Meet the
Thinking Rockers
Staff Team
Miranda Bouchard
Artistic Director
Miranda Bouchard (she/they) is an artist, curator, cultural worker and creative community builder, whose roots and residence in Northern Ontario inform a passion for process- and craft-based practices, intergenerational sharing, and projects unfolding in rural places. She brings 18+ years' varied experience in the non-profit arts and culture sector to her work at Thinking Rock Community Arts, having joined the team as its first General Manager in 2014, and serving as Artistic Director since 2020. Miranda has studied art, art history, nonprofit management, puppetry, curation and community economic & social development; apprenticed in community arts practice with Ruth Howard and Jumblies Theatre + Arts; and was mentored in arts management by Rudy Ruttimann & Phyllis Novak of SKETCH Working Arts.
Tori Grasley
Programming & Operations Intern
Tori Grasley (they/them) is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, and aspiring arts manager, passionate about cultivating equity and inclusivity through the arts, fostering multi-generational connections and mentorship opportunities, and creating comfortable, welcoming spaces to share stories and songs. They’ve gained several years of arts and culture sector experience in the Central Algoma communities they call home, with caring and attentive mentors Julie Schryer & Pat O’Gorman (AlgomaTrad) and Miranda Bouchard (Thinking Rock Community Arts) who continue to guide their education and trajectory in community work. Tori’s interests lie in living arts traditions and co-creation processes that centre pluralism of perspective, with emphasis on choral and collective singing. They are in their fourth year of community economic and social development and music studies at Algoma University.
Thinking Rock Community Arts gratefully acknowledges funding from Employment and Social Development Canada’s Student Work Placement (SWP) wage subsidy, administered by Culture Works Canada, which is partially funding Tori’s internship. We also thank our partners in this internship project,
Algoma University and AlgomaTrad.
Board of Directors
Katina Schell
Graphic Designer &
Website Coordinator
Katina Schell (she/her) brings 14+ years of experience in a business setting providing graphic design, public relations, and marketing assistance. She is a graduate of Algoma University with a BA Honors, in Graphic Design, Creative Writing and Visual Arts. Having recently relocated back to this region, Iron Bridge, and she looks forward to utilizing her previous work experience and professional skill base
to help members in this area.
Robin Sutherland
Founder
Robin Sutherland is a settler artist, social entrepreneur, professor and business owner. She was raised at Kegos Camp (now Northern Skies Resort) on land forever stewarded by the Aanishinaabe people in the region currently known as Algoma. After graduating with a degree in Theatre and Arts Management at the University of Toronto, she worked in Toronto’s arts and non-profit sector where she managed community-based projects at a local and national scale. Working in the arts sector in Toronto, she connected with influential community artists Ruth Howard (founder of Jumblies Theatre) and Phyllis Novak (founder of SKETCH Working Arts). Under their mentorship she incubated her vision of creating a professional community-based and equity-focused arts organization that would serve the rural and Indigenous communities of Central Algoma. Robin moved back to Algoma permanently to realize this vision by launching Thinking Rock Community Arts in 2013. As Artistic Director and with the support, mentorship and collaboration of many local artists and Indigenous Elders and community leaders – including Miranda Bouchard and Elders Gerard Sagassige, Marly Day and Elsie Bissaillon - Robin oversaw the development and presentation of the Thinking Rock’s acclaimed Gigidoowag Ziibiik/ The Rivers Speak Community Play. The final performance was presented in Mississaugi First Nation in September 2017 following a five-year community-engaged artistic process that engaged four thousand community members. In 2018 Robin was awarded the Gamechanger of the Year Award by the Algoma Visionary Awards for her work with The Rivers Speak. Robin stepped away from her role at Thinking Rock Community Arts in 2021 to have her second child. Since then she has helped establish the Algoma Community Foundation as Founding Executive Director and worked as a Professor at the Community, Economic and Social Development (CESD) program at Algoma University. She is currently the Owner/Operator of Northern Skies Resort, a fourth generation cottage resort which she is expanding to include arts and wellness retreats, events and residencies in collaboration with local artists and Indigenous communities. Robin holds a BA in Theatre and Arts Management from the University of Toronto, an MSc in Health, Community and Development program at the London School of Economics and a Graduate Diploma in Social Innovation from the University of Waterloo. She is pursuing a Creative Writing Certificate through the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies.