Meet the Jurors of Culture Lab: Artist as Healer 2023-24

Dr Arun Garg, PhD, MD, FRCPC, has served as Program Medical Director for Fraser Health Regional Department of Laboratory Medicine for 20 years and Division Head of Medical Biochemistry for over 30 years. He is also Clinical Professor of Pathology in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and Adjunct Professor of Clinical Services in the Faculty of Health Science at Simon Fraser University. He founded the Canada India Network Society in 2010, to build strong links between Canada and India in Life Sciences and Health services. He is a proponent of integrative thinking, and believes that bringing medical professionals, artists and traditional healers together will result in deeply integrated health solutions and societal wellbeing. Learn more.

Yogacharini Maitreyi, straddles the worlds of the arts and healing. She is a trained filmmaker with a degree in visual communications. She is also an international master yoga teacher, practical mystic, and founder of Arkaya Awareness Centre and Arkaya Foundation.
Maitreyi’s journey in the world of yoga is noteworthy. Her dedication was recognized with titles such as Yoga Chemmal (expert), Yoga Shiromani (gem), and Yoga Acharini (guide) in India since 1997. Her commitment to the practice led to her being one of the youngest individuals invited to the Advisory Board of the World Yoga Council in Europe in 2007. She had a global reach, sharing the deeper dimensions of yoga, self-management, and sattvic tantra to help individuals see and shift deep-rooted conditioning that is divisive, exploitative, colonial, or disrespectful.
She now lives in Vancouver and trains teachers in a 500 hr, 2 year online self awareness Teacher Training program with roots in Yoga and Tantra. She also offers a weekly  Saturday morning Arkaya community class / Satsang for those who want to learn Healing practices. No one is turned away due to lack of funds. Learn more.

Manjot Bains is a freelance writer and senior communications consultant with Digital Handloom, an interdisciplinary creative practice. Manjot brings an anti-racist lens to her creative work, which is also informed by her ancestral memories and intergenerational stories of Panjab. She has spoken about pop culture, representation and systemic racism on a number of panels, podcasts and media conversations, and in 2010, co-founded jugnistyle.com, a South Asian arts, culture and fashion magazine. Manjot also produced the first two seasons of The Nameless Collective Podcast, which was featured on CBC Radio, Walrus Magazine and International Public History Journal.  Manjot’s creative writing has appeared in a number of corporate, online and art publications, including Geist Magazine and Huffington Post. Her 2019 essay on systemic racism was one of three stories from Huff Post Canada to win the RTDNA Canada – Sam Ross Award for Opinion and Commentary 2020. Manjot is a past board member of the BC Arts Council, Indian Summer Arts Society and City of Vancouver Multiculturalism Advisory Committee.

Tonye Aganaba is a multidisciplinary artist, musician, and arts facilitator residing on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam & Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Their new album ‘Something Comfortable’ is an intentional and devotional endeavour inspired by their battle with Multiple Sclerosis. The album serves as the score to ‘AfroScience’ an immersive performance and workshop series fusing live music, dance, visual art/digital media and storytelling to stimulate conversation and action around identity, addiction, healing, and expression. Tonye’s shows, workshops, and classes are connected and intimate experiences and evoke a kind of vulnerability that we all hunger for. Learn more.

Pawan Deol is the Executive Director of Programming at Indian Summer Arts Society. She continues to explore the power of togetherness through multi-arts programming, creating connection and dialogue in hopes of inspiring transformation. Pawan has written and produced several Leo award-winning short films, including Unkept and Deeper I Go. Before joining the Indian Summer team in 2019, she also worked in TV and radio, bringing more representative storytelling to the forefront. Most recently, she was on the jury for Best Canadian Short at VIFF 2023.