Calgary from Toronto in 2016 and is currently a lawyer with the City of Calgary.

She is excited about the community that ARC has formed and to be a part of it. Sara believes that singing is a beautiful way to express yourself and connect with other people, both those you sing with and those you sing for! Although It's too hard for her to pick just one favourite song, it might be "Edelweiss" from the movie The Sound of Music.

Barb is a born and raised Calgarian. She has enjoyed 2 careers: as an oil and gas accountant and more importantly, as a “Maternal Technician” - the sometimes rewarding job of raising 2 sons with her husband, a consummate Saskatchewan Roughriders fan.

Barb has always found such joy (and friends) in singing, first in school choirs (and the bell group), then in church choir and now with the amazing, caring, connected community of Up2Christmas and She's Up2Something.

Singing inspires and energizes Barb and Thursdays are her favourite day. Any James Taylor song brings a smile to Barb's face.

 

Annette grew up in Cherryville, a remote community in the North Okanagan Valley. As today's amenities were not always available as she was growing up, the arrival of electricity, running water and indoor plumbing when she was 9 caused her great excitement!

Life was simple for Annette and her siblings, and hard work for her parents. Their education was basic – the 3 R's – and family was (and still is) very important. Music and singing were always present at her family and community functions.

Annette loves that the ARC choirs get together for the purpose of singing in community, as she believes it is a fundamentally good thing to do, for ourselves and for the world we inhabit. She cites several favourite songs, including ‘Wonderful World' by Louis Armstrong, ‘Fly Me to the Moon' by Sinatra and ‘Hallelujah' by Leonard Cohen.

Jen is a Prairie girl, born and raised in Winnipeg and a Calgarian since 2012. She lists the three loves in her life as: 1) Her husband and two kitties; 2) Her work with an integrated covert policing unit that targets organized crime, gangs, drug and weapon trafficking and internet child exploitation (she loves her job!); and 3) Choir! Jen loves ARC as it is one of the healthiest and most joyful organizations that she has had the privilege of belonging to.

Jen truly started to feel at home in Calgary after becoming part of the ARC community of beautiful people. Singing with ARC has brought her much joy and healing. She is very excited about this year's repertoire and can hardly wait to perform her favourite song, 'This is Me' from the movie The Greatest Showman.

Art was born in Woodstock, New Brunswick and grew up in Barrie, Kingston and Guelph, Ontario, Muscat, Oman, Houston, Texas and Calgary. Art describes himself as a geophysicist who likes to sing! He is grateful for the chance to sing in harmony with so many good people and believes that singing lets him express true emotions without having to say a word.

Art's favourite music is the soundtrack to Conan the Barbarian.

Carleen is a born and raised Calgarian. She attended the University of Lethbridge where she achieved her Bachelor of Fine Arts in New Media and is now a graphic designer for a Real Estate brokerage.

Carleen has been singing her entire life and finds sharing her voice, both solo or with a choir, extremely exhilarating and something she can never stop doing. Her favourite things about ARC: the people and the amazing productions that consistently get better every year! Carleen's favourite song is: "Dog Days Are Over" by Florence and the Machine,

Mary Jane grew up in London, Ontario before moving to Calgary in the early 80's to start her teaching career and to ski and climb mountains. Her professional experience is as an educator in Deaf Education and ESL, and in Career Services. She is married with 3 grown children.

Mary Jane's musical background includes singing in her church and school choirs and some guitar and piano too. She loves ARC because it's loads of fun to sing, laugh, talk, perform and harmonize, and learn new songs with the guidance of ARC's talented directors. She is grateful to work with the ARC community to produce choral music that entertains, delights and uplifts fellow songbirds and audiences. Mary Jane's favourite song is "Away From the Roll of the Sea" by Allister MacGillivray.

David was born in Calgary, where he spent most of his youth before travelling with his career. He has taught ESL in Japan, been an industrial photographer and was involved in teaching and administration in International Education at Mount Royal University, where he was the Registrar until his retirement in 2014.

David calls ARC one of the few places where amateur musicians can find a large supportive community to grow and develop, and have a ‘ton-o-fun' at it! A T-shirt he saw best summed it up for him: “Music is what emotions sound like.” His favourite song (for now!) is "He's a Bad Boy" by Carole King.

Venita was born and raised on the shores of the warm Indian Ocean in Durban, South Africa. She is a famliy physician by profession and has minimal formal music background. She tried adult piano lessons briefly until work got in the way, but has always loved singing!

Venita is excited about ARC's program, performances and the people! She enjoys ARC's warm non-judgmental community for adults to explore their artistic side and develop special friendships in the process.

Music is an intrinsic part of Venita's being. She believes that everyone has their unique soundtrack to their lives and is amazed that a single note, song or piece of music can invoke a specific place, time and emotion. “It's a kinda Magic!” Venita admits that she loves every song from Carole King's “Tapestry”.

Brian is originally from Edmonton, where he grew up and attended University. He moved to Calgary in 1991 and achieved his Assoc. of Music in Piano Performance from the Western Board of Music, followed by a BComm and CFRE in Business (Marketing) from the University of Alberta. Brian developed his career in arts administration with the Calgary Boys Choir and the Youth Singers of Calgary before moving into fund development. He launched ARC in 2003 after founding Second Chants, a division of Youth Singers of Calgary. He is currently the Director of Alumni & Development at SAIT and was recently awarded the Con Spirito Award by the Alberta Choral Federation in 2017.

The most exciting thing for Brian is the opportunity to create a high quality performance arts experience for adults within a recreational choir community. The outstanding people of ARC inspire him every day. Music is Brian's passion: “It fuels my soul. Music in a choral context is really about creating community – using the human voice to bring people together, to share a common purpose, to make the world a better place.”

Brian has many favourite pieces of music. Of the songs performed by ARC, he highlights “Fire and Rain”, “Alice” and “Somebody to Love”.

Barbara was fortunate to be enriched by a European heritage while she grew up in Switzerland. She learned about North American culture and lifestyle when she moved first to the US 23 years ago and then later settled in Canada.

As Executive Director, Barbara draws from a wealth of experience developing effective business and brand strategies in the not-for-profit, public health, arts, recreation, and municipal sectors.

Barbara shares that “music connects, heals, and inspires me daily - it's here for us all to share and feel our commonality.” She is excited to be part of an organization such as ARC that influences social change and offers a diverse and accepting community for anyone who likes to share their love for singing. One of her all time favourite songs is "Love of My Life" by Queen.