An award-winning performer and 12 season veteran of the hit Canadian series Trailer Park Boys (Barb Lahey), Thompson trained at the UK’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, the Canadian Film Centre (2015), and was one of the eight Women In the Director’s Chair – Story & Leadership program (2016/17).

She has played roles at the UK’s Royal National Theatre, in London’s West End and British regional Theatres; at the Shaw Festival and across Canada at major theatres. Recent on-screen work Includes Web series like the groundbreaking Tokens (2019); recent television includes the Trailer Park animation and Diggstown (2019). Film work, including working with Jim Henson on Labyrinth, also includes recent award-winning performances in Michael Melski’s The Child Remains and Splinters by Thom Fitzgerald.

Thompson has begun a transition to writer/director, with her short films included in festivals across North America and Europe. Her short Pearls played at over 30 festivals worldwide, winning awards and nominations. Duck Duck Goose, the winner of the FIN Best Atlantic Short accolade for 2018, addresses the culture of fear perpetrated by school lockdowns, and was selected for Telefilm’s Not Short On Talent at Clermont – Ferrand, and for the CBC’s Short Film Faceoff (June 2019) as well as playing major festivals across North America (Miami International FF, Sarasota, Canadian and Kingston Film Festivals) and Europe.

Thompson has been developing TV series with the support of NS producer Terry Greenlaw, who is also producing Thompson’s first dramatic feature, shooting in Nova Scotia in the summer of 2020 – Dawn, Her Dad & The Tractor. The script for DHD &TT won the $200K WIDC Feature Film award in 2018, was selected by the WIFT NYC Writer’s lab supported by Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman, and the Breaking Through The Lens Initiative in Cannes.

Based in Halifax/Dartmouth, Thompson is parent to singer/songwriter T. Thomason, and a champion of LGBTQ issues.

Check her out @Shelley.Thompson.2017

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Andrea Tsang Jackson is an artist and designer based in Halifax, Canada.

After working in various design fields and settings ranging from architecture to museums, the quilting medium called to her as a way to explore place, belonging, and agency. She considers geometry, colour, and narrative to be her raw materials that she moulds into quilts.

Quilts have become a conduit for her to teach design principles and techniques to an audience of engaged creatives.

Patchwork Lab: Gemologyher first book, is an extension of her geometrical works from 2016.

Andrea holds a Master of Architecture from McGill University and a Master of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Check her out @3rdstoryworkshop

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AJ Simmonds is from North Preston. He graduated from Auburn Drive high school in 2012. Played on the men’s basketball team at Acadia University for five years and graduated in 2017 with a degree in sociology.

He is currently working at the Halifax partnership coordinating a volunteer networking program, connecting recent graduates and newcomers to Halifax with business and community leaders in their industry.

AJ is also involved with numerous community initiatives targeted to help African Nova Scotian youth.

Check him out @ajsimmonds04

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Katherine Victoria Taylor (BFA, NSCAD University) is a bookbinder and letterpress printer in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

She has apprenticed with master bookbinder and conservator Joe Landry, award-winning printer and publisher Andrew Steeves of Gaspereau Press, and is currently mentored by Vandercook maintenance expert Paul Moxon. Katherine is the organizer of the Letterpress Gang at NSCAD and has a passion for sharing her love of bookbinding and printing with the community.

It is her desire to use the power of the press to help amplify the voices of marginalized people. Katherine now teaches a variety of letterpress and bookbinding classes and has worked with notable clients such as The Book of Negroes mini-series, The Curse of Oak Island, University of Kings’ College and Saint Mary’s University.

Check her out @kvtprints

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Jeff Cusick, owner/operator of 902 Lit Clothing Co. based out of Halifax, NS is a father, husband, entrepreneur and creative.

In this episode, we talk about his family, friends, support & the future of 902 Lit.

Check him out @902_lit_clothing

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