Kyle Fostner has built a career in the arts over the past 20 years, beginning as a musician, video artist, and recording artist in the vibrant and competitive Montreal music scene. He quickly found his strength in organizing, curation, and exhibition, through founding and operating several underground performance spaces amongst the city’s forgotten industrial lofts. From 2008 – 2014, Kyle served as General Manager of the iconic music venues, the Casa Del Popolo and Sala Rossa, pillars of the Canadian independent music community. Upon relocating to Vancouver in 2014, he balanced work in the film industry with arts administration, serving a variety of the city’s largest arts organizations, including VIFF, the Celebration of Light, and Vancouver International Jazz Festival. He became VIFF’s first-ever Director of Operations in 2016, a position he held until 2019, when he was asked to serve as the Interim Executive Director. Throughout the following year and a half, Kyle led the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic, a massive capital project, the digitization of the festival, and a strategic planning process. The successful navigation of these challenges led to his appointment as Executive Director in June of 2021.