Biography
Roxanne Fernandes is an experienced arts worker specializing in administration, production, and research and is an emerging curator/programmer based in Tkarón:to/Toronto. Her evolving practice explores and ruminates on archives/counter-archives, memory-making, and storytelling through methods that are slow and experimental. She has an interest in any type of lens-based or new media practices, embracing the “in process” or constantly evolving—drawing connections between artists and practices across geographies and through public programming and performance, publications, pedagogy, and developing relationalities with the environments around us. She has curated and programmed for Images Festival (Toronto, 2019), the Confederation Centre Art Gallery (Charlottetown, 2023-24), Art in the Open (Charlottetown, 2023) and the OCAD U Graduate Gallery (Toronto, 2023).
As an arts worker, specifically working in administration and project management, Roxanne strives to create applicable change in the sector through an active and considered evaluation of best and bespoke processes. She approaches her work as inherently and urgently creative, believing that the non-for-profit structure and ecosystem can be a place of greater experimentation and resource-sharing with a deep consideration towards opportunities, mentorship, education, and experience-building for the next generation alongside apt support for platformed artists and curators. Roxanne has worked at Toronto Biennial of Art, Images Festival, TIFF, and has freelanced for various institutions and artists across the city, including Syrus Marcus Ware and Camille Turner. She served on the Board of SAVAC from 2021 – 2024.
With an Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto in Art History and Cinema Studies and an Ontario College Graduate Certificate from Humber College in Arts Administration and Cultural Management, Roxanne supplements her artistic and historical knowledge with research and applications of critical theory. Recently, she earned an Masters of Fine Arts in Criticism & Curatorial Practice from OCAD U, winning the Program & President’s Award for her thesis publication Stories of Rivers and Gold: Counter-archives of a Guyanese Transnational Identity, which explored de- and post-colonial counterarchiving methodologies, contextualizing it through the practice and works of three contemporary Guyanese artists. She hopes to continue this work, and the act of documenting and archiving, as a personal creative endeavour.
For a complete CV and project inquiries, please email roxannfernandesprojects [at] gmail [dot] com.
Work With Me
In 2019, after completing a BA in Art History and Cinema Studies from the University of Toronto (2017) and an OCGC in Arts Administration & Cultural Management (2019), I began my work in the arts and culture sector through a myriad of roles, ranging from administration to production to event coordination. In public programming, contemporary art spaces, and film festivals, I’ve steadily increasing my skill set in production management, budgeting and financial reconciliation, communications, administration and scheduling, asset management and copy editing. I’ve created a personal and successful working style that is organized, thorough, compatible, and flexible.
With over six years of experience in Production Management and Arts Administration, my work has taken me to individuals and institutions for projects as short as one day and as long as a year or more. I’ve been grateful for opportunities that have led me to work on public programs, exhibitions, and events ranging from ten-person workshops to two-hundred-person parties and performances. My exceptional range and success in both conceptualization and implementation can be owed to a genuine interest in the projects I’m invited to collaborate on, as well as a passion for contemporary arts. Work, volunteer, and educational experiences have honed me for exciting, collaborative, meaningful, and open-minded work.
With both artists and organizations, you can expect a relationship that is bespoke—working around our collective needs, schedules, and goals. Whether it is studio work, online administration and scheduling, or project or exhibition management, I will ensure that we are both learning as much as we are fulfilling. With experience working on projects from conceptualization to implementation, I’m dedicated to providing space for free and expanding thought while working within institutional expectations, structures, and guidelines.
View my Production Portfolio (Google Slide) for project examples.