Our Team

Sara Lopez Assu: photo by Wild Shay Photography

I’m grateful to have lived, worked, and raised my kids on the unceded territories of the Ligwiłda’xw people for the last five years. Born and raised in Montreal (Tiohtià:ke), I moved to Campbell River so that my husband and kids could form deeper connections with their Kwakwaka’wakw culture and extended family. I received my post-secondary degrees from Marianopolis College and Concordia University, in Commerce and Urban Planning. I advocate for women’s rights, Indigenous rights, and have been personally involved in the contemporary Indigenous art scene for over a decade. I’m passionate about education, enjoy political debates, hold space for otherwise disempowered voices, and will respectfully challenge the status quo when given the chance!

The last 15 years of my professional career have led me to numerous leadership positions, allowing me to not only hone my skills as a manager, but also develop a holistic approach to brand positioning, organizational growth, and community development.

I’m interested in the power of effective communication, and see opportunities for engagement as key building blocks to organizational success and community connections. Engaging all levels of stakeholders can enrich experiences and inform the path forward, while building meaningful relationships along the way. That said, I’m also a sucker for analytics and reporting, and see numbers not only as performance indicators, but also as optimization targets to monitor and set goals around.

I’m thrilled to join the visionary team at the Campbell River Art Gallery, whose mandate aligns with my personal convictions and whose incredible skill set has already made this a space for important conversations and dialogue around issues in contemporary art and the world we live in.