Artist Bio: Lydia Blanchard is the Chief Development Officer with the Ottawa Art Gallery (OAG). In this role, Lydia serves as a key member of the executive leadership team and actively contributes to the strategic planning, budgeting and decision-making for the organization. Her responsibilities include the oversight and leadership of all development activities from donor cultivation & stewardship, to fundraising events, community partnerships, and corporate relations, while also playing a key role in communications & marketing with a focus on promoting the OAG as a human-centered space that celebrates diversity and the arts as key pillars in our society. On a personal level, Lydia is one of five siblings who all grew up in Ottawa together with their superhero of a single mother, Kimberley. Lydia is now a mother herself, to her four-year-old son, Samuel, and she has been with her husband, Guillaume, for over 15 years. Lydia studied Theatre Arts at the University of Ottawa (and before that at Canterbury High School through their Dramatic Arts Program), and she has always felt a love and appreciation for the world of visual arts, despite choosing to pursue her education in the performing arts sector.