About

Director of operations, coordinator and project manager in the music and cultural industry for more than 20 years, Dominique Malo had a major role in the start-up of REFRAIN, through her work in obtaining funding from the Ministère de l'Économie. As Director of Operations at Grand Montréal Comique for the past 3 years, she is responsible for the complete management of all departments of the organization and supervises each of them. Dominique’s expertise in administration, accounting, grants, production, communications, logistics and programming have made her a real asset in a new organization.

Caroline Parent has been working in the cultural industry for nearly 15 years, in project management and development, in event planning and media relations. She is a member of Collège de l'Assomption’s board of directors and member of its governance, ethics, and human resources committee. She has been a member of Table d’orientation de Tourisme Lanaudière since April 2018 and is very active in the community living of the MRC de L'Assomption by participating in various committees of local organizations. Currently coordinator of business development and special projects at Diffusion Hector-Charland, Caroline represents the Festival Fous de théâtre, which is dedicated to promoting contemporary creative theater in its various dimensions.

Etienne Lavigne has been a dance professional for 25 years, with training at l’École supérieure de danse du Québec in Montréal, the San Francisco Ballet School, and the National Ballet of Cuba. During his career as a dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, he founded the company Anymotion Productions with a colleague, and has created a dozen large-scale independent performances, as well as seven dance films. General Director of the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur since 2016, Etienne is also involved as a member of the Créneau des Laurentides committee, the cultural committee of the MRC des Pays-d'en-Haut, the Dancer's Transition Center and the Canadian Actors' Equity Association.

Kathéry Couillard has been involved in organizations in remote and rural areas for many years. She strongly believes in the important role that the cultural industry plays in the revitalization of communities and in regional development. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the Grange octogonale Adolphe-Gagnon for two years and spent two years as a member of the Table jeune de la MRC de Montmagny. Kathéry is the Executive Director of the Carrefour mondial de l'accordéon and the Festival La Dégelée!

Promoting cultural activities in non-traditional spaces is what drives Léa Philippe. This instigator of the FAR Festival des arts de ruelle has been presenting since 2017 an exciting range of short professional artistic performances of all disciplines, in an explosive and warm atmosphere. Trained as a comedian, Léa is always looking for the "real" contact with the public, the interaction, the gathering. Her keen interest in street arts led her to co-found Les Panachés and join the board of directors of the Regroupement des Arts de Rue du Québec. She also founded Diffusion FAR, an agency specializing in cultural events in public spaces and unusual locations. To date, Léa Philippe has collaborated on the artistic content of over 300 events on four continents.

Founder and general and artistic director of MUTEK for the past 20 years, Alain Mongeau has extensive experience in the management and development of networks and has taken part in various local and international initiatives, in addition to his knowledge of government agencies. Very much involved in the cultural community, he has participated in several advisory committees that led to the creation of C2 Montréal, the Printemps numérique and the COMPOSITE series of networking events in digital creativity. Alain is also a member of the Comité culture de Tourisme Montréal and of the Commission numérique de Culture Montréal.

General and artistic director of the Village en chanson de Petite-Vallée for 38 years, Alan Côté has been a member of several boards of directors, including Roseq, Rideau, Conseil de la culture and CALQ for 10 years. He has been actively involved in the creation of REFRAIN since its very beginning and enjoys sharing his experience as a patriarch. After developing a similar organization in the Gaspé region, Alan is proud to participate in the creation of a national association.

For over 10 years, Louis-Philippe Lemay has been involved in numerous artistic projects in the Lanaudière region, but also across Quebec. He co-founded the CHAPO-Festival International d'amuseurs publics and the Festival Frissons. The one who really understands the reality of start-up festivals began his career in teaching, then switched to studies in television production in Jonquière, and flirted for a while with law studies. After a decade of working freelance in the event industry as a producer and executive producer, Louis-Philippe is now the general manager of several regional arts festivals, representing different realities and disciplines on REFRAIN’s board of directors.

Directrice générale du Festival BD de Montréal depuis un an et demi, Mélanie La Roche gère un petit OBNL dont l'événement principal a connu une très forte croissance post-covid. Outre la direction générale, elle s'occupe du financement, des ressources humaines, de la tenue de livres et plus encore. Elle a aussi travaillé en comptabilité pour des PME du milieu de la musique, de la restauration et des technologies de l'information. Dans le cadre de ses fonctions au FBDM, elle participe à la table de concertation du Plateau–Mont-Royal, est membre de Tourisme Montréal, de RAPAIL et elle tente de s'impliquer dans la démarche d’élaboration de la future Politique de développement culturel de la Ville de Montréal.