Jamboree

About the program

Join us for Jamboree, LSA’s musical jam session and community song event! All ages, voices and musical experience levels are welcome. We will be singing and jamming to songs that we all may know or be able to easily learn: traditional songs, folk songs, children’s songs, work songs and gospel, protest songs, pop, rock, and R&B. The kind of songs that travel between cultures, generations and time.

We invite you to bring a guitar, a banjo, a stand-up bass, a fiddle, a horn, percussion, a key board, a slide whistle or a kazoo. A list of potential songs will be circulated, but you can bring your own songs to lead, too – songs for people to sing along with and jam to at the musical Jamboree.

Jamboree is a Community Led Club, led by a member of LSA’s local artist community. This means that there is no formal teaching involved, but rather a space where all are welcome to bring their own skills and experience to.

Accessibility

Lakeshore Arts’ Community Project space is located on the first floor of a building with 2 stairs at the entrance, and a non-automatic door. There is a ramp available upon request, please email Francis@LakeshoreArts.ca in advance if you require ramp access. Our bathrooms are located at basement level, only accessible by a flight of stairs.

Program Details

Date: Sundays, October 18 – December 6

Time: 2 – 3:30 PM

Location: Lakeshore Arts (2422 Lake Shore Blvd. W, Etobicoke)

This program is free, drop-in, all ages, and no experience needed.

About Janam

Janam Mukherjee (he/him) has been engaged in community singing for decades, and is committed to the notion that singing together in community can bring joy into a difficult world. One of his favorite songs is “This Little Light of Mine,” a simple and affirming message, and a song which people around the whole world know and sing along to. Janam is also a historian, teacher, creative writer and anti-war activist.

Carmen Ocampo Velázquez (She/They) is a Toronto-based multidisciplinary artist, curator, and psychologist originally from Colombia. Her experience centres on healing, identity, and social change through collaborative engaged art. Drawing on a clinical psychology background spanning over 30 years, she catalyzes creative processes that foster individual and communitarian resilience and empowerment. Carmen holds a Master’s in Environmental Studies and is the founder of Matiz Project, a transdisciplinary collective harnessing the transformative power of art to deconstruct social narratives and reclaim collective voices. Currently, she serves as an Art & Wellbeing Facilitator and Board Member at Lakeshore Arts (LSA).

Aisha (she/her) is a youth advocate who uses storytelling and art to amplify young people’s voices in civic and community spaces. She is a member of the Canadian Center for Cultural Diplomacy and the King’s Trust Canada Youth Council, where she helps bring youth voices into community conversations and decision-making. She also represented young people in a range of community and leadership forums.

Aisha completed governance and leadership training with Fora Rise on Boards and is joining Lakeshore Arts to contribute to community-based arts initiatives. She is committed to using creative expression to help build more inclusive and connected communities

Akshat Jhaveri (he/him), working in the financial services industry for almost a decade. His ability to connect, communicate and understand the needs of clients is his true passion. Outside the finance world, you might catch him shooting hoops on the basketball court, taking a swim, or hitting the road with a smile while driving his car (blasting music). With a mix of financial smarts and a love for life outside the office, Akshat brings a well-rounded energy to everything he does.

Francis Tomkins (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice includes animation, collage, zine making, and workshop facilitation. They have a BFA in Cross-Disciplinary Arts: Publications from OCAD University and have worked within the arts and accessibility sectors at Tangled Art + Disability, StopGap Foundation and Toronto Queer Film Festival. Their work has been featured by Toronto Animated Image Society (TAIS), RestFest Film Festival, and Arts Etobicoke. Francis is passionate about how art can be used to create and sustain connected communities.

Renu Indapurkar (she/her) is a Toronto-based portrait artist whose love for art began in childhood, inspired by her grandfather, a painter and art teacher. Growing up around his practice and teaching, art became an integral part of her everyday life and a natural way for her to express and connect with the world.

She works across mixed media, oil, watercolour, oil paint and coffee painting, and specializes in portrait art. For the past five years, Renu has been running her small business RK Artworks, creating commissioned pieces that celebrate people and personal stories. More recently, she launched Live Wedding Painting, where she paints live at weddings, capturing meaningful moments as they happen.

Twenty-five years ago, Charlotte founded Wuthering Bites, a café on the Lakeshore in Mimico that focused on the arts and community. With a diverse background in teaching, research and advocacy, and a passion for writing and visual art, Charlotte is thrilled to now be working with Lakeshore Arts as they launch exciting new initiatives for our South Etobicoke neighbourhood. She is especially thrilled to have a unique opportunity to focus on engagement and programming for seniors.

Annie Katsura Rollins (she/they) is a community arts worker, researcher, and puppetry artist. Finding a sense of much needed belonging in community theatre as a young person, she pursued understanding this feeling of connectedness through the arts with degrees in performance (BFA), theatre performance, direction, and puppetry (MFA) and finally a study in traditional lineages of folk puppetry in China (PhD). She concurrently tested this understanding through over 20 years of professional work in art education, facilitation, and community building.

Since moving to Toronto in 2017, Annie has worked in the community arts sector and co-founded and co-curates with Concrete Cabaret, Toronto’s only experimental puppet slam. Annie is a professor in the University of Connecticut graduate certificate program in puppetry arts. She believes that having the arts in our everyday lives is no longer a luxury but a necessity.

Sin Tung (Steffi) Ng (she/her) explores the complexities of Asian immigration experiences through curation, writing and photography. Interweaving these three artistic practices, Ng seeks to build site-specific exhibitions, public programs and installations that amplify marginalized voices and make space for joyful encounters across diverse cultures. Her works have been featured at the DesignTO 2025, Xpace Cultural Centre, Unit 270 and the Graduate Gallery.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Sin Tung/Steffi is currently based in Tkaronto/Toronto. Her recent interests include AI image-making of demolished architectures, long-distance friendships and Japanese city boy fashion.

Revital Weiss is a queer Jewish arts worker who believes in the transformational power of the arts. Revital works with artists to develop socially-minded arts programming for marginalized communities. She also advocates for opportunities for emerging artists, particularly BIPOC, 2SLGBTQ+ folks, and incarcerated/formerly incarcerated people. Revital has co-curated and supported arts projects at Neilson Park Creative Centre, the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre, FENTSTER Gallery, and King Heritage and Cultural Centre. Revital holds a Master of Museum Studies. In a past life, Revital was an urban planner.

Jamboree

Community Hubs – Fall 2026

Carmen Ocampo

Aisha Sidiqi

Akshat Jhaveri

Karen Kew

Francis Tomkins

Renu Indapurkar

Charlotte Sheasby-Coleman

Kadeem Parchment

Annie Katsura Rollins

Steffi Ng

Revital Weiss

Sherry Pom Foreman