CAN Mentors & Artistic Advisors
Top l-r: Max Dean, Marek Norman, Jani Lauzon, Carol Anderson, Laura Jones
Middle l-r: Erna van Daele, Sheila McCarthy, Pam Hyatt, Carlos Lopes, Peggy Baker
Lower l-r: Rita Shelton Deverell, Atom Egoyan, Claudia Moore, Ann-Marie Macdonald, Guy Maddin, Pauline Le Bel
Where Gordon Lightfoot never sang about Canada;
Where Christopher Plummer never acted;
Where Oscar Peterson never played;
Where Margaret Atwood never wrote;
Where Jean-Paul Riopelle never painted;
Where Alanis Obomsawin never filmed.
Most Canadian artists persevere in the face of overwhelming odds,
including incomes far below the national average.
Now imagine a world where young artists have to start from scratch because there is no one to learn from.
Without a mentor or experienced advisor who could help direct them—and potentially change their lives.
The Canadian Artists Network encourages senior professional artists to continue their life’s work and, through initiatives such as our Artist to Artist Mentoring Program, helps prepare the next generation of Lightfoots, Plummers, Petersons, Atwoods, Riopelles, and Obomsawins.
CAN is dedicated to ensuring that senior professional artists live in an inclusive world
where they can continue to pursue their careers and serve as role models for the next generation.
CAN is committed to ensuring that senior professional artists live in an inclusive world where they can continue to pursue their careers and serve as role models for the next generation.
To support this vision, CAN:
Now Available to CAN Members — For a Limited Time
Thank you to everyone who joined the Canadian Artists Network for our special October 1 session, The Age of Longevity: Rethinking Systems for Longer Lives, featuring internationally recognized geriatrician and aging expert Dr. Samir Sinha.
We are pleased to make the session available to our members for a limited six-day viewing period.
Available to CAN members until October 13, 2026.
Dr. Sinha’s thought-provoking presentation explored what longevity means for individuals and society—and how we can rethink systems to support meaningful, healthy and creative lives as we age.
We invite you to take this opportunity to revisit the conversation, share it with colleagues, and reflect on what a longer life can mean for Canada’s artists and cultural community.
Thank you for being part of the conversation.
Dr. Sinha is a Geriatrician and Clinician Scientist at Sinai Health System and the University Health Network in Toronto; Director of Health Policy Research at the National Institute on Ageing; and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, Toronto Metropolitan University and the Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine.
We would like to acknowledge that we live, work, create, and travel on the traditional territories of Indigenous peoples that have cared for this land, now called Canada, since time immemorial. We would like to also acknowledge this, as part of our covenant with all Indigenous nations, to share, respect and protect the land, in the spirit of peace and friendship, and to honour the future generations of all our nations.