Debra Prince

Hailing from the Opaskwayak Cree Nation, Debra’s unique flair for creating order from chaos has become the signature of her long and varied career in the arts. She has been especially effective in event management, where she has coordinated large-scale Aboriginal events with firm administration, an unflagging eye for detail, and a commanding respect for Aboriginal protocol.

Co-founder of Urban Shaman Inc., Canada’s largest Aboriginal artist-run centre, Debra produced and co-curated a unique landmark media arts festival in Winnipeg, The Iskwew Festival: The Feminine in Indigenous Film and Video which celebrated the talent and excellence of Aboriginal women in film and video and included works by Alanis Obomsawin, Shirley Cheechoo, Dana Claxton and Thirza Cuthand.

Other career highlights have included BONES: An Aboriginal Dance Opera for which she developed and implemented a very successful outreach, marketing and publicity campaign for The Banff Centre’s Aboriginal Arts Program. Debra also coordinated flagship programs for The Banff Centre’s Banff New Media Institute–the acclaimed Women in the Directors’ Chair Workshop and the Interactive Project Lab in partnership with the Canadian Film Centre in Toronto and l’institut de l’image et du son in Montreal. In 2005 Debra became the general manager for Full Circle: First Nations Performance in Vancouver where she produced the 2005 Talking Stick Festival and the 2005 National Conference of the Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance in Vancouver.

Debra’s freelance projects have included the 2007 & 2008 Youth Talent Showcases of the Gathering Our Voices: Provincial Aboriginal Youth Conference for the BC Association of Friendship Centres, The Crossing: A Métis Dance Trilogy for Compagnie V’ni Dansi, as well as facilitating many grantwriting workshops all over BC with the First People’s Heritage, Language and Culture Council’s Outreach Initiative.

Debra’s grantwriting expertise was put to good use when she was hired by the BC Association of Friendship Centres to develop and implement an outreach tour in 2008 providing professional advice via 27 presentations to Aboriginal and non-profit organizations in British Columbia in order to increase Aboriginal access to community gaming grants programs provided by the Province of British Columbia.

Debra lives and works in Ottawa.

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