City of Craft 2024

Melanie Egan has been actively involved in the arts community for over 35 years. She is the Director of Craft & Design at Harbourfront Centre, a senior cultural administrator and curator. She has collaborated with Craft Ontario on two major symposiums, DesignTO, and was on the curatorial team for Indigenous Fashion Arts Festival. She is currently on the Board of Directors for the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair.

Robyn Wilcox is a Toronto-based curator and administrator working at the intersection of craft, design, and art. She promotes and advocates for craft & design culture in Canada by supporting makers and generating public awareness and appreciation for craft & design. Robyn holds concurrent roles as the Head of Programming at DesignTO and the Curator at Craft Ontario. Robyn received a Master of Architecture (Post-Professional) from McGill University and a BA from Concordia University.

Kalpna Patel and Becky Johnson (founding members/organizers of City of Craft).

Kalpna Patel is a Toronto-based creative with years of experience in paper craft, environment and retail design, arts administration and event organization. In 2019 she illustrated her first book for children, Alis the Aviator, published by Tundra Books.

The primary banner for Becky Johnson‘s craft output, the sweetie pie press comprised her work with zines, pinback buttons, commercial crochet products, illustrations, prints and other sundry ephemera. Under this banner, Becky has toured internationally and has attended more craft fairs than anyone on earth (a claim she will continue to make until challenged). She has also collaborated with various artists through the sweetie pie press in both submission-based zines and the commissioned artist button set series.

Emily Jung is the Director of Communications at The Theatre Centre. As an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and artsworker—she co-runs the “Theatre Workers stop working and craft and chill” event series with artist Amanda Lin. Her works were most recently seen at the 2024 SummerWorks Festival, Aluna Theatre Café, and Choa Magazine.