Who We Are

(un)common work to elevate arts, business, and communities

Our Mission

Our mission is to facilitate meaningful dialogue and purposeful partnerships between the arts and business communities, generating positive impact and cultivating a vibrant, creative, and resilient province like no other.

Our work strives to:

  • Foster Partnerships and Collaborations that connect and inspire artists, businesses, and creatives and build understanding, mutual respect, and strengthen our collective voices

  • Elevate Awareness of the vital role of art and creativity to enrich and improve our communities, lives, and our future as a province.

  • Build Capacity in the Arts community and strengthen its role as the centerpiece of our cultural vitality.

Programs and Services

We do this through a full slate of programs, services, and direct facilitation of collaborations. Some of our most recent work includes:

  • Programs that train and match volunteers and arts boards, and help arts organizations improve their business practices and overcome hurdles.

  • Events focused on how to find, channel, and capitalize on creativity; conversations between arts and business, featuring, for example, Rick Mercer and Taylor Young. Other events focus on novel partnerships between arts and business, like Horizon Maritime’s Indigenous Artist Residency, and MINI St. John’s Art Car. 

  • Partnerships with organizations like the Genesis Centre, Horizon Maritime, Memorial University, and the St. John’s International Airport who work with artists to commission new works, bring people together, and inspire passersby and customers.

  • Materials like the Local Holiday Gift Guide, which featured 89 NL artists and helped over 1700 customers shop local and handmade last year. 

  • …and much, much more!

Members

Our work is supported by our members; businesses and organizations across the province who believe in the power of creativity, that a vibrant creative community contributes to a resilient economy, and who embrace arts and culture as part of what makes Newfoundland and Labrador attractive and unique.

