Meet our staff

She has been a freelance correspondent to Variety since 2008, focusing on Canadian films participating in global festivals and markets. Over 20 years, she wrote thousands of articles for the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail—primarily on music and film. She has edited several Canadian music and arts magazines. 

 

She is a member of the Toronto Film Critics Association and is the President of the board of directors of Wavelength Music, a curated concert series focused on independent music and arts. She is a member of the Polaris Music Prize jury. She has served on juries for the Canada Council of the Arts, National Magazine Awards, Juno Awards, and various film festivals.

 

She started her career as a staff writer and copy editor in the Entertainment section of the Kingston Whig-Standard. She studied classical piano for 15 years.

 

Taylor Kozak has been the operations and circulation manager of Musicworks since 2018. Originally hailing from the self-proclaimed “Live Music Capital of the World,” Austin, TX, Taylor has spent a dozen years specializing in grants and administration for not-for-profit institutions. She earned a BFA in Studio Art and an MA in Art History, and lived in the cultural hubs of New York and Detroit before settling in Toronto with her musician husband. She has played the clarinet for over twenty years and spent the last decade performing in guerrilla brass bands and participating in the “street band” community.

 

 

Thang Vu began designing articles for Musicworks in 2021, beginning with "Listening Conditions," the lead story in a special section on sound and climate emergency. The Spring 2022 issue was his first as Musicworks' art director. Born in Vietnam, Thang moved to Canada to study art; he received several awards for his art while attending the University of Toronto Mississauga and Sheridan College. His international immersion has allowed him to develop a broad cross-cultural perspective, which significantly informs his practice. Thang is also a graphic designer at Oliver and Bonacini. 

 Mary Dickie is a Toronto editor, communications specialist, music and arts journalist whose work has been published in a variety of different publications over the past couple of decades, including Impact, Eye Weekly, Maclean’s, ELLE Canada, The Toronto Sun, FASHION magazine and IN Toronto. She is a member of the Polaris Music Prize jury.

Karen Pierce, Musicworks magazine's bookeeper, has supported and chosen to work for non-profit organizations for over 30 years. One of her first jobs was with Greenpeace, working as a bookkeeper in the Vancouver office. In 1990, she changed her focus from working with environmental groups to non-profit arts organizations and small businesses. Today her client list includes Musicworks magazine and many well known arts groups in Toronto.

She spends the rest of her workdays designing and renovating homes and tending to her porch plants.