Sashoya Simpson - Artistic Leadership Resident 2026

Sashoya Simpson is an Afro-Jamaican multidisciplinary creative spanning producing, creative writing, and oral storytelling, alongside being a cultural leader and theatre interventionist whose work reimagines Caribbean ancestral narratives within a contemporary framework. She’s the award recipient of the ArtReach Pitch Contest (2016), an Emerging Arts Finalist for the Premier’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts (2017), a Siminovitch Playwright Protégé Finalist (2023), and her work has been shortlisted in the CANSCAIP Writing for Children Competition (2023). She’s the founder of The Walking Griot collective, a space designed specifically for young Black audiences where they engage with stories rooted in their cultural mythology, Caribbean knowledge systems, and embodied experiences. Her stage play, LULU, recently won the Patron’s Pick Award at the Toronto Fringe Festival (2025), and her debut children’s picture book, The Instrument Maker, will be published in 2026 (Annick Press). In addition, her screenwriting debut short film, A Quiet Morning, is forthcoming in 2026. She’s currently the Associate Artistic Director of the Watah Theatre and the Black Theatre School, and is the 2025 recipient of the Toronto Arts Foundation Che Kothari Artist and Instigator Award (2025) as well as a Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prizes Protégé (2025).