Artists in Healthcare Manitoba

Healing through the Arts

Current and Past Artists

Some of the fine Musicians who perform for patients and staff in Hospitals and Care Facilities around Manitoba, brought to you by Artists in Healthcare Manitoba:

Selkirk Mental Health Centre (SMHC) has been the lucky recipient of music therapy through Luciano Armenti. Luciano spends the majority of his time at SMHC with the patients of the Geriatric Program. He brings his accordion with him and moves throughout the building so that he can spend time with as many patients as possible. Many patients look forward to his visits and ask about him repeatedly throughout the week.

Lois Gillespie is a vocalist, guitarist, songwriter and recording artist. She has performed locally and nationally for the past twenty years and her passion is to share music with audiences large or small. She loves shoes and all things pink or purple.

In 1995, Paul Madryga completed his undergraduate studies in classical guitar at Brandon University. Since then, he has attained a Masters of Music Studies degree from the Queensland Conservatorium and undertaken extensive training in Suzuki Guitar Pedagogy. Paul teaches at the Eckhardt-Gramatté Conservatory at Brandon University and at the BU School of Music. He has been on the Artists in Healthcare Manitoba roster since January of 2025, and has found it to be truly satisfying and fulfilling work.

Paul Madryga
Tayah Plett

Ever since she was little, Tayah Plett has loved making music. She studied both cello and piano at the Winnipeg Conservatory of Music for several years before moving to private teacher’s Leanne Regehr Lee, Karen Erhardt, and Natalie Dawe to further advance her skills. Throughout high school, Tayah was part of the Winnipeg Youth Symphony Orchestra with conductor Andrea Bell and was also part of Pembina Trails Voices’ choirs with conductor’s Valdine Anderson and Michael Dueck. Tayah is a two-time recipient of The Music Performance Trust Fund’s ‘Music’s Future’ Scholarship, and she currently pursues her passion for music education through her growing collection of private piano and cello students. Tayah plans to work in the field of Music Therapy after graduating from university in 2027, and she is looking forward to continuing to make music with others in many different contexts.

Guitarist and singer Jesse Popeski has played weekly at Deer Lodge Centre for over a decade, and recently added bi-weekly performances at the Convalescent Home.  He delights residents with sing-a-longs of old favourites, from Elvis Presley to Frank Sinatra.  Jesse is a music educator at the Winnipeg Conservatory of Music, and performs in several local bands and musical projects.  When he’s not playing music, Jesse loves reading history, and is trying to learn to bake the perfect loaf of bread.

Anne-Marie Williot is a trilingual multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter hailing from rural Quebec, and now based in Winnipeg. A honed poet and performer, she writes and sings in a deliciously melodic blend of old and new sounds, often evocative of candle-lit cafes. In recent years, the accordion has become her main instrument.  Her latest album is entitled Cheval Géant.

Toby Gillies and Natalie Baird are a visual artist duo based in Winnipeg. Their practice spans many mediums, approaching art as a process of discovery and a record of collective meaning-making. Over the last ten years, their projects have included animation, documentary filmmaking, drawing, photography, and public art. Developing multigenerational relationships through shared art experiences is a focus of their practice; whether that be inside locked healthcare units, in city parks, or on the sea ice. For many years, Natalie and Toby have been artists-in-residence at Misericordia Health Centre, creating projects with patients and long-term care residents. 

They began coordinating St. Boniface Hospital’s Art at the Bedside program in 2023 and also designed the St. Boniface Tunnel project in memoriam to Tom Carson, Artists in Healthcare’s Board Chair, in 2022.

Art at the Bedside expanded to Health Sciences Centre in 2025 with artist Ted Barker coordinating there.

Current Musicians

Visual Artists

  • Toby Gillies
  • Natalie Baird
  • Ted Barker

Past Musicians

  • Lyndon Bournon
  • Kyle Cobb
  • Tim Cummings
  • Alex Derlago
  • Erika Fowler 
  • Guiliana Guzzi-Gold
  • Gabriela Ocejo
  • Brody Palmer
  • Ariel Posen
  • Tate Hiebert
  • Vanessa Kuzina
  • Myron Kurjewicz
  • Paul Madryga
  • Keith Price
  • Ann Germani
  • Liz Goosen
  • Jocelyn Gould
  • Dane Leslie
  • Lynn and Peter McClure
  • Jess Reimer
  • Aaron Shorr 
  • Jacob Tallman
  • Ivan Sifrim
  • Aaron Shorr
  • Ron Halldorson
  • Tim Seier
  • Kris Ulrich
  • Willie Wiebe
  • Claire Stephanson:  Art at the Bedside at St Boniface Hospital and Grace Hospital
  • Kathleen Noelle Black: CancerCare MB in the Art by the Big Blue Chair program
  • Matthew Zimmerman