Leah Houston is the Founder and Executive Director of MABELLEarts. In close to 20 years of leadership, Leah has developed strong skills related to strategic organizational growth, governance and partnership development. In that time, Mabelle Arts and our flagship project Mabelle Park have emerged as powerful examples of what's possible when people come together to make art and solve problems. On the other side of a $3.8 million capital campaign, Mabelle Park is co-created social infrastructure in action. The new Mabelle Park serves the over-deserving Mabelle community with the relationships, programs and places that connect residents across real and perceived differences while supporting local economic development and building community resiliency. With a team of compassionate, smart and imaginative colleagues, Leah and MABELLEarts are re-defining the role of the arts in low-income communities. Leah is a graduate of York University’s Environmental Studies Department and holds an M.A from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. In 2021 she was awarded the inaugural Tim Jones Creative Placemaking Award for her work in the Mabelle neighbourhood.