Selected Projects/Experience • Civic and Cultural Producer
Arts Etobicoke
Working with the board and staff of Arts Etobicoke, Dina created and facilitated a process to determine the organization's strategic direction and drafted its new three-year strategic plan for 2015-2018.
Canada’s Year of Asia Pacific – Cultural Component
As the National Project Coordinator, Dina worked with Harbourfront Centre Consulting to develop and implement a national cultural program for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in conjunction with Canada’s hosting of the Asia Pacific Economic Conference in 1997. She created and managed a national grant competition with regional advisory councils and juries across Canada; supervised the creation of a website, high school education guide and marketing materials; acted as a liaison with political staff; and directed staff across the country. The program supported 425 domestic activities and 27 touring projects from Asia.
Barbara Hall for Mayor Campaign
In 1994, Dina coordinated a successful city-wide mayoral campaign from the campaign launch through to Election Day, including fundraising, marketing and communications, administration and financial management; acting as a liaison between the organization, campaign co-chairs and committee heads; and supervising staff and volunteers.
Space Project
In the face of rising real estate prices and the loss of affordable cultural spaces in Toronto, Why Not Theatre pioneered Space Project in 2018 to find and activate underutilized space in the city for temporary cultural use by performing artists ("meanwhile uses"). In 2020, Why Not and the Canadian Urban Institute received funding from the Metcalf Foundation to partner on the research and development of a scalable, replicable business model for Space Project, in Toronto and potentially across Canada. Dina led the CUI half of the team in a year-long project that included a survey of the arts community, a market scan, interviews with real estate stakeholders and policymakers, and convenings of arts organizations across the country. The final report can be found here.
First Night Toronto – a New Year’s Celebration of the Arts.
Dina founded and produced this family-oriented, culturally diverse festival in downtown Toronto for the first three years of its existence (1990-93). By its third year, it featured over 300 professional and community performers from across Greater Toronto on 22 traditional and non-traditional stages from 6 PM to midnight, drew on the skills of 600 volunteers, partnered with over 70 sales outlets city-wide and attracted an estimated audience of 50,000 people.
Other Clients/Projects
• Corporation of Massey Hall & Roy Thomson Hall (Massey Hall Centenary)
• Province of Ontario and City of Toronto (Canada Day celebrations)
• Toronto Symphony Orchestra (75th Anniversary Concert and public celebration)
• The Task Force to Bring Back the Don (10th anniversary at the Don Valley Brick Works)
• Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific (Fundraising Gala with Prime Minister Chretien and Queen Noor of Jordan)
• Nightwood Theatre (FemCab/the Five Minute Feminist Cabaret)
• Women’s College Hospital (Launch of Centre for Research in Women’s Health)
• Dance Umbrella of Ontario (General Manager)