OUR SMALL BUT MIGHTY TEAM

ARE A GROUP OF PEOPLE DEDICATED TO INSPIRING ASPIRING PERFORMING ARTISTS.

MIKE JEWITT

Executive Director

Mike comes to the Festival with a strong background, organizational experiences and exceptional results in music and leadership in profit and non-profit organizations. He has served as the Executive Director for Calgary Round-Up Band, Calgary Stetson Show Band, multiple roles at Calgary Stampede and most recently comes to us after time with Three Hills School Division as a music educator. He has volunteered with World Association of Marching Show Bands, Alberta International Band Festivals, and is a member of Phi Beta Mu.

Mike holds degrees in music from the University of Calgary and education from Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane Australia. Mike has a strong commitment to music, a true appreciation for the Arts, and was a participant in music festivals as a child in choral, band, and Saxophone.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Weston Jacques

President

Weston Jacques, MAPC, is a communications and marketing leader who partners with executives, staff, and stakeholders to share their vision, grow their brands, tell their stories and inspire connection. With over ten years of experience in both non-profit and corporate environments, focusing on the arts, science, health and technology, he designs strategies to drive audience engagement and campaigns to inspire stakeholders and branding to leave an impression. As a master of both traditional and digital marketing and communications, he helps organizations and businesses design effective plans to solve problems, connect to stakeholders, foster relationships and influence change. Weston grew up performing at the Calgary Performing Arts Festival in clarinet performance.

Mathea Mitchell

Director

Mathea Mitchell is a Chartered Professional Accountant who is passionate about the amateur arts community. She is an alumni of the University of Saskatchewan, graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce and Masters in Professional Accounting.

Her background brings a unique blend of finance and the arts, as she grew up performing in Lethbridge’s branch of the Performing Arts Festival (formerly Kiwanis Music Festival) in a variety of disciplines, including voice, musical theatre, and piano.

Mathea is excited to get back to her roots and help further grow the Festival!

Sarah Huber

Treasurer

Sarah Huber is a Chartered Professional Accountant and an alumna of Mount Royal University, graduating with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting. Sarah also has a graduate certificate in Accounting with Digital Analytics and she currently works in the aviation industry as a Senior Financial Analyst responsible for predicting and mitigiating operating costs. Sarah’s previous experience includes several years of in-depth finanical assurance for many Alberta based Non-Profit entities, so she is no stranger to the nuance of NPO accounting.

Sarah has always been invovled in the performing arts dicipline as she grew up as a competitve dancer and later danced professionally for a few Calgary sports teams. Sarah is thrilled to become more immersed in the Alberta music scene through this role with the Calgary Performing Arts Festival.

Tara Black

Director

Ms. Tara Black has a Bachelor of Commerce and a Masters of Communications Studies from the University of Calgary. She worked in public relations and communications in the oil industry in Calgary and Houston for 25 years, and most recently served a year as Director of Marketing and Communications at Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School. She has passionately served on many volunteer organizations and boards. Tara and her husband, Rick, are proud parents of two daughters, one in university and one in high school, both of whom are very musical and have performed many times at the Calgary Performing Arts Festival.

Bjoern Wolkmann

Director

Originally from Toronto, Mr. Wolkmann graduated from law school in Australia in 2016 after earning a criminology degree. He returned to Toronto, where he initially worked for a corporate, litigation and real estate firm.

Realizing that his passion lay in criminal law, he took an opportunity to move to Lethbridge, Alberta, and practiced exclusively criminal defence law. After a couple of years there, Mr. Wolkmann joined Legal Aid Alberta in Calgary

Mr. Wolkmann has a passion for human rights, and global humanitarian improvements. He comes from a community in diaspora comprised of many refugees. He hopes to make an impact in his community on either a grassroots, national, or international level.

In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, reading, and listening to classical music.

Slavko Popovic

Director

Slavko Popovic joined the Calgary Philharmonic as their Principal Clarinetist in June 2018 at the age of 22.

Popovic is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music. While at Curtis, he had participated on two tours – a woodwind quintet tour of the United States and South America, and an orchestra tour of Europe. At Curtis he studied with Donald Montanaro, Ricardo Morales, Michael Rusinek, and Anthony McGill. He has performed with Michael Rusinek, Daniel Matuskawa (Bassoon), Jennifer Montone (Horn), Peter Serkin, Jennifer Koh, and Roberto Diaz, to name a few. Prior to entering Curtis, Popovic studied with Joseph Orlowski, Stephen Pierre, and Ross Edwards – with additional study with Kimball Sykes and Joaquin Valdepeñas.

He has performed as an extra clarinetist with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Princeton Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, and Orchestra 2001. He has toured with both the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra – the latter of which he was featured as soloist in Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No 1. Popovic has also performed as soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra playing Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, Oakville Symphony, Symphony Hamilton, and the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.

Popovic has attended music festivals such as the AIMS festival in Graz, Austria, National Orchestra Institute, International Music Academy in Mezzano, Italy, Manchester Music Festival, and for last four years has been part of the Lake George Festival in Lake George, NY. His Lake George performance of the Brahms Clarinet Trio was broadcast on “Performance Today” with Fred Child as the host. His various other chamber music performances have been broadcast on “WHYY” in Philadelphia.

When he isn’t practicing or performing, Popovic enjoys spending time with friends and family, and keeping fit by going on long bike rides, and swimming.