Staff
Chad has been working as a professional actor and writer for the past 12 years. Chad has been a company member and collaborator in theatre companies across Canada and has also self-produced numerous theatrical productions through out his career. As a writer, Chad is an award-winning freelance journalist – as well as a writer of short stories, novels, plays and narrative non-fiction. In 2001, Chad took a break from the arts to take a small-business course at BCIT to learn the basic skills of business planning, management and operations. Since then, he has applied these skills to his work as a self-employed artist and collaborator. deer crossing the art farm is Chad’s first opportunity to apply these skills to an arts organization on an ongoing basis. Chad is a Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate, specializing in Theatre Performance, from Concordia University in Montreal.
Sandy Buck has been working as a multi-disciplinary fabric artist, puppet-maker, and event/costume designer for over fifteen years. She also has over 10 years event-management experience as coordinator and designer for the Vancouver Jazz Festival and the Vancouver Film Festival. Before this she worked as a volunteer and youth coordinator for various arts festivals and the Vancouver School Board. As a puppeteer, she has created and performed her own self-produced shows for children and adults with her company, Rababoo Puppet Theatre. As a costume designer, Sandy has worked on numerous stage, film and television productions – including Eve and the Fire Horse, for which she earned a Genie Nomination. Sandy has a diploma in Tourism Business Management from Capilano College.
Amelia Epp is a visual artist and educator. Having recently finished her graduate studies and teacher training in art education in New York City, she is a recent transplant to the Sunshine Coast. Amelia has been working with deer crossing the art farm this summer, helping to plan the Synchronicity Festival and contributing to all sorts of exciting artistic projects – on and off the farm. As an artist, she works with a range of materials, using printmaking, painting, collage, and sculpture in her work. She also works with found and natural materials – deconstructing and re-purposing them.
Amelia designed and created the Synchronicity 2011 lino print that can be found at the art farm booth, and around the festival. Inspired by shadow puppets, fairy tales, and the natural environment on the Sunshine Coast, she created this image to encapsulate the mystery and mirth of the Rainforest Circus and festival.
Rhoni Wyard - Festival Coordinator
Rhoni is a business professional with over twelve years of extensive experience in project management and strategic marketing/business planning. She enjoys her new career as the owner of a consulting firm, RW Business Solutions. You may be familiar with her work on local projects which include; Sunshine Coast Art Crawl, Aspire Self Employment Program, The Children's Festival and more. Her previous career experiences include; Marketing & Communications Specialist for the Whyte Museum in Banff, Program Coordinator for Mount Royal College in Calgary, Director of Communications for the Manitoba Veterinary Medical Association and the Western Canada Marketing Manager for AAA Alarms in Winnipeg, amongst others.
