.............................................
Having transitioned from full-time performer to community arts activist, facilitator, writer, and producer, Laura has connected with thousands of adults and youth from all walks of life as they have found their creative voices in the programs she leads.
One of her most treasured endeavors is with Carnegie Hall’s Lullaby Project with which her non-profit, Instruments of Change has co-created over 40 original songs. Here, she pairs professional songwriters (of which she is one) with mothers (mostly single moms escaping violent partners) to provide healing, to strengthen family bonds, and to build confidence as these mothers make meaningful original music for their children.
Aligning her environmental concerns with her artistic passions, Laura has also been able to expand her practice in the impactful climate action art space as a lead mentoring artist with the International Centre for Art for Social Change’s Futures Forward program, and for the Conservation Council of New Brunswick's Harm to Harmony program. Amongst many other projects, she recently co-created the ancient forest lullaby, Come Home with tree activists across Canada.
Laura continues to share her expertise as an educator at home and abroad. As she has done at Eastman School of Music, McGill, and Simon Fraser University, as well as the Universities of MI, CO, BC, and more, she is committed to providing guidance for artists as they develop their own entrepreneurial and social impact projects through her Finding Impact thru the Arts workshops.
Also an experienced group facilitator, Laura loves translating the mastery cultivated in her creative pursuits for professionals from a variety of disciplines. This work, led thru WeImagine is designed to cultivate creative confidence, collaborative skills, and self-knowledge. Her powerful facilitation workshops have found reach and resonance in a wide range of communities including corporate management teams; social entrepreneurs; non-profit boards; MBA’s and university students from Vancouver to New Zealand.
Laura also enjoys producing performances that animate public space making the arts accessible for all. Since 2022, she has created 50+ events that have surprised and delighted transit riders in her new role as the lead curator for TransLink’s Art Moves.
She has been deepening her own writing practice while completing her second novel, The Space in Between, with the editorial support of esteemed Canadian novelist, Shaena Lambert. This piece brings together her interests in music, writing and therapeutic arts, with a theme focused on the transformative power of music to heal. Although she considers the many peaks she has summitted in her community arts journey her most gratifying, she still enjoys climbing in her local mountains. And recently, Pique Magazine featured her cover story, Three to Sky, about a 10,000 foot, 3-mountain hike that she and some friends completed in a day.
Laura is grateful for the generous press coverage her work has received. CBC The National just featured a Beyonce flash mob she produced with Art Moves in Sept 2023. Vancouver Sun documented the Lullaby Project in this front-page feature. David Byrne's new magazine, Reasons to Be Cheerful, wrote a feature article about their lullaby program. And CBC National Radio produced a documentary about I of C's unique collaborative project, Voice to Voice.
.............................................