Maxine Bailey

Maxine Bailey is a Canadian film industry executive, who is the current executive director of the Canadian Film Centre.

Career

She began her career in theatre, collaborating with Sharon Lewis on the play Sistahs in 1994. The two subsequently launched their own theatre company, Sugar & Spice Productions, through which bailey received a Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination for Outstanding Direction in a Play, Small Theatre in 1996 for the company's production of Bryan James's Stockholm(e).

In 1999 she served as director of the Guest Services office for the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival, remaining with the festival in various senior roles, becoming best known as the festival's vice-president of fundraising and advancement in the 2010s. During her time with the festival, she also played a key role in spearheading the Share Her Journey campaign to improve conditions for women in the film industry.

After leaving TIFF in 2018 she served on the jury for that year's Giller Prize. She has also served on the boards of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, The Walrus and the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, and was a co-founder of Black Artists Network in Dialogue.

She joined the Canadian Film Centre in 2021.

Awards

In 2019, she received a Special Jury Award of Distinction from the Toronto chapter of Women in Film and Television International.

In 2026, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television named bailey the recipient of its special Changemaker Award at the 14th Canadian Screen Awards.

References

  1. ↑ Jordan Pinto, "maxine bailey wants to do a ‘damn good job’". Playback, September 15, 2021.
  2. ↑ Vit Wagner, "Ingredients all there but Sistahs isn't soup yet". Toronto Star, October 23, 1994.
  3. ↑ Amanda Parris, "31 Black Canadian female playwrights you need to know". CBC Arts, March 6, 2020.
  4. ↑ Geoff Chapman, "Canadian Stage, Tarragon lead Dora nominations". Toronto Star, May 17, 1996.
  5. ↑ Rob Salem, "Do you wish to stumble upon a star? Up Front ; Forget it at Toronto's film fest where Hollywood babes are pampered". Toronto Star, September 9, 1999.
  6. ↑ Chaka V. Grier, "Local hero: TIFF’s maxine bailey sets out on a creative journey". Now, October 29, 2018.
  7. ↑ Kate Taylor, "TIFF 2018: At Share Her Journey rally, women point to an inequality problem - and offer ways to fix it: Rally sets out to help address gender imbalance on film sets, where the large majority of directors and writers are men". The Globe and Mail, September 8, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Esi Edugyan, Patrick DeWitt back as Giller prize nominees". St. Catharines Standard, October 2, 2018.
  9. 1 2 Connie Thiessen, "Esta Spalding, Mary Young Leckie among WIFT-T Crystal Award honourees". Broadcast Dialogue, October 23, 2019.
  10. 1 2 Connie Thiessen, "maxine bailey appointed CFC executive director". Broadcast Dialogue, April 29, 2021.
  11. ↑ Nick Logan, "Mike Myers, Hazel Mae among recipients of special 2026 Canadian Screen Awards honours". CBC News, March 4, 2026.