The Speakers

Brent Oliver is a respected arts leader, cultural strategist, and event producer who has spent more than 30 years advancing arts and music sectors in Western Canada. Throughout his career, he has championed artists, built cultural organizations, produced major events, and fostered connections across the Canadian arts community.

Brent’s passion for music and culture began as a young musician in Edmonton, where he started organizing concerts and creating performance opportunities for local artists. In 1989, he founded Green Pepper Records, an independent label that released local compilation albums and provided dozens of emerging artists with opportunities for promotion and campus radio airplay.

After earning a Music Degree from the University of Alberta, Brent built his reputation as a talent buyer and promoter, booking local and international artists at iconic Edmonton venues including the Starlite Room, Sidetrack Café, Rev Cabaret, and New City Likwid Lounge. He later founded Foundation Concerts, an Edmonton-based concert promotion company that presented many of the most notable touring acts to visit Western Canada. These experiences helped him establish an extensive network throughout the North American music industry, leading to his appointment in 2010 as an agent with Paquin Entertainment Group, one of Canada’s leading talent agencies.

In 2012, Brent returned to Alberta to serve as Events Coordinator for the Alberta Legislature, where he helped lead record-setting Canada Day celebrations that attracted more than 52,000 attendees in 2013 and over 75,000 in 2014. He subsequently joined the City of Spruce Grove as Director of Cultural Services, overseeing cultural development initiatives and operations at the Horizon Stage Performing Arts Centre.

Following the pandemic, Brent held senior leadership roles as Executive Director of Sustainival, Alberta’s renewable-energy-powered carnival, and as Manager of Entertainment for Cineplex Entertainment, where he managed entertainment and event programming across 18 venues nationwide. In 2026, he was appointed Senior Manager of the Horowitz Events Centre at the University of Alberta, leading a team of more than 130 staff and overseeing approximately 4,000 annual events across 14 venues, including the historic Myer Horowitz Theatre.

Alongside his professional work, Brent has remained deeply engaged in arts advocacy and community leadership. He served on the board of Alberta Music from 2013 to 2019, including several years as Board Chair, and held a four-year term on the executive of the Creative City Network of Canada. He has also contributed to numerous cultural initiatives, including Edmonton and Nashville’s Sister Cities celebrations, the 2017 BreakOut West Host Committee, and as Chair of Rogers Hometown Hockey in Spruce Grove. His fundraising efforts have helped generate more than $55,000 in disaster-relief support for communities affected by the Fort McMurray wildfires and the Jasper wildfire emergency.

Brent currently serves as Producer of Winterruption YEG, Edmonton’s annual winter arts festival, which showcases more than 100 artists across music, comedy, film, drag, and wrestling, attracting nearly 6,000 attendees each year. He is also the founder of BOP MGMT, an artist management company whose roster has included acclaimed Indigenous rock group nêhiyawak, helping secure the band’s recording agreement with Arts & Crafts. He currently manages artists including ASKO, The Hearts, and Ayla Brook & The Sound Men. Brent also served as Artistic Director of the UP+DT Music & Arts Festival (now Purple City) from 2013–2019 and continues to work as a talent buyer for several Edmonton venues including the legendary Black Dog Freehouse, and Jasper Ave’s Rocky Mountain Icehouse and Cask & Barrel.

A sought-after speaker, juror, and advisor, Brent regularly contributes to discussions on live music and cultural policy, placemaking, artist development, touring, and community engagement through the arts. His contributions have earned widespread recognition, including 18 nominations at the Western Canadian Music Awards, 4 nominations from the Canadian Live Music Awards, 2 nominations for the John Poole Award at the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts, recognition as one of Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40, and the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2022 for his outstanding contributions to Alberta’s arts and culture sector.

Christena McKillop is the librarian for the Department of English, as well for Gender & Sexuality Studies at the University of Calgary. Prior to her current role, she was the Interim Associate University Librarian for Archives & Special Collections which she took on following her role as the Learning, Outreach, and Engagement librarian for Archives and Special Collections. Previously, Christena was at the University of Western Ontario and held the position of Director, Education Library in the Faculty of Education for Western Libraries. Christena’s research interests include student learning and engagement, information literacy, and primary source literacy. Christena holds a M.L.I.S. from the University of Western Ontario and a B.A. from the University of Toronto, Canada. She currently is a bibliographer for the Margaret Atwood Society’s Annual Bibliography (https://atwoodsociety.org).

Originally from Saskatchewan, Marissa McHugh came to Ottawa to complete a PhD in English Literature. She then taught poetry, prose, and drama at the University of Ottawa before working for multidisciplinary arts organizations and a grant agency in the Ottawa region. Marissa is currently employed as a program officer for the Supporting Artistic Practice program. She runs the Literary Publishing Projects component and provides support to Literary Publishing core applicants.

Megan Dart (BComm, ProW) produces arts events; leads large creative teams; advocates for the arts sector; writes plays; and creates theatre that rarely happens inside a theatre. 

Megan brings 20 years’ experience in festival and major event production, theatre creation, public and media relations, advocacy, marketing, and strategic communications. 

It is her great joy and honour to serve our community as the Executive Director of Fringe Theatre, producers of the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival and stewards of the Fringe Theatre Arts Barns. The Edmonton Fringe Festival is the largest, longest running Fringe Theatre Festival in North America, welcoming more than 800,000 site visits to the heart of Old Strathcona and igniting more than $20 Million in local economic impact every August.

Megan proudly serves as the President of the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals, a member-driven organization that nurtures the health and sustainability of the Fringe Festival movement across North America. Megan is also a sessional instructor with Grant MacEwan University’s Department of Arts and Cultural Management; an honourary board member with the Old Strathcona Business Association; a University of Grant MacEwan Distinguished Alumni; a member of the International Women’s Forum Edmonton Chapter; a recipient of the Edmonton Artist Trust Fund Award; and was named one of the Top 100 Women in Business by The Wanderer.