Sharon Martens graduated from the School of Interior Design within the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Manitoba in 1978. After working with an architectural firm in Winnipeg, Sharon relocated to Calgary in 1980 to join a large national interior design firm focusing on corporate workplace solutions. In 1990 Sharon formed MartensGroup Licensed Interior Design Studio Ltd. MartensGroup’s portfolio included numerous corporate, institutional, hospitality, retail and residential projects. In 2017, Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning Ltd. acquired the firm.

Currently, Sharon is a Strategic Business consultant within the Kasian Lifescape Sector team. Her enjoyment and passion for Design, Art, Architecture, and Culture is reflected in becoming one of the 5 founders of The Society for Art and the City. Sharon is currently a Director on the Boards of Mount Royal University Foundation, the Interior Designers of Canada Foundation and The Society for Art and the City and is a supporter of both Contemporary Calgary and Calgary Philharmonic. 

30 years. As Executive Director Calgary Downtown Association one of fifteen BIAs in Calgary, Mark is an active champion for building a thriving, vibrant city centre.  Among his achievements is spearheading Downtown Yonge’s Music Strategy, an ambitious, multi-pronged plan to celebrate and promote music in Toronto – past, present and future. A firm believer in the cultural and economic importance of live music and preservation of vital music venues, Mark has been a driving force in music-related initiatives along with advocating for Arts and Culture as a key economic need for the recovery of Downtown’s across Canada. His accomplishments include arranging heritage plaques and walking tours around downtown Toronto’s historical music sites; activating live music – led by the Play the Parks program which purposely designed to support the music sector in Artist and Audience development and is now in its 10th year of free lunchtime concerts; commissioning 22-storey high murals celebrating Toronto’s musical legends; producing videos to tell the stories of legendary venues like The Colonial Tavern; and most recently, establishing the Toronto Music Experience, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the stewardship, preservation and celebration of Toronto’s music legacy. Tapping into his decades of relationship-building, Mark plans to work closely with organizations in Calgary to make downtown Calgary a great place to live, work, play, learn and shop.

Kathryn is a registered landscape architect, working throughout western Canada to design and enhance the public realm. She works collaboratively with clients to create public plazas, community parks, enrich streetscapes and restore natural parks which have been negatively impacted by natural forces. She has a keen interest in landscape restoration and ecological design practices and is always seeking ways to increase the habitat value and biodiversity within her work. Kathryn aspires to design environments that are contextually sensitive, that find the balance between the needs of the public, the environment, and private realms.

Jenna is a Project Manager with the City of Calgary in the Urban & Community Systems business unit. She is currently leading the Future of Stephen Ave project and recently complete the execution of the Eau Claire Community Hub. She is a registered Landscape Architect with the Alberta Association of Landscape Architects. Prior to joining the City, she has over 7 years of consulting experience managing and collaborating on a diverse range of public realm design and construction projects. She is passionate about creating place-making projects that contribute to building great communities.

Sarah Meilleur is the CEO of Calgary Public Library. She led the design thinking, completion and launch of Calgary’s new Central Library that has seen over three million visitors since opening in November 2018. Sarah is a recognized speaker at international conferences, has authored numerous journal articles, and has lectured at Harvard University on library design. She believes in supporting the community through volunteering and has served as the vice-chair for the Calgary Heritage Authority, on the Cultural Leadership Council and the Social Wellbeing Advisory Committee. She was also the recipient of Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 under 40 award in 2011. Sarah is passionate about the ways in which public libraries transform lives to foster curiosity, innovation, and belonging for fantastic visitor experiences.

Carmen Hindson is the Manager of Centre City Operations for Parks & Open Spaces. Carmen has a background in urban planning policy and public safety. Her current focus is to provide safe and inclusive downtown open spaces, and to improve perceptions of safety in the Centre City. She is dedicated to increasing the vibrancy of downtown parks and attracting Calgarians to enjoy the diversity, beauty and energy in this area. Carmen has a strong interest in finding new and creative ways to activate public spaces throughout the seasons. 

Alia Shahab is a first generation Arab Canadian visual artist of Singaporean, Yemeni and British descent, currently residing between the unceded traditional territory of the Ktunaxa people, in Kootenay, British Columbia, and Mohkínstsis/Calgary on Treaty 7 Land. Alia works primarily in sculpture, electronics, media, and installation arts, using scale, exaggeration, absurdity, repetition, interactivity, and play to prompt inquiry of connection, identity, and our bodies through constructed experiences. Since graduating from the Alberta University of Arts (previously known as Alberta College of Art & Design) in 2012, Alia has created media installations and sculptures for festivals and exhibitions in Canada and abroad.