Jessie Fraser is a collaborative director and producer of the performing arts, an archivist and arts facilitator. She studied at King’s College and Dalhousie, Chicago, London and Belgium. Much of her work is grounded in a curiosity about the nature of collaboration, the mutability of narrative structures, and the possibilities of circular mentorship environments.
Over the past eighteen or so years of her career, Jessie has collaborated with many wonderful and inspiring artists, not the least of which was her first production contract, to launch I Can Do This, with Christine Karcza, her consulting business and live dance performance to increase accessibility and understanding, mainly in the arts.
Currently, Jessie can be found hosting a weekly music night and developing Have Fun, Kids with award winning playwright/performer Laura Anne Harris, REST with aerialists Emily Hughes and Britt Howlett and, with thanks to the Toronto Arts Council and Volcano Theatre, the hybrid-digital immersive production, The Complex.
Along with the Karcza Award, Jessie is co-founder of the Jordan Mechano Award, subsidizing the cost of one or two participants in Generator TO’s Financial Literacy Programs.
Jessie would like to thank all those early supporters who facilitated the creation of this award, Dahlia Katz for catching me at a good moment, and a special note of thanks to her mother, Elizabeth MacCallum for support, encouragement, friendship and grit.