Anna Templeton Centre logo featuring stylized buildings with colourful brush strokes emerging from the top and flowing blue and green curves at the bottom, with the text 'Anna Templeton Centre for Craft, Art & Design' beneath.
AAMP logo featuring a stylized tree with swirling branches inside a square, with the text 'AAMP rooted in art' beneath it.
Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland logo with bold blue text and a colourful geometric symbol above, composed of green, blue, orange, and red triangular shapes forming a pinwheel-like design.
Atlantic logo featuring a green triangular shape with a cutout creating a dynamic upward point, above the word 'Atlantic' in bold gold lettering.
BDO logo with bold blue uppercase letters underlined with a red line and a red corner accent.
Logo of Bespoke Collective in elegant black serif font with a modern, artistic design style.
Bonavista Biennale logo with bold, uppercase sans-serif typography. 'BONAVISTA' is in vibrant teal, and 'BIENNALE' is in solid black, creating a striking two-tone design.
Brack and Brine logo featuring a bold black geometric design with interwoven curved lines and a circular dot above, next to the brand name in modern, sans-serif black typography
Breakwater Books Limited logo featuring a lighthouse illustration on the left and the company name in uppercase black letters
Butland Communications logo with white text on a circular blue background featuring vertical gradient lines at the top and bottom
A red and white logo featuring the letters "CBDC" in bold white text within a red rectangle, placed over a red maple leaf. Below, black text reads "NL Association"
Cenovus Energy logo with bold, modern text. The word 'cenovus' is in dark blue lowercase letters with a subtle italicized style design, while the word 'ENERGY' is in smaller uppercase letters in orange beneath it
Cohen's Logo – The word "cohen's" in lowercase black letters with a red heart integrated above the letter 's" as an apostrophe. A curved gray line arcs over the text, and the tagline "Where the home is." is written below in gray.
Community Foundations of Canada logo features colourful leaf-like shapes spiralling outward. To the left of the symbol is "COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS OF CANADA" stacked vertically and set in uppercase bold black text.
Logo with green serif text reading 'the town of Conception Bay South' and the tagline 'Bright town. Bright future.
A black and white logo featuring a tilted window frame divided into four sections, each containing abstract designs: swirling waves, an open hand, geometric shapes, and spiral patterns. Below, bold serif uppercase text reads "CRAFT COUNCIL" with "OF
Black and white logo for Christina Parker Gallery featuring elegant serif typography
The logo for Crosbie features a small black diamond in the middle of a stylized red starburst to the left of the word "CROSBIE" in bold uppercase san serif black letters
Diamond Design in uppercase black text with a graphic of three red diamonds positioned above the word "design"
Doane Grant Thornton logo with elegant, serif font lettering in black and a purple circular emblem with an intertwined design to the left
a purple text based logo. "island rooms of petty harbour" is in a smaller script font above "Fishing for Success" in a larger thin sans serif font.
Logo for Fortis Inc., featuring the word "FORTIS" in uppercase dark blue serif font with a yellow wave symbol inside the letter "O."
Gardiner Centre logo with uppercase text in a grey, sans-serif font with an abstract icon to the left consisting of 3 polygon shapes, each in a different colour of cyan, royal blue and yellow
Genesis logo with lowercase blue lettering in a bold, sans-serif font. Above the text, there are interconnected circular shapes: a large navy blue circle linked to a smaller grey circle, with a red dot positioned to the upper right of the navy circle
Genoa logo featuring a black circle containing a stylized red and white ship design, with bold lowercase black text spelling "genoa."
A circular logo for Hey Orca! featuring an icon illustration of an ocra whale in a circular gradient border, transitioning from pink to blue
Logo featuring an arrow made of yellow dots to the left of "KBRS" in blue alongside "meridia" in blue with a yellow symbol above, with "Recruitment Solutions" below the latter.
The logo features the word "KILDARE" in bold, serif, uppercase letters in a deep red colour. Below it, inside a red rectangular box, is the word "RENOVATIONS" in white uppercase text. A four-leaf clover icon is placed on each side of the rectangle, r
Logo of Killick Capital featuring a stylized "K" in green and black to the left with the word "Killick" in green uppercase bold font with "CAPITAL" in thinner black uppercase font beneath it.
The elegant, flowing blue cursive text spells out "Kittiwake," with a golden ribbon-like line swirling above it. A graceful dancer's outline extends from the end of the ribbon, emphasizing movement and artistry. Above the ribbon is the blue shape of
A minimalist, geometric wolf head drawn with black lines, facing upward as if howling. The angular design gives it a modern, origami-like appearance. To the right, the letters "LHM" are stacked vertically in a clean, sans-serif font, complementing th
logo for the Mary Brown's Centre. It features the word "Mary" in bold, orange, serif-style font with a distinctive swooping tail on the "y." The word "BROWN'S" is in blue, in the same uppercase, serif font. Both words have a thin black outline. Below
The logo of Memorial University Signal Hill Campus with a red silhouette resembling a wedge or coastline on the left, and the words 'Memorial" in white uppercase at the bottom of the shape. "University' in light gray is immediately beneath it. To the
Morning Strategy logo is black and shows a minimalist sunrise over stylized waves, using horizontal lines to create the sun and flowing curves for the water. Small dots surround the sun. The company name 'Morning Strategy' is written in bold, clean,
The MusicNL logo combines playful, modern typography with vibrant colours. The word 'Music' is in textured dark gray, while 'NL' is in bright green. To the right of the text, triangular orange, blue, and red shapes resembling bunting are positioned.
