Diana Webley, CTFF2020 Festival Director
TORONTO, ON (March 16, 2020) – CaribbeanTales is thrilled to announce that Diana Webley is the 2020 Director of the CaribbeanTales International Film Festival. This move follows the appointment of three new members to its Charity Board: Dr. Dori Tunstall, Mr. Shawn Cuffie and Mr Peter Lyman. All are passionate supporters of CaribbeanTales and its mission to create, market and distribute educational programs and films intended to promote racial equality and a healthy community in Canada. This is a milestone year for the CaribbeanTales Film Festival as it marks its 15th edition of bringing unique and diverse content to the Canadian film landscape.
“We are so excited to have Diana take the reins as Festival Director,” says Frances-Anne Solomon, founder and CEO of CaribbeanTales Media Group. “Additionally, for these three individuals to join our Board is a great asset to our organization. They all bring unique expertise that will help us to evolve and lead CaribbeanTales and its various platforms through 2020 and beyond.”
A long-time member of the CaribbeanTales family, Diana Webley has been working at Harbourfront Centre for 15 years where she is responsible for managing day-to-day operational aspects and programming themes for their year-round festival and event season. For the past two years she has served as Associate Festival Director for CTFF.
As Dean of Design at the Ontario College of Art and Design University, Dr. Elizabeth (Dori) Tunstall is the first Black female dean of a faculty of design in Canada. With a global career, Dori served as Associate Professor of Design Anthropology and Associate Dean at Swinburne University in Australia. In the U.S., she taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She organized the U.S. National Design Policy Initiative and served as a director of Design for Democracy. Dori holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Stanford University and a BA in Anthropology from Bryn Mawr College.
Peter Lyman co-founded Nordicity in 1979 and guided the firm’s merger with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 1998. He was made national lead partner for the Information Communications and Entertainment/Media practice. He then led Nordicity’s re-emergence as a standalone firm in 2002. Peter is a media commenter and frequent panelist or chair at professional conferences. He is active in the arts and social justice community, serving as chair of the board for the Inspirit Foundation and governance chair of Canadian Stage in Toronto. He is an adjunct professor at Schulich Business School at York University.
Shawn Cuffie has been active in the arts and entertainment industry for over 25 years, working in dance, fashion, music and film/ television. Shawn later moved on to operate his entertainment enterprise in his Toronto studio. Some of Shawn’s direct efforts include large scale model and talent competitions in the U.S. – having won 20+ awards over a decade, corporate shows for Pepsi, TD Bank, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, The Toronto Raptors, concerts for KiSS 92.5, hundreds of fashion shows and creating and producing the TD Black Diamond Ball.
The Charity Board assists CaribbeanTales with guidance and influence in fundraising endeavours. The other Directors are:
- The Honorable Jean Augustine, former MP
- Denham Jolly, philanthropist, community leader and retired businessman
- Denise Herrera-Jackson, former CEO of Toronto Caribbean Carnival
- Anne-Marie Stewart, Independent Management Consultant
- Susan Fueg, film producer
Details of the CaribbeanTales Fundraising Gala and Film Festival Programme Reveal will be released at a later date.
About Caribbeantales
CaribbeanTales (CTMG) is a group of media companies that produces, markets, exhibits and distributes Caribbean-themed films from around the world, including CaribbeanTales Inc – a registered Charity in Canada, and CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution. Activities include The CaribbeanTales International Film Festival (CTFF), now in its 15th year; the renowned CaribbeanTales Incubator Program (CTI) – a year-round development and production hub for Caribbean, Diaspora, and diverse Producers; CaribbeanTales-TV a VOD streaming service; and CaribbeanTalesFlix, its production arm. More info at www.caribbeantales.org
Media Contact: Fennella Bruce|FKB Media Solutions|Fennella@fkbmedia.com|647.290.7610
