Kiera Boult, Vtape’s beloved Manager of Outreach & Public Programming for the past two+ years (and submissions and communications manager for several years before that!), is leaving the organization to complete an MFA at Western University. Kiera has been Vtape’s engaging public face for several years, organizing and/or curating exhibitions, screenings and artists’ talks featuring work by Dana Claxton, Rouzbeh Akbari & Felix Kalmenson, Tanya Mars and Andrew James Paterson, Zeesy Powers, oualie frost, and many others. She managed the 2024 Curatorial Incubator, which presented two excellent programs curated by Kai Trotz-Motayne and Muriel Kahwagi, and edited the beautiful catalogue. But she also did tons of behind-the-scenes work developing intake systems and work-flows for new work entering the Vtape catalogue, compiling organizational information in occasional newsletters, and working closely with Vtape’s artists to get their work into distribution. And doing it all with style!
Kiera has a BA from OCAD U’s Criticism and Curatorial Practice program, and joined the organization not that long after graduating. Throughout her time at Vtape, Kiera has stayed active as an artist, developing her performance practice and alter-ego Kiki, most notably in the epic performance Hamilton’s My Lady, featured at the 7A*11D Performance Art Festival and at Hamilton’s own Supercrawl (both in 2022). More recently, she contributed an essay to Ryan Conrad’s 2024 book on the Toronto Living With AIDS series, teamed up with Delilah Rosier for the Factory Theatre’s Oral Method reading series, and hosted a performance double-header with Maya Ben David, with Kiki welcoming everyone to Mississauga City Centre for The Absolute World Tour. Not to mention an Art Metropole talk on Walter Scott’s Wendy Critical Reader! The ultimate Vtape ambassador, Kiera has represented us at many local events, but also in Montréal for our recent Vidéographe exchange; at Germany’s International Short Film Festival Oberhausen; and at Windsor’s Media City Film Festival.
Everyone at Vtape is going to miss Kiera a lot, but she will always be part of the Vtape community, and we are happy to see her dedicating time to her art-making practice! Kiki will storm the world!!! To honour her and to celebrate, we presented her video of Hamilton’s My Lady (2024) online during September, 2025.
Image credit: home page image courtesy of Kiera Boult; upper image from Hamilton’s My Lady, by Kiera Boult (2024)