Logo of Neighbourhood Dance Works with the words arranged playfully at different heights, giving a dynamic and expressive feel. The text is in lowercase black letters with a modern, minimalist font on a white background.
Logo of Newfoundland & Labrador Folk Arts Society with colourful, bold letters spelling 'FOLK ARTS' in the centre of the design. Each letter is uniquely styled with cultural and musical symbols, such as a guitar, accordion, and musical notes, reflect
Logo of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra with large black letters 'NSO' where the 'O' is stylized with diagonal white stripes. Below, the words 'Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra' are written in uppercase, smaller black text.
The Newman Sound logo features the name written in uppercase, bold, sans-serif font. The text is filled with a blue gradient streaking pattern that resembles water or sound waves, giving it a dynamic and fluid appearance.
NutraForge logo features bold, modern typography in black with a stylized graphic of a slightly larger green leaf next to a smaller orange leaf sprouting out of the 'r' in Nutra.
Ochre House Retreat logo with elegant, serif lettering in yellow gold in a burgundy red square.
A logo featuring the words "Perfect Day" in light blue an artistic font with a focus on typography and calligraphy elements.
A black wordmark, 'Quidi Vidi Village' is set in uppercase in a sans serif with a subtle hand-drawn effect with 'artisan studios" in larger script style hand lettering below.
A black silhouette of a tilted house with rugged edges on the left side. The bold white letters "RCA" are inside the house, while the word "THEATRE" is aligned to the right in bold black uppercase text.
A yellow gold text-based logo with a dynamic thin forward slash line to the left of the word 'ray" in lowercase in an elegant serif font.
Two bold red semicircles curving outward to the right with the words "ROTARY ARTS CENTRE" written in an uppercase black sans-serif font stacked vertically. To the right of the words is a third red semicircle curving down and outward with a solid blac
Two stylized blue fish swimming upward, designed with flowing, curved lines to create a sense of movement and reference the water. The larger dark blue fish overlaps the smaller lighter blue one. Below the fish, the words "shallaway" are in bold dark
St. John's Convention Centre (SJCC) logo consists of bold, uppercase letters "SJCC" on the left, with "SJ" in blue and green, and "CC" in dark teal. To the right, the full name "ST. JOHN'S CONVENTION CENTRE" is written in uppercase dark teal letters.
The logo for the St. John's International Women's Film Festival features bold, lowercase sans-serif text in black that reads 'SJIWFF.' The dots for the lowercase 'j' and 'i' are teal-blue circles. to the right of the acronym is an angled geometric sh
The icon for St. Michael's Printshop logo features a puffin's head created with bold geometric shapes and vibrant colours. The left side features a circular black ring for the head with a light blue outline surrounding a white circle in the centre wi
Logo for St. John's Storytelling, the type is in a rustic stylized black lowercase font with an orange silhouette of an Octopus to the left who tentacles curl artfully
Steele Hotels logo with bold, light gray text in a serif font.
Stephenville Theatre Festival's bold red and white logo with the letters "STF" overlapping a circular background
Stewart McKelvey in uppercase navy blue text with "lawyers, advocates" in smaller uppercase light blue below with and a red geometric symbol radiating out to the left from the "S" in Stewart.
Logo for techNL featuring a stylized soundwave design to the left, transitioning from deep purple to light cyan. The wave consists of layered, fluid lines that create a dynamic, flowing movement. To the right, the text 'techNL' is displayed in a mode
A bold, black silhouette of a house with a slightly uneven, hand-drawn appearance. The word "THE" is black and positioned to the left of the house, and "HALL" is inside the house shape in bold, white uppercase letters. Small ink splatters trail off f
The Masonic logo is navy blue and features a stylized, bold letter 'M' in the middle resembling architectural arches. The text 'Art Meets History' arches above the 'M,' and 'The Masonic, St. John's NL' is centred below in elegant, serif lettering.
Logo for The Painted Bean Gallery Café featuring a stylized flower with five pointed petals outlined in black. Each petal has an inner teardrop shape filled with vibrant colours—magenta, purple, cyan, green, and orange—adding a playful, artistic touc
A stylized black illustration of three interconnected gable roofs, resembling traditional NL sheds or 'fishing rooms'. There are geometric cutouts that symbolize windows in each. Below the graphic, the words "The Rooms" are written in elegant serif f
Logo for TRACT featuring a vibrant green geometric design to the left of the text. The graphic consists of overlapping shapes forming a diamond with white flowing, curved lines inside. To the right, the word 'TRACT' is written in a lightweight upperc
Logo for Unscripted Twillingate Digital Arts Festival. The word 'UnSCRIPTED' is written in bold, red, playful brush-style font, with an emphasis on 'SCRIPTED' in uppercase. Below, 'TWILLINGATE' appears in bold, uppercase black letters, underneath th
Logo for VANL CARFAC featuring a bold, uppercase 'V' composed of various-sized white circles, creating a bubbly, artistic effect. The 'V' is centred within a solid blue square. Below the square, the text 'VANL CARFAC' is written in bold, uppercase, s
Logo for 'Winterset in Summer' featuring a stylized landscape scene on the left. The image shows two green hills divided by a white, winding path that leads to a pink and purple horizon, symbolizing a sunset or sunrise. Above the hills, a blue sky wi
The logo for 'WritersNL' featuring a stylized pen nib icon pointing to the dot of the lowercase 'i' is inside a tilted rhombus shape. The icon is solid maroon. Below, the text 'WritersNL' is written in a modern, rounded sans-serif font in the same ma

