Jeanne Lesage - Teaching Artist, Playwriting, Production Design & Technical Arts and Guest Leader (Artistic Leadership Residency 2026)

After holding executive arts management positions at high-profile organizations—including launching the first HR department at the Toronto International Film Festival, completing the renowned Arts Management Fellowship at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts under Michael M. Kaiser, serving as Deputy Interim CEO of the Royal Opera House Muscat (Oman), Managing Producer of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, and more—LeSage Arts Management now provides counsel, solutions, and support to not-for-profit arts organizations in areas such as strategic human resources, leadership succession, organizational development, governance, board effectiveness, interim management, and more.

Jeanne is a highly respected senior arts management professional with 35 years of national and international experience in festivals and multidisciplinary performing arts. She is known as a strategic thinker, skilled facilitator, and effective leader with highly tuned diplomatic skills. She is adept at working with stakeholders at all levels—from volunteers to board members; from artists to donors; from staff to municipal leaders—and is deeply connected within the Canadian arts sector and abroad.

Jeanne is a Certified Human Resources Leader (CHRL) and holds a degree in Drama and English, a certificate in Human Resources, and an MBA in Management Consulting. She is a sought-after consultant, speaker, and facilitator; the author of research reports such as Who Will Lead Canada’s Performing Arts Organizations?, Reporting and Investigating Mechanisms for Workplace Harassment in the Arts, and Future of Arts Work: Board Governance in the Arts; and the co-founder of the national COVID-response initiative LEAN (Leadership Emergency Arts Network).

In its ten years of operations, LeSage Arts has worked with more than 80 clients and projects nationally and internationally, striving to build stronger arts workplaces—and the people within them. Jeanne has designed and delivered leadership training and content across Canada and abroad, including programs at Teatro Nacional D. Maria II (Portugal), NEOM Cultural Leadership Development Program (Saudi Arabia), Charles University / Prague Sounds Festival (Czechia), the DeVos Institute International Arts Management Fellows (Washington, DC), the National Theatre School (Montreal), Humber College Arts Management (Cultural Policy), Toronto Metropolitan University Creative Industries (Concert and Festival Management, HR), as well as multiple arts service organizations, arts conferences, and more.

Jeanne is the proud recipient of Work in Culture’s 2023 Bob Johnston Award for significant contributions to supporting the growth of the sector’s most valued resource—its people.