our team
Deer Crossing The Art Farm is led by our founders Chad Hershler, and Sandy Buck. They are supported by our board, along side a team of staff members and regular contractors. Our ongoing work also includes many community members and volunteers who actively vision and co-create all of our projects.
sandy buck
Founder, Co-Director
Sandy Buck is a Metis artist who has lived on the Sunshine Coast since 2007 helping start the non-profit arts organization, Deer Crossing the Art Farm. Sandy left Vancouver at the height of her career as a Costume Designer in the Film/TV/Theatre industry in 2007 to live in nature and pursue her passion for creative community building in the rural setting of Gibsons, BC. She and her community thrive to promote a balance of community growth and indigenous knowledge of the land we live on. She brings a wealth of skills developed from a 25 + year career working for arts organizations as a volunteer coordinator, youth programmer, event organizer, teacher and artist. She is also a performer, puppeteer, and one of the creative collaborators for the Rainforest Circus, a site-specific production on the Sunshine Coast that has toured to other rural locations.
Chad hershler
Founder, Co-director
As one of the co-founders of The Art Farm, Chad brings 30+ years of experience as a theater artist and writer and 15+ years now as a community engaged artist. He loves the telling of the story as much as the story itself – the tensions that form between people and the releases that follow, the puzzles that need to be solved and the catharsis of shared discoveries. Chad believes that how we treat and work with each other on these small, beautiful projects guide us in how to treat and work with each other, with the world and with the cosmos in general. He’s experienced the power of this practice too many times to ignore it.
If Chad could be a song, he would be David Bowie’s “Starman”. In fact, he would be the entire Ziggy Stardust album. He knows this dates him. But you try and listen to that album only once. Go on, I dare you!
our board
Joanne Norris, President
An adaptable leader with over 20 years experience working across cultures, disciplines and industries developing and leading innovative collaborations among business, Indigenous, government and civil society organizations. Joanne has a track record of creating viable economic development and entrepreneurship initiatives for underrepresented groups and thrives in leading the charge of engaging people and organizations to create investment models, impact businesses and service frameworks that benefit society and economies.
Darren Franko, Treasurer
Darren is a CPA (Chartered Professional Accountant) and has spent the majority of his career working in the business systems side of organizations, which include the tourism, forestry, and utility sectors. Outside of work, Darren is passionate about most endurance sports and any manner of non-powered transportation methods. He may be of the few people with an Ironman tattoo who also owns an electric bicycle. On a sunny day, Darren likes to put his two favourite passions together: biking and visiting the breweries in the NV Shipyards district. He also serves as the treasurer for the high school PAC.
Becky Till, Board Director
Rebecca Till has extensive experience in community development with a background in community-engaged arts, culture, and environmental programming as well as community-based education management. Her work is rooted in the value of relationships and is focused on community-driven systems change and decolonization as a way towards lasting and equitable ways forward. Previous professional work has included working as K-12 Education Manager at shishalh Nation, Recreation & Facility Coordinator at the SCRD, Environmental Stewardship Coordinator and Community Arts & Environmental Coordinator at the Vancouver Park Board, and Outdoor Learning Project Coordinator at CityStudio Vancouver. She grew up on the Sunshine Coast and is so happy to be back living here again. Once an avid hiker and adventurer, now a mother who spends time in nature everyday with her trail running toddler.
Rajan Shinger, Board Director
Rajan holds a BA in Criminology and a BSW. She has completed research projects regarding youth and gang involvement as well as health care and social work. She works as a counsellor and a Social worker. She believes in the unique ability of art to enrich our lives and connect us. Rajan worked with us on the Raising The Curtain Project for many years and we are thrilled to continue working with her in this capacity.
Heather Dawson, Board Director
I am grateful to live as a guest on the traditional ancestral and unceded territory of the Tsleil Wauth, Squamish and Musqueam people in a place commonly known as Vancouver.
My interests and formal training include the arts and psychology , which led me to the study and practice of the expressive arts. Working with the arts in community and healing practices has created a natural shift to include social contexts and respect for the intersection of perspectives.
I believe that the arts, has the potential to connect us with what is possible, to imagine and create opportunities that both inspire and challenge what we already know. The Art Farm is one such version of the possible and I am honoured to serve, support and interact with this ongoing creative adventure.
Terence van der Woude, Board Director
Terence van der Woude is passionate about giving individuals what they need to succeed and ultimately help better civilization through contribution of information and opportunities. His core values are respect for all living things; the earth belongs to no one; it is better to give than receive; speak from the heart; there IS a solution and, lastly, with love & patience, anything is possible. He spent his previous career of 18 years working in the performing arts, though not on stage. Now, he is in his 9th year as a Financial Planner with a focus on sustainable investing & supporting via knowledge, to those that are interested, the financial balance we all want. Terence is a sustainability enthusiast, a suburban farmer and a very proud papa!