Staff

  • Amy founded her first arts non-profit at the age of 17. “Young at Art Music Society” was established to support a summer arts camp that ran for seven years. Since then, she has worked with 12 music and education organizations in Ontario, Montreal and St. John’s as Artistic Director, Executive Director and Board Member.

    A choral conductor and educator by training, Amy enjoys motivating teams of people to work together to make things greater than themselves, be they musical, social or cultural. She is the Artistic Director of Projēkt Chamber Voices, the Director of the Bruneau Centre for Excellence in Choral Music at Memorial University, and teaches singing rehabilitation classes with Growing the Voices Festival 500.

  • Hazel received a BFA in printmaking from OCAD University (2008) and a diploma in graphic design from the College of the North Atlantic (2017).

    As an artist and graphic designer, Hazel has first-hand experience in the arts, non-profit, and business sectors. Her unique skillset offers creative insight into the specific values and goals of contemporary arts organizations, freelancers, and independent businesses.

    Hazel considers business and the arts to be two interconnected fields that need each other to thrive. She hopes to assist Business & Arts NL to affect social change by developing programming that is an exceptional resource for education, innovation, and connectivity.

  • Linda has always been a storyteller at heart, spinning short and tall tales since she was a child. Eventually, she carried her love of the form to Memorial University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and Folklore, followed by a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

    Linda loves local arts, taking in as many plays, concerts and festivals as she can, and is always on the lookout for the next great story. She feels fortunate to connect with so many incredibly talented and innovative artists through the Spotlight on Partnerships blog, as well as many folks from the local business community who believe in and support Business & Arts NL’s mission.

  • Lynn Panting is a Newfoundland-based artist, arts educator and arts advocate. She brings two decades of arts administration experience to Business & Arts NL. Her specializations include leadership, production, special events, professional development, and community building.

    Lynn is deeply committed to the growth of creativity and self-confidence through movement and holds a Master of Arts in Philosophy from Memorial University as well as a Master of Humanities concentrating in performance, dance and the body. Lynn is the owner and artistic director of Lynn Panting Dance, the Artistic Director, Producer of Untellable Movement Theatre, and a founding member of Ladies Who Lunch Productions.

    lynnpantingdance.com

Our Board of Directors

  • Business & Arts NL Co-chair

    After working in the local arts community for many years, I found Business and Arts NL a logical and necessary next step in the evolution of community collaboration. Everything good we do in this province is shot through with the creative spirit of arts practice and design intelligence, and it is time to recognize just how much arts and business activities depend on each other to make life here more rich and interesting. BANL is the home of that principle.

  • Business & Arts NL Co-chair
    Killick Capital Inc.

