ASSOCIATE AND CONTRACT ARTISTS
Work for us, Work with Us
Elijah Wells | Co-Director
Elijah Wells (Kainai) is the co-founder and co-director of Wild Mint Arts. He has studied at Alberta College of Art and Design and Emily Carr University of Art and Design. His expertise in visual arts and design bring sets and regalia alive on stage. With touring experience and set design, he brings a wealth of experience to Wild Mint Arts.
V.J Sparvier-Wells | Co-Director
Vee Sparvier-Wells (Cowessess) is the co-founder and co-director of Wild Mint Arts. She has her Master of Fine Arts from Simon Fraser University and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Calgary. She brings years of experience in performance (Music, Dance) and touring to the company.
.jpg)
Cindy Daniels | Dancer & Elder
Cindy Daniels is from Bearspaw First Nation. She teaches from a Stoney Nakoda cultural viewpoint and supports young artists and community.
Nyla Bedard | Contract Dancer
Nyla Bedard is joining Wild Mint Arts for BC-based performances. Nyla Bedard (Tahltan, Kaska, French and Scottish) is a multifaceted performing artist currently residing in North Vancouver, BC. Since the age of three, Nyla has been powwow dancing. Over the last 35 years she traveled across Turtle Island dancing at various powwows and festivals. She also teaches the various powwow styles, sharing the dance steps and the history. Nyla is also an actor, writer, and a mom of two. // Photo by Juco Visual Arts.
Theresa Daniels | Contract Dancer
Theresa is a dancer from Mînî Thnî. She dances Jingle, Fancy Shawl, and Traditional.
Kenna Burima | Partner Artist & Businesss Adminstrator
About the songwriter and musician Kenna Burima. : Music, songwriting, teaching, collaboration, and motherhood. In her adopted hometown of Calgary (Moh’kinsstis, Treaty 7), Kenna Burima has earned a reputation as someone who can turn ideas into big projects, teach the unteachable, and inspire people to come together.
Matthew Provost | Contract Dancer
Matthew Provost (Piikani) will be joining us for BC-based shows in 2026 as a Chicken Dancer.
Rudy Benjamin | Contract Dancer
This could be you!
Rudy Benjamin is a champion singer, dancer and musician from Mînî Thnî. He is one of the artists sharing his dance, story and songs in schools shows in Calgary and Cochrane AB.
Bio/about coming soon
Starr Muranko | Circle of Advisors
Starr Muranko is a dancer/choreographer, mother and Co-Artistic Director with ​Raven Spirit Dance. As a choreographer she is most interested in the stories that we carry within our bodies and Ancestral connections to land that transcend time and space. Her work has been shared locally and nationally including at the Dance Centre, Talking Stick Festival, Coastal Dance Festival, Dancing on the Edge, Weesageechak Begins to Dance, Impact Festival, and InFringing Dance Festival. A proud company dancer with the Dancers of Damelahamid since 2005, she has toured across Canada and internationally and trained under the guidance and mentorship of the late Elder Margaret Harris. She holds a BFA in Dance from SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts and honours and celebrates her mixed ancestry of Omushkegowuk Cree (Moose Cree First Nation), French and German in all of her work.
Sarah Houle | Circle of Advisors
Sarah Houle is an artist and performer from Paddle Prairie Métis Settlement in Northern Alberta. Her practice is collaborative and time-based, evolving from personal mythology, familial roots and material explorations to encompass film, animation, installation and performance. A continuous thread follows her work: bold, pastel colours, beadwork motifs and recurring characters of the Shapeshifter, Bird Boy and Little People. 
Sarah makes her home in Mohkinstsis/Calgary, but family – near and far – is integral to her process, both as subjects and collaborators. She draws from ancestry and creates in community, never alone as she explores hidden worlds. Mentorship is an increasingly important part of her practice, sharing in the abundance of communal wisdom and collective work. Her roles as an artist, mother, bandmate, collaborator and community member evidence  Sarah’s belief in interconnected relationships, stretching across place and time. 
.jpeg)
Lana Skauge | Circle of Advisors
Lana Skauge has been a vibrant force in the Canadian arts community since 1979 with tours throughout Canada and the UK. She has written and
performed 24 one-woman shows, 11 plays and has five published books. Career highlights include cSPACE Creative Incubator series artist, Sunset Theatre Play Workshop “Queen Bee”, UK tour and co-
creator with the Magdalena Project (Wales), storytelling intensive with esteemed author Richard Wagamese and recipient of the Duval Lang Theatre for Young Audiences
award. Her mission is simple yet powerful: “Change the world with a story.”