Timea Wharton-Suri (She/Her)

Timea Wharton-Suri is an arts executive, curator and producer currently serving as Curator & Program Director at dance Immersion. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Dance from York University, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Arts and Media Management Graduate Diploma from Schulich School of Business. Timea performed for several years with dance companies such as Ballet Creole and Ronald Taylor Dance before opening a dance/fitness studio – one of the first that now proliferate in urban centres. She has produced events for TO Live, North York Arts, Holla Jazz, Toronto Comic Arts Festival, Toronto Dance Theatre, and the Remarkable Women Awards, and curated dance performances for dance Immersion, TO Live, and Canadian Stage. A frequent moderator, Timea has conducted on-camera artist interviews and panels for Toronto International Festival of Authors and Harbourfront Centre Performing Arts, CPAMO, Canadian Stage, The Dance Current, and On The Move.

Timea served as the Interim Managing Director of Toronto Dance Theatre in 2020, and previously in administrative roles for the Dancer Transition Resource Centre, TVOntario, and Toronto Arts Council (TAC), where she managed the dance and literary arts portfolios. At TAC, she worked with Canada’s largest communities of dancers and writers to administer a $2.5 million grants budget, and co-developed the What’s Your Story?, Toronto Lit Up, Long-Term Dance Projects, Cultural Leaders Lab, Performing Arts Facilities, and Animating Toronto Parks programs. Timea has served as a Big Sister mentor, taught dance to adults and youth, and has been engaged as a speaker on the topics of equitable access to public programs, arts funding, and career skills for over 20 Canadian arts organizations. In 2019, Timea co-developed and facilitated curriculum delivery for dance Immersion’s Legacy Leaders Arts Project Management course. She is currently the Chair of the Board of Directors of Dance Media Group (The Dance Current) and a member of the International Association of Blacks in Dance, Ontario Nonprofit Network, Black Business and Professional Association, and Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce.