Leah Houston

Leah Houston is the Founder and Executive Director of MABELLEarts. Over her fifteen years of leadership, Leah has developed strong strategic growth, governance and partnership development skills. In that time, MABELLEarts has emerged as a powerful example of what’s possible when people come together to make art and solve problems. With a team of compassionate, smart and imaginative colleagues, Leah and MABELLEarts are redefining the arts’ role in low-income communities. Leadership development and civic engagement, public space transformation and design, grassroots tower renewal and local economic development are all integral to the work of MABELLEarts under Leah’s leadership. Leah is a York University’s Environmental Studies Department graduate with 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.