VIS TEAM & CONTACTS - Vancouver Island Symphony

Main Office Information

Phone: 250-754-0177

Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 661,
Nanaimo, BC V9R 5L9

Street Address:
60 Wharf St.
Downtown Nanaimo

Administration Team

Margot Holmes,
Executive Director

Rebecca Woytiuk,
Development Officer

Caitlin Ferguson,
Administrator & Production

Margot Holmes, VIS Executive Director

Margot Holmes has been a promoter of Canadian culture for the past three decades through her work in the performing arts. She is the Executive Director of the Vancouver Island Symphony, a position she has held for 23 years. In her work with the Symphony, she has worked with artistic directors, musicians, board members and arts administrators to grow the orchestra from six to 20+ concerts each season with performances in Nanaimo, Duncan, Courtenay and Campbell River. In 2020, during the pandemic, she created work for musicians and joy for music lovers by creating a summer series of 42 Pop Up Concerts performed by VIS musicians in people’s backyards from Duncan to Courtenay. This series continues each summer offering a casual musical experience for everyone.

Read More About Margot

Artistic Team

Cosette Justo Valdés,
Artistic Director

Mark Beaty,
Education & Outreach Manager

Paolo Bortolussi,
New Music Manager

With her “incisive presence on the podium,” “emotive in her conducting without being in any sense showy” (Edmonton Journal), Cuban-born and raised conductor Cosette Justo Valdés has garnered acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic and is a rising star on the world’s concert stage. She is presently Resident Conductor of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (Canada) where she has won the hearts of musicians and audience alike. Recent highlights include a “mind-blowing” (Ottawa Citizen) collaboration with Esperanza Spalding and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, and a celebrated fan tutte with the Edmonton Opera, conducted from the harpsichord.

Read More About Cosette

Margot Holmes has been a promoter of Canadian culture for the past three decades through her work in the performing arts. She is the Executive Director of the Vancouver Island Symphony, a position she has held for 23 years. In her work with the Symphony, she has worked with artistic directors, musicians, board members and arts administrators to grow the orchestra from six to 20+ concerts each season with performances in Nanaimo, Duncan, Courtenay and Campbell River. In 2020, during the pandemic, she created work for musicians and joy for music lovers by creating a summer series of 42 Pop Up Concerts performed by VIS musicians in people’s backyards from Duncan to Courtenay. This series continues each summer offering a casual musical experience for everyone.

In 2015, Margot was awarded Agent of the Year by Canadian Arts Presenters (CAPACOA) and in 2014 she was awarded the Cultural Champion Award for Arts Leadership by Business for the Arts, Canada and the City of Nanaimo Award of Distinction for her contribution to the Arts. In 2008 she was awarded Agent of the Year from the BC Touring Council and in 2007, she was named Arts & Culture Advocate of the Year. She has sat on numerous Boards including currently on the B.C. Touring Council, Tourism Nanaimo, and AASPAA – Agences des arts de la scène Performing Arts Agencies Canada. Previously she held positions on the CAPACOA (Canadian Arts Presenters), Nanaimo Community Archives and the Canada 150 Nanaimo Organizing Committee, where she produced a three-day event.

Margot has owned Caline Artists International for the past 34 years, playing an integral role in developing the career of hundreds of Canadian musicians. These artists have toured North America and around the globe as cultural ambassadors for Canada.

In fall of 2017 Margot Holmes formed the Maverick Cooperative with Debbie Peters of Magnum Opus Management (Yukon, Canada) where both agencies promote the artists on each of their rosters together with two experienced managers. They were awarded the B.C. Touring Council’s Agent of the Year Award in 2018 for this innovative collaboration. In 2021, the Maverick Cooperative launched and created a project called Music from the Edges of Canada showcasing 22 artists in 11 Live and Streaming shows from four theatres across Canada. In addition, they developed software for an online showcasing platform called thepitch.ca.

Margot has intentionally worked with youth and emerging artists, in addition to professional artists in her practice. She managed and toured internationally with the British Columbia Boys Choir in her role of Executive Director for 25 years (1993 – 2018). Prior to this, she worked with the award winning Amabile Choirs in London Ontario, and the London Youth Symphony.

Margot is sought after as an arts consultant offering training to emerging artists and managers. Since 2017 she has been a trainer with the B.C. Touring Council’s On the Road Workshops in various communities in British Columbia.

Margot created and coordinated the Nanaimo Big Band Festival (September 2022) and Festival Nanaimo (2015-2020) a month long Festival held each March in Nanaimo. She has held positions with the Filberg Festival (Artistic Director: 2014, 2015); North Shore Sinfonia (North Vancouver); the Jewish Festival of the Arts (Vancouver); the Historical Markers Project of Southeast Vancouver (Public Art & Heritage Project); and the Banff International Festivals at the Banff Centre (1996-2000).

Margot studied Oboe Performance at Western University in London, Ontario allowing her to see the understand first-hand the practice required to present art at a high-performance level. Margot is an avid traveller, arts enthusiast and always up for an adventure! Her sidekick, Watson, the dog, is rarely far from her side.