Robert Sirman has enjoyed a distinguished career in the Canadian cultural sector on both sides of the funding table. His public sector experience includes five years in Ontario’s first Ministry of Culture, a decade in the Ontario Arts Council, and eight years as Director and CEO of the Canada Council for the Arts. In mid-career Sirman spent 15 years as co-director of Canada’s National Ballet School, spearheading a $105 million award-winning capital expansion program. In 2015 Sirman served for seven months as Acting President and CEO of The George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation and accepted a three-year appointment as Senior Fellow in Arts Management at the University of Toronto Scarborough where he taught in Winter 2016.
Sirman was born in Toronto and has an MA in Sociology from the University of Toronto. He is currently on the boards of The George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation, the Fogo Island-based Shorefast Foundation, the Ontario Association of Architects, The Theatre Centre, and the Art of Time Ensemble. He is widely published and In 2002 served as librettist for James Kudelka’s full-length ballet The Contract.