STAFF
Allie Harvey (she/ her)
Allie is ArtReach's Program Manager and has nearly a decade of experience working in the non-profit sector. She's also an administrator, database manager, grant writer, bibliophile, writer, and dog mom. She has a Bachelor's degree in social work with a focus on gender diversity studies and psychology, and her work is rooted in anti-oppressive practice, critical anti-racism, and processes of decolonizing. She has worked for and volunteered with organizations like Sketch Working Arts, Pride Toronto, AVNU, Social Planning Toronto, MyStand, Feed the Need, Community Care, and the Boys and Girls Club, among others.
Renato Sologuren (he/ him)
Renato is ArtReach’s Program Coordinator, and brings over 3 years of community work experience, as well as his lived experience immigrating from Peru to Canada to the role. He is a graduate of George Brown’s Community Worker Program, and Humber’s Music Business Postgraduate Program, and has experience working with various underserved communities through organizations such as the Daily Bread Food Bank and Acclaim Health. Renato is also a musician, an avid record collector, and a firm believer that the arts have the power to unify and transform communities.
grant review team
The Grant Review Team (GRT) reviews applications for funding and makes the funding recommendations for ArtReach. The GRT is made up of a group of qualified volunteers with extensive experience in youth engagement through the arts, and includes young artists and community workers from across the City experienced in a wide variety of artistic disciplines.
Charro Torres (He/ him)
Charro (AKA Paul-Daniel Torres) is a community artist, facilitating poetry, photography and filmmaking all over Toronto. Working with orgs like Vibe, The Neighborhood Group and others. He's a full member of the Canadian League of Poets, NFFTY, TIFF Next Wave, The Buffalo International Film Festival and Reelworld. Where his last film was nominated for six awards. He's also the co-founder of the Friendly Neighbourhood Filmmaking Program for Racialized youth. His work deals with decolonization, Latinidad, gender, love, family, race, politics and mental health.
Tyler J. Sloane (They/ Them)
As an Anishinaabe (Oji-cree), Chinese, White mixed race Non-binary artist, their work emphasizes marginalized voices with an intrinsic intersectional lens and artistic framework. Recently featured in three episodes of CraveTV's Season 1 and 2 of '1 Queen 5 Queers', and debuted the world premiere of My Sister's Rage at Tarragon Theatre as the character Tash. Beyond, Tyler is a multi-disciplinary artist with a focus in Media Arts, Visual Arts, and Performance. From 2019-2022 they ran four cycles of a performance program geared towards 2SLGBTQIA youth called It’s All Queer Pride
jessica bentu (She/ Her)
Jessica is a Toronto-based creative with many versatile talents. As a model, actress and creative director, she brings a piece of her in everything she does. Jessica has her Bachelors in Social Work from Ryerson University and uses that experience and expertise into Power to Girls Foundation where she is the co-founder. Power to Girls has a vision of empowering and engaging young Black girls in finding their purpose and self-worth. She is a lover of Afrobeats and hopes to become one of Toronto’s renowned female DJs.
abby Ho (She/ Her)
Abby Ho is a community arts organizer and multidisciplinary artist working in Tkaronto. Her artistic practice uses sculptural drawings, paper cuts, and painting to create alternative scapes of rediscovering “home” or as meditations on memory and grief. She is half of jabs, a creative collaborative duo comprised of Abby Ho and Jasmine Gui.
Find her as @ayebbey or at abby-ho.com
ashley Abdul (She/ Her)
Ashley Abdul has three titles: Mother, Founder, and Communications & Marketing expert. Ashley is the founder of the international organization, the Brown Girl Diary, which focuses on cultivating, creating, and collaborating within the Indo-Caribbean community to create representation and preserve cultural identity. Ashley has been featured on Breakfast Television Toronto, the Mississauga Local Radio Station, Toronto Caribbean, and Queens New York Library South Asian Heritage Month Panel. Graduating from York with a degree in political science, she has developed a career within the nonprofit sector focusing on communications, marketing, and branding. She has supported non-profits with strategies to grow and develop their storytelling through their digital platforms. Her latest endeavour includes exploring the impacts of diversity and inclusion within our professional experiences.
sampreeth rao (He/ Him)
Born near the cradling waves of Goa, India and raised in the diverse suburbs of Scarborough, Sampreeth is a filmmaker that tells South Asian diasporic stories. His experimental film, Watching TV with the Mind Off, combined music video, fictional narrative, and archival footage to profile the coming-of-age ruminations of Indian-Trinidadian artist Kevin Ramroop. The work featured in the TIFFxInstagram Shorts Film Festival and Regent Park Film Festival, where he was awarded the RBC Emerging Director’s Award. In 2019, he was a researcher/ curator with the Ward Museum, creating Block by Block, an oral history exhibition featuring four migrant communities in Toronto. Most recently, he exhibited Where the Trees Speak for Nuit Blanche 2022, an interactive audiovisual installation that utilized the Rouge Park as a metaphor for migration in Scarborough. He is also the co-founder of Wave Art Collective, a creative arts incubator for Scarborough youth.