Jesse Wente

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Jesse Wente is a First Nations Canadian arts journalist and chairperson of the Canada Council for the Arts. He is an Ojibwe member of Serpent River First Nation.

Background[edit]

Jesse Wente was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1974. His maternal grandmother Norma was Indigenous from the Serpent River First Nation. His paternal grandparents were executives.[1] He attended the Toronto private school Crescent School.[1] He received funding from the federal government through the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation (later Indspire)[2] to attend the University of Toronto where he studied cinema studies. He graduated in 1996.[3]

Career[edit]

Wente broadcast for CBC Radio One's Metro Morning on films and pop culture for 20 years,[4] and was appointed as chair of the board of the Canada Council for the Arts in 2020.[5]

An outspoken advocate for Indigenous rights and First Nations, Métis, and Inuit art,[6] Wente is active in a number of areas in the sphere of Canadian media.

He has been a culture critic with Metro Morning for more than 20 years and on CBC Radio One's national Unreserved program.[7][8] Wente is actively involved in Canadian film in a number of roles and is an advocate for increasing the presence of underrepresented voices.[9] He previously served as director of film programmes at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, where he oversaw theatrical, Cinematheque and Film Circuit programming.[10]

Wente was named as the first director of Canada's new Indigenous Screen Office in January 2018.[11][12] This program of the Canadian federal government is intended to support the development, production and marketing of Indigenous screen content and storytelling in Canada.[11]

He was appointed to the board of the Canada Council for the Arts in 2017 and became its chairperson in July 2020.[5] Previously, he served as director of the Toronto Arts Council.

Wente's memoir, Unreconciled: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance, was published in September 2021.

Awards[edit]

Authored books[edit]

  • Wente, Jesse (2021). Unreconciled: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance. Toronto: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-7352-3573-1. OCLC 1224541561.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Wente 2021, p. 27.
  2. ^ Wente 2021.
  3. ^ Kuprel, Diana (2 February 2018). "Indigenous Rights Advocate Jesse Wente: Turn your passion into your career". University of Toronto. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  4. ^ "Jesse Wente". CBC. Archived from the original on 2017-05-17. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  5. ^ a b "Jesse Wente Appointed Chairperson of Canada Council for the Arts". Canadianart. 28 July 2020. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  6. ^ "Board Members". Canada Council for the Arts. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  7. ^ a b "iN18 Industry: Insider and Outsider: Developing New Collaboration Models". imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
  8. ^ "Jesse Wente - CBC Media Centre". Retrieved 2018-02-01.
  9. ^ a b "Jesse Wente awarded first-ever Reelworld Reel Activist award". Retrieved 2018-02-01.
  10. ^ "Jesse Wente | Broadcaster, Advocate & Diversity Speaker". National Speakers Bureau. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
  11. ^ a b "Jesse Wente appointed director of Canada's new Indigenous Screen Office". CBC News. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
  12. ^ "Jesse Wente appointed Director of Canada's Indigenous Screen Office - eBOSS Canada". eBOSS Canada. 2018-01-31. Retrieved 2018-02-01.

External links[edit]

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