Ruth Howard is the founding Artistic Director of Jumblies Theatre. She has created and lead a series of multi-year Toronto residencies resulting in large-scale performances and events: the “Touching Ground Festival” from CityPlace (2017), “Like An Old Tale” in Scarborough (2011), “Oy Di Velt Vet Vern Yinger” with Camp Naivelt (2008) and the 2009 Mayworks Festival, “Bridge of One Hair” in Etobicoke (2007), “Once A Shoreline” in Davenport West (2004), and “I’m Tapingi Too!” at Lawrence Heights (2001), South Riverdale’s “Twisted Metal and Mermaids Tears” in 2000 and other participatory projects that combine visual imagery, performance, music, movement, oral history and community arts practice. With Jumblies she had also produced two Canada-wide tours: Train of Thought (2015), and Four Lands (2016-18), and is creating a new multi-year project entitled ‘Grounds for Goodness’.
Ruth is a graduate of Eastbourne College of Art and Design, the National Theatre School of Canada and the University of Toronto, has several decades of experience across Canada and in the U.K. as a set and costume designer, and teaching credentials at many universities, colleges and schools. She has won awards and distinctions for her work, including the 2018 Toronto Community Foundation Celebration of Cultural Life Award; in 2012 the Canadian Urban Institute’s “City Soul” Award and the Dora George Luscombe Award for Mentorship in Theatre; and a 2006 Toronto Community Foundation “Vital People” Award.