    I have always felt that creativity and innovation were two sides of the same coin, and here in Newfoundland and Labrador, we're lucky to have both in abundance. I have been the Co-Chair of Business and Arts since 2011, and it has been a really exciting journey to see the private and creative sectors learning from, and about, each other, and coming together more and more frequently in such meaningful ways.

  • Take the Shot Productions

    As a film and TV producer/writer, my work life is deeply immersed in the marriage between business and arts. Creative problems solving has a place in every enterprise, and so many firms can benefit from the design process to address the business needs. I am grateful to sit on the board of directors of Business & Arts, as it is the perfect environment to help celebrate the natural bond between these two important disciplines.

  • Garrick Theatre

  • Grant Thornton

    David A. Hood, FCPA, CPA, ICD.D, TEP is a retired partner of Grant Thornton LLP. His post-retirement practice mainly involves trust and estate planning, succession planning, strategic planning, and corporate governance.

    David is currently on the boards of Artistic Fraud of NL, Bonavista Biennale Inc, Business & Arts NL, Engaging Community & Arts NL, and Genoa Design International.

    In 2019 he was awarded the Patron of the Arts Award by Arts NL for his extensive work in assisting artists and arts organizations with governance, financial, and general business matters. He learns just as much from them.

  • Tyndrum Media & Entertainment Inc.

    I love being on the BANL Board. As an artist on this board, I am always learning from my fellow board members. They are all very versatile, creative, smart and genuinely invested in making our community and our province a more remarkable place to live. I love that this organization is inclusive, diverse and constantly brainstorming to create opportunities to bring our business and arts communities together. Though we have many program initiatives, a couple of my favourites are our artist painted Come Play with Me public pianos, and our Business Volunteers for the Arts Program. I also love our Holiday Gift Guide; it has inspired several great Christmas gifts for my family and friends.

  • Camber Arts | Metcalf Foundation

    As co-director of Camber Arts in Western Newfoundland, and Fellow on Arts and Society with the Metcalf Foundation in Toronto, finding innovative approaches to strengthening cultural non-profits is a central priority. I am proud to be on the board of Business and Arts NL, and see huge importance in the work this organization is doing, sharing the strategies and cultures of the arts and the private sector in ways that enrich both.

  • McInnes Cooper

    Long a supporter of the arts in its broadest sense, I joined with John Fisher to look a means to encourage linkages between business and the arts (initially precipitated by a need to find funding for Riddle Fence). A group was formed, thus began Business and the Arts. Pivotal to my interest was establishing forum where collaboration between the arts community and the business community could create an awareness as to how each could enhance and support each other in creative ways, beyond the traditional fudging asks and handouts. Business and Arts has been a success well beyond initial expectations.

  • Genoa Design International Ltd.

  • Mark Ploughman Consulting

    Throughout my life, I have been engaged with innovation either in the technology sector or in shaping government policy. I have learned that a dynamic business community cannot exist in the absence of a vibrant arts scene. Business and Arts NL represents the best of what Newfoundland and Labrador has on offer for a modern, creative economy. It builds on our collective talents to help shape an exciting future for this amazing place. I am grateful to have a front row seat.

  • Strategic Directions Inc.

  • Tupman Bloom

    I am proud to be involved with Business & Arts and the innovative work of the organization, which provides a forum for the two sectors to dialogue and support each other. While my professional career is in law, I have a background in the arts and believe that a thriving arts community is the heartbeat of the province and is integral to the province’s continued growth.

  • Tauna Staniland, KC, ICD.D  is a corporate commercial and transactional lawyer with significant experience in the mining, tech and governance sectors and for whom creativity and ingenuity are key parts of providing commercial clients with strategic advice.  Tauna is an Arts enthusiast and believes that the Arts in all its forms makes life meaningful, fosters innovation and creativity and strengthens the communities in which we live socially, economically and culturally.  Tauna is thrilled to be on the board of BANL which serves as a connection between these two communities.

  • Long Play Capital Corporation and Steele Hotels