Karen McClellan

Karen is a professional musician, small business owner and strong advocate for the arts in education. She is dedicated to making the arts accessible to young people in Windsor-Essex schools and community settings.  Her expertise as an artist educator has allowed Karen to combine her enthusiasm for the arts and education in a dynamic and engaging atmosphere. Since 1999, Karen and her cello have delivered hundreds of engaging music-infused classroom sessions with students as the creative leaders.  Karen performs with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, London Symphonia, in faculty recitals at the School of Creative Arts and in rock/pop duo Front Row Cello with singer-guitarist Ted Lamont.  In 2018 Karen founded Arts Can Teach to continue and expand dynamic hands-on learning and artist-teacher partnerships in Windsor-Essex schools and community settings.

Kacie Auffret (May 30/25)
Visual Arts, Art Therapy
“Every child has a right to learn, to be listened to, to be seen and to be able to express themselves. I believe art, in all its modalities, is a powerful tool to help enhance the learning experience for each child. I feel honoured to be a part of their learning journey, and to support their learning through art.”
Kacie Auffret, BFA (Hons), MFA, is a visual artist, yoga instructor, meditation facilitator and is currently training at the Toronto Art Therapy Institute. She brings years of teaching experience, including one-on-one art sessions with children and teaching secondary school art classes. Kacie demonstrates her passion for helping others through integrating art with mindful activities, such as yoga and breath-work, to promote healing. Kacie is an engaging classroom facilitator dedicated to supporting each student to gain deeper awareness, insight and understanding. She offers a learning space that is open and welcoming to all.

Christine Friday is deeply rooted to her family’s ancestral hereditary lands, Friday’s Point which includes surrounding lands and lakes that make up her family’s tribal hunting grounds, located within the unceded lands of the Wabi Mkwa family. She lives on Bear Island, in her community of Temagami First Nation. Christine is Anishinaabe Kwe, she is a proficient resilient Indigenous storyteller. She began her dance career with In the Land of Spirits in 1992 and has maintained a professional dance career for over 30 years, as a choreographer and director, developing solo work, commissioned work, youth creations and full-scale productions.

In the past four years she has produced several dance films to broaden her audience and expand her potential. As a community activator she inspires gifts that awaken the connections to ignite the cultural wellness and traditions of our Anishinaabek community. Christine has developed and delivered strong community focused programs and gatherings for over 20 years. Her company, Friday Creeations based on Bear Island Lake Temagami is a First Nations professional arts and culture -based community platform that encourages creative entrepreneurship and self-sufficiency that connects to land, empowerment and truth. She is in the process of launching her dream into reality with the grand opening of the Dance Studio Lodge and Outfitters Company the summer of 2024, inspiring and activating land based with professional performance and traditional artistic practices to awaken storytelling rooted in land and individual creativity, connection and healing.