Title: Exhibitions and Accessibility Manager
Co-Lead: Accessible Engagement Project with Shanna Cheng
Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs
Email: kay@grunt.ca
Ask them about: Exhibitions, Access, Thursday’s Voice-Off and Low Sensory Visiting Hours, AEP, their cat Bobo.

Biography

Kay Slater (Exhibitions and Accessibility Manager) is a multidisciplinary artist, creative access practitioner, accessibility consultant, exhibition designer, and arts worker. At grunt gallery, they work to plan and build exhibitions alongside our exhibiting artists as a preparator with more than 10 years of experience. They are co-lead on the Accessible Engagement Project (AEP), and chair the grunt accessibility committee.

They enjoy working directly with artists and organizations to build accessibility in at the planning stage, and to incorporate sustainable, grass roots strategies that support evolution in artistic presentation. Their work is rooted in anti-oppression practices, and they employ open source and community-engaged approaches to support ongoing knowledge transfer with makers and creators at all stages of their careers. They proudly work with the team at Queer ASL, and have completed the Rick Hansen Foundation’s Accessibility Certification program. Kay is passionate about sharing knowledge with the wider arts community, addressing assumptions, and embracing mistakes. Kay is a white european descendant and settler and is working to unlearn, relearn, and practice staying in their lane.

Kay is queer, mad and hard of hearing. They subscribe to the New Sincerity philosophy, which encourages people to embrace love and authenticity and to be more awesome.

Contact Information

Email: kay@grunt.ca
Kay is hard of hearing and cannot hear on the phone. Voice messages by email are fine as they will use a caption tool or email you for more information. You can also call the gallery,  604–875–9516, and leave a message. Kay is a sometimes oral speaker, choosing to go non-verbal during special projects, to respect Deaf spaces, and to respect their own hearing fatigue. They lipread, use live captions, and text message to communmicate.

Visual Description

Kay is a white, middle-aged person with back-length hair the colour of wet West Coast sand. Their hair is shaved at the sides and back, and they often wear it up and away from their face. They have cow-brown eyes, a triple-pierced nose, double-pierced lip, and large, rosy cheeks. They have a yellowed, tea-stained, teeth-exposing smile that crinkles the corner of their eyes. They are of average to large build and stand 5’6 or 168 cm. Their figure reads as femme, and their clothing is neutral and casual in colour, fabric and style. Kay’s typically fingerspells their name in a quick cursive K-A-Y.

Image Description: Kay’s hair is pulled back with short hairs coming out of a bun above their shaved sides. They wear oversized plastic glasses and a face mask with a plastic visor that allows for lip reading.