What is CRIPSiE?
CRIPSiE (The Collaborative Radically Integrated Performers Society in
Edmonton) is an Edmonton-based collective of artists that include people who experience disability and their allies. We challenge dominant stories of disability and other forms of oppression through high-quality crip and mad performance art, video art, as well as public education and outreach programs.
Who Is CRIPSiE?
Leadership Team:
Board of Directors:
Brooke Leifso
Miranda Allen
Laurel Munro
Alison Neuman
Artistic Director
Alison Neuman is a disabled artist with an education and performance foundation in dance, choreography, theatre, music, and playwriting rooted in the arts community from Edmonton to California. She has studied with CRIPSiE Edmonton, Good Women Dance Collective (GWDC), Orchesis Dance, Mile Zero Dance, AXIS Dance, Nextfest, The Citadel Theatre Foote Theatre School, The MacEwan Conservatory of Music, The Alberta Playwrights’ Network RBC Emerging Artists Mentorship Program, Kompany Family Theatre, and The Citadel Theatre RBC Horizon Emerging Artists Program.
Her choreography has appeared at Nextfest, The Expanse Festival, Dirt Buffet Cabaret, Emergence, and CRIPSiE Shows. Alison’s plays have been produced at The Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival and Walterdale Theatre From Cradle to Stage. She has a Master’s Degree with an Educational Studies focus, a Bachelor of Applied Communications Degree, a Diploma in Professional Writing, and a Graduate Certificate in Creative Writing.
She hopes artists will see someone like them on or working behind the stage and know there is a place for them in the arts. Alison looks forward to creating programming and opportunities to engage our community and build relationships with new individuals and organizations.
For more information, visit www.alisonneuman.ca.
Rebecca Bissonnette
Operations Manager
Rebecca Bissonnette is a Queer, Indigenous, Female artist that loves getting involved in adventures that allow her to tell a story. A sought after collaborator, she has created as an actor, dancer, singer, improviser, comedian, playwright, choreographer, songwriter, director, stage manager, producer, radio show host as well as an arts educator and administrator.
Rebecca has an Education degree with a minor in Educational Psychology, a Management Studies Diploma and close to 3 decades in the dance studio. She has been a part of creating with Mile Zero Dance, Leduc Drama Society, Foote In The Door Theatre, Walterdale Theatre, Workshop West Theatre, Die-Nasty Improv, Horizon Players, Nuova Vocal Arts, Sky’s The Limit Youth Theatre, Thou Art Here Theatre - as well as run her own dance company Shift Happens Dance, her own production company DEPTH Perception Productions and her own radio station Turn It Up Radio.
As someone who lives with chronic conditions and illnesses that some would deem as invisible disabilities, Rebecca's outlook on what is can mean to be an artist has changed as her body changes. Rebecca is thrilled to be working alongside Alison and Mallory in order to really showcase that art is for every body, as well as help put the supports in place that allow that to be true.
Mallory Chipman
Executive Director
Mallory Chipman (MMus, she/they) is a musician, songwriter, producer, and music scholar living and creating on Treaty Six Territory.
As a musical artist, Mallory has released five full length albums and two EPs under her name, as well as numerous other collaborations. Her most recent LP, Songs to a Wild God, hit #1 on CBC, #5 on the Folk International charts, and was featured on CBC, NPR, and SiriusXM. Mallory’s lyrics often centre themes of entangledness, place, resistance, memory, ecology, and wonder. She has toured internationally throughout Canada, Ireland & the UK, Europe, Japan, and the USA, and has shared stages with artists including Jann Arden, Heart, The Ennis Sisters, Madeleine Peyroux, and more. She works across genre and regularly collaborates with numerous artists across the country.
She completed her Master’s from the London College of Music with a thesis exploring composition and zoomusicology (the study of animal sounds, specifically birdsong, as music). Mallory was the Edmonton Public Library’s inaugural Musician in Residence, and included in Edify Magazine’s 2023 class of Top 40 Under 40.
Before transitioning to a fully freelance arts career, Mallory spent seven years on faculty at MacEwan University where she held the position of Section Head, Voice, and also taught songwriting. She has also worked as a volunteer board and committee member with other arts organizations including the Edmonton Jazz Society and the Winspear Centre.
Mallory served as the Vice Chair & Secretary on the board of CRIPSiE from April 2024-April 2026, and is thrilled to be stepping into the new Executive Director role, alongside Artistic Director, Alison Neuman, and Operations Manager, Rebecca Bissonnette. This is a two year position with potential for extension, and Mallory is excited to continually grow and improve the organization as part of the CRIPSiE staff team.
Mallory has lived with chronic migraine since she was a teen. Access and disability justice in the arts are of great importance to her, and essential to how she envisions a strong arts community.