By Chloe Zhu
Dana Montalbano has always been blessed with a passion for the arts and a nurturing environment in which she could allow this to flourish. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba to a small immediate family with one sister and a large extended family, she has also been surrounded since birth by a plethora of cultural influences and mixed heritages - Danish, French, Metis, and German, just to name a few. Throughout her youth, Dana’s main artistic pursuits included violin, piano, drawing, ballet, and musical theatre; the latter of which was inspired by her grandmother, with whom she would attend two productions at Winnipeg’s covered amphitheatre, Rainbow Stage, every summer.
Along with her sister, Dana was exposed to community service early on through her parents’ involvement in various philanthropic organizations; “We always sponsored a WorldVision Child and a photo of them could always be seen on our fridge. My parents would make sandwiches with their friends for children who didn’t have lunch and deliver them to schools. I was their guinea pig to test what sandwiches tasted good after being frozen, the only one that didn’t work was egg salad - when I bit it, it was like chewing on erasers.”
At age 12, after attending the Royal Winnipeg Ballet summer school on scholarship, Dana auditioned for and was invited to be part of its professional division. She cites her first ballet teacher, Elaine Otis, as being a major inspiration for her. From being the first to recognize her potential to giving her the courage to audition, Dana would want to thank Elaine for believing in her and teaching her to believe in herself. When asked about her mentor, Dana writes: “She was a fairy Godmother to me… and she looked like one too. She always had a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye. With her calm yet enthusiastic demeanour she was always able to motivate me to do my best in dance class.” It’s clear that Dana “lived, ate and dreamt ballet,” so when her parents concluded they would not let her go - on account of the distance from Dauphin (where they currently lived), the fact that she would be boarding, and her young age - she was crestfallen. Only later in her 20s would she understand the decision, and took away from it an important lesson for her own family; in order to support her children’s aspirations, she would raise them in a large city full of opportunities.
Dana currently serves as governor on the Board of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Previously, she has acted as board trustee on the Arts Umbrella Association and Foundation Boards for a decade, and its Community Arts Council Association for three years. Last winter with the VSO, she helped organize, set in motion, and launch the orchestra’s first virtual gala where over $500,000 was raised. Presently, she is working on networking and connecting the CEO to philanthropists in the community with the fundraising committee, besides participating in many other projects with other committees such as Governance & Nominating and Human Resources. But Dana’s aptitude for the arts and leadership was apparent from much earlier on; in addition to receiving a scholarship to a province-wide arts weekend for the best artistic students, she was also on her school’s student council as the head of the drama club in 12th grade and was chosen to be the high school student representative on Dauphin’s Arts Council.
As an adult, Dana continues to grow her artistic horizons. She has taken drawing and painting classes from Emily Carr University and is currently taking an online National Geographic course on photography - her favourite art form at present. She describes her reason for this: “I love capturing moments that move people, create emotions, and tell a story.” For her, all art is bigger than words, since it is able to “encapsulate, express and communicate emotions that cannot be described adequately by words.” Dana believes that art has made the biggest impact in her life; from having more compassion to a greater sense of community, art simply inspires within her a sensation of awe.
As a final note, here is some advice Dana would give to a developing artist: “Just express yourself and draw outside the lines! Do it for pure joy and know that when you have joy, this emanates from you and positively impacts the people around you. Art is like dropping a pebble in a pool - there is always a ripple effect. And so, as an artist, you are making the world a better place. And frankly, we are all artists… some have just forgotten.” She also recommends the book Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon:
1. Steal like an artist.
2. Don’t wait until you know who you are to get started.
3. Write the book you want to read.
4. Use your hands.
5. Side projects and hobbies are important.
6. The secret: do good work and share it with people.
7. Geography is no longer our master.
8. Be nice. (The world is a small town.)
9. Be boring. (It’s the only way to get work done.)
10. Creativity is subtraction
Dana Montalbano has always been blessed with a passion for the arts and a nurturing environment in which she could allow this to flourish. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba to a small immediate family with one sister and a large extended family, she has also been surrounded since birth by a plethora of cultural influences and mixed heritages - Danish, French, Metis, and German, just to name a few. Throughout her youth, Dana’s main artistic pursuits included violin, piano, drawing, ballet, and musical theatre; the latter of which was inspired by her grandmother, with whom she would attend two productions at Winnipeg’s covered amphitheatre, Rainbow Stage, every summer.
Along with her sister, Dana was exposed to community service early on through her parents’ involvement in various philanthropic organizations; “We always sponsored a WorldVision Child and a photo of them could always be seen on our fridge. My parents would make sandwiches with their friends for children who didn’t have lunch and deliver them to schools. I was their guinea pig to test what sandwiches tasted good after being frozen, the only one that didn’t work was egg salad - when I bit it, it was like chewing on erasers.”
At age 12, after attending the Royal Winnipeg Ballet summer school on scholarship, Dana auditioned for and was invited to be part of its professional division. She cites her first ballet teacher, Elaine Otis, as being a major inspiration for her. From being the first to recognize her potential to giving her the courage to audition, Dana would want to thank Elaine for believing in her and teaching her to believe in herself. When asked about her mentor, Dana writes: “She was a fairy Godmother to me… and she looked like one too. She always had a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye. With her calm yet enthusiastic demeanour she was always able to motivate me to do my best in dance class.” It’s clear that Dana “lived, ate and dreamt ballet,” so when her parents concluded they would not let her go - on account of the distance from Dauphin (where they currently lived), the fact that she would be boarding, and her young age - she was crestfallen. Only later in her 20s would she understand the decision, and took away from it an important lesson for her own family; in order to support her children’s aspirations, she would raise them in a large city full of opportunities.
Dana currently serves as governor on the Board of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Previously, she has acted as board trustee on the Arts Umbrella Association and Foundation Boards for a decade, and its Community Arts Council Association for three years. Last winter with the VSO, she helped organize, set in motion, and launch the orchestra’s first virtual gala where over $500,000 was raised. Presently, she is working on networking and connecting the CEO to philanthropists in the community with the fundraising committee, besides participating in many other projects with other committees such as Governance & Nominating and Human Resources. But Dana’s aptitude for the arts and leadership was apparent from much earlier on; in addition to receiving a scholarship to a province-wide arts weekend for the best artistic students, she was also on her school’s student council as the head of the drama club in 12th grade and was chosen to be the high school student representative on Dauphin’s Arts Council.
As an adult, Dana continues to grow her artistic horizons. She has taken drawing and painting classes from Emily Carr University and is currently taking an online National Geographic course on photography - her favourite art form at present. She describes her reason for this: “I love capturing moments that move people, create emotions, and tell a story.” For her, all art is bigger than words, since it is able to “encapsulate, express and communicate emotions that cannot be described adequately by words.” Dana believes that art has made the biggest impact in her life; from having more compassion to a greater sense of community, art simply inspires within her a sensation of awe.
As a final note, here is some advice Dana would give to a developing artist: “Just express yourself and draw outside the lines! Do it for pure joy and know that when you have joy, this emanates from you and positively impacts the people around you. Art is like dropping a pebble in a pool - there is always a ripple effect. And so, as an artist, you are making the world a better place. And frankly, we are all artists… some have just forgotten.” She also recommends the book Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon:
1. Steal like an artist.
2. Don’t wait until you know who you are to get started.
3. Write the book you want to read.
4. Use your hands.
5. Side projects and hobbies are important.
6. The secret: do good work and share it with people.
7. Geography is no longer our master.
8. Be nice. (The world is a small town.)
9. Be boring. (It’s the only way to get work done.)
10. Creativity is subtraction
