Board Member Category: Current Board Members | 3

I am thrilled to join the CNMN board of direc­tors to con­tribute to a nation­al net­work that fos­ters inclu­sive, exper­i­men­tal, and bound­ary-push­ing music-mak­ing across Cana­da. CNMN’s com­mit­ment to equi­ty, acces­si­bil­i­ty, and  aligns close­ly with my val­ues of ampli­fy­ing under­rep­re­sent­ed voic­es as a mul­ti­ply mar­gin­al­ized artist. I am espe­cial­ly excit­ed to bring my expe­ri­ence in par­tic­i­pa­to­ry prac­tice, com­mu­ni­ty advo­ca­cy, and restora­tive approach­es to sup­port CNMN’s mis­sion and equi­ty ini­tia­tives, while help­ing cul­ti­vate spaces where cre­ative music can thrive for every­one.  For me, this role is not only about gov­er­nance but also about active­ly shap­ing a sec­tor that val­ues deep lis­ten­ing, mutu­al care, and trans­for­ma­tive artis­tic practice

Cas­son­dra Mur­ray (they/them) is a neu­ro­di­ver­gent, 2SLGBTQ exper­i­men­tal vocal artist and com­mu­ni­ty advo­cate based in St. John’s, New­found­land and Labrador (Ktaqmkuk). Their work explores extend­ed vocal tech­niques and impro­vi­sa­tion­al prac­tices, cre­at­ing immer­sive per­for­mances described as “haunt­ing” and “anar­chis­tic.” Mur­ray has per­formed with ensem­bles includ­ing Vertrek and VocalX, and at fes­ti­vals such as New Music Edmonton’s Now Hear This, New­found Music Fes­ti­val, Fes­ti­val of New Dance, Hold Fast, Sound Sym­po­sium, as well as Audiopol­li­na­tion (Guelph) and Night Music (St. John’s). Their artistry is doc­u­ment­ed in Voic­es Found: Free Jazz & Singing (Chris Toneli).

A cer­ti­fied Peer Sup­port­er and Restora­tive Jus­tice prac­ti­tion­er, Mur­ray applies a sur­vivor-informed, anti-oppres­sive lens to com­mu­ni­ty work, orga­ni­za­tion­al gov­er­nance, and sys­temic change. They serve as the New­found­land & Labrador region­al rep­re­sen­ta­tive for Sur­vivors for Jus­tice Reform. Mur­ray has held board and com­mit­tee roles with Vio­lence Pre­ven­tion Aval­on East, St. John’s Sta­tus of Women Coun­cil, Per­sis­tence The­atre, Peer Sup­port Canada’s Advi­so­ry Com­mit­tee, Equal Voice NL’s Lead­er­ship Com­mit­tee, and the Social Jus­tice Co-op NL’s Trans­for­ma­tive Jus­tice Com­mit­tee. In recog­ni­tion of their advo­ca­cy, they received the YWCA Social Jus­tice and Advo­ca­cy Award (2025).

Murray’s prac­tice cen­ters equi­ty, acces­si­bil­i­ty, vol­un­teerism, and rela­tion­al account­abil­i­ty, bridg­ing art, advo­ca­cy, and trans­for­ma­tive com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment. They are com­mit­ted to ampli­fy­ing mar­gin­al­ized voic­es, fos­ter­ing deep lis­ten­ing and mutu­al care, and explor­ing the poten­tial of cre­ative prac­tice to build inclu­sive and vibrant musi­cal communities.

Éric Nor­mand is on the board of direc­tors because he believes in net­work­ing and in the music com­mu­ni­ty’s abil­i­ty to pro­mote prac­tices of resource and skill-shar­ing to fos­ter equi­ty and eman­ci­pa­tion with­in the diver­si­ty of sound practices.

Éric Nor­mand is an impro­vis­er, bassist, com­pos­er, and print­er. He resides in the small town of Rimous­ki in East­ern Que­bec. He leads Tour de bras, an orga­ni­za­tion ded­i­cat­ed to impro­vised music, and engages in cul­tur­al activ­i­ties on both local and glob­al scales. He is one of the founders of the Grand groupe région­al d’improvisation libérée (GGRIL, 2007), an ensem­ble ded­i­cat­ed to the explo­ration of “com­po­si­tions for improvisers.”

Nor­mand has released over 30 albums on Cana­di­an and for­eign labels, and his music has been fea­tured in var­i­ous fes­ti­vals in more than 20 coun­tries. Through Tour de Bras, Nor­mand has been advo­cat­ing for impro­vi­sa­tion prac­tices for 20 years, cre­at­ing an impres­sive inter­na­tion­al net­work that inter­sects with impro­vi­sa­tion hubs world­wide and includes co-pro­duc­tions with coun­tries like Aus­tralia or Slovenia.

Like many, my first expe­ri­ence with the CNMN was at a Forum (2014 in Cal­gary, AB), which was such a won­der­ful expe­ri­ence of com­mu­ni­ty and knowl­edge-shar­ing. I am thrilled to be part of the board, amongst amaz­ing col­leagues, con­tribut­ing to the work of fos­ter­ing con­nec­tion, diver­si­ty, and activism.

Flutist Chenoa Ander­son is a set­tler artist liv­ing and prac­tic­ing in amiskwaciy-wâskahikan/Ed­mon­ton. She has com­mis­sioned and pre­miered dozens of solo and ensem­ble pieces, and is an active impro­vis­er who has worked with musi­cians, dancers, and spo­ken word artists. Cur­rent projects include Ultra­Vi­o­let —  a mixed quar­tet spe­cial­iz­ing in new reper­toire; Gar­den – mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary works set in her per­ma­cul­ture gar­den; Mix­tur with com­pos­er Ian Crutch­ley, per­form­ing exper­i­men­tal reper­toire for flute(s) and found objects/instruments/electronics; and damn mag­pies, a free impro­vi­sa­tion sex­tet. She holds per­for­mance degrees from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to (B.Mus.) and the Uni­ver­si­ty of British Colum­bia (M.Mus.).  

Chenoa Anderson’s debut solo record­ing, Big Flutes: Cana­di­an Music for Alto and Bass Flutes was nom­i­nat­ed for a 2006 West­ern Cana­di­an Music Award. Krishna’s Flute (earsay music, 2013) fea­tures music for flute and inter­ac­tive elec­tron­ics.  Cur­rent releas­es include The Bel­low Project, a col­lab­o­ra­tion between spo­ken word artist Dwen­nim­men (Shi­ma Aisha Robin­son) and damn mag­pies (2021, Band­camp), and field stud­ies – cham­ber music of Emi­lie Cecil­ia LeBel (2023, Red­shift Records), fea­tur­ing UltraViolet.

In addi­tion to an active per­form­ing and teach­ing career, Chenoa has been the Gen­er­al Man­ag­er for New Music Edmon­ton since 2012, and in 2014 was nom­i­nat­ed for Syn­crude Award for Excel­lence in Arts Man­age­ment at the Mayor’s Awards for the Arts. When not play­ing flute, Chenoa can often be found gar­den­ing, knit­ting, cycling, cross-coun­try ski­ing, or read­ing with a cat on her lap.