Meet the Selection Committee for What the Pop! 2026
Celebrating Artistic Excellence and Community Impact
Meet the jury for What the Pop! Art Pop-Up Exhibition — discover their vision and learn about the inspiring leaders behind this event.
This August, our pop-up exhibition returns, spotlighting 40 outstanding emerging artists from across Quebec.
Before we announce the artist lineup in a few weeks, we’re excited to introduce the exceptional jury committee selecting this year’s talent. 🎭🖼️
Meet the Selection Committee for What the Pop! 2026:
Margot Berner (they/them) is a writer, musician, and visual artist from Vancouver, BC and the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
They are currently working in Tiohtià:ke / Montréal. In their work, they explore queerness, colonialism, and the intersection between documentary and fiction. Margot also is the Communications Coordinator at the English Language Arts Network (ELAN) helping to connect artists who work in English with the necessary resources to thrive in Quebec. Say their name three times and they will appear in any used bookstore in Montreal. They are currently working on their first novel.
Briana Doyle is the co-founder of Cardinal Brewing, a craft brewery and cultural hub in Hudson, Quebec. Since opening its doors in 2020, Cardinal has become known for its commitment to supporting community and cultural initiatives, with regular live music, arts programming, and partnerships with local creators. It has also served as a host venue for What the Pop! and similar artist-driven events that celebrate creativity and community connection.
In addition to her role at Cardinal, Briana is a bilingual marketing strategist, writer, and arts consultant with over 20 years of experience in marketing and communications. Her work focuses on the cultural sector, with a particular emphasis on live music, performing arts, and audience engagement. She is the founder of Troubadours & Vagabonds Productions and serves on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Folk Music Awards.
Briana is also an active singer-songwriter whose debut album, The Road is Long, was released in 2025. She brings to her role as juror a deep appreciation for grassroots creativity and a strong belief in the power of local arts to build vibrant communities.
As Assistant to the Director at Les Filles électriques, Renée helps bring to life productions that blend performance, theatre, poetry, music and visual arts for the interdisciplinary Festival Phénomena. Coming from the museum sector, Renée draws on experience in exhibition coordination and public engagement, with a strong interest in inclusive and community-based practices.
Renée has worked in exhibitions, collections and education at the Musée d’art de Joliette, UBC’s Museum of Anthropology, and the Museum of Jewish Montreal. She holds an M.A. in museum studies from the University of Montreal, where her research focused on the gendered politics of craft, modernism and textile in interdisciplinary contexts.
Damien Smith (He/Him) is an artist and educator based in Montreal. His artistic practice focuses on the formal languages and social legacies of twentieth-century modernist and post-modernist architecture and design.
His work has been exhibited and collected internationally and is held in the collections of The Walker Art Center, SFMOMA (San Francisco), The Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Bibliothèque Kandinsky – Centre Pompidou (Paris). He holds a BA (Hons) (BFA equivalent) from the University of Guelph and an MA in Art History from Concordia University.
Upon graduating from McGill University, she moved to Fogo Island, where she developed a place-based design practice grounded in locally-sourced materials and the contemporary reinterpretation of local vernacular building traditions.
Equally at home at the workbench as at the drawing board, she brings a woodworker’s understanding of material to every project. She founded Matières Vivantes, a design studio that aims to help place makers tell the stories that matter, and co-curated Matière Sensible, a design exhibition exploring how to transform the emblematic chapel pew into a contemporary design object. Her aesthetic is defined by simplicity and the power of design to shape our sense of belonging to cultures and place.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the What the Pop! selection committee?
The selection committee is a group of industry professionals who evaluate applications and choose participating emerging artists.
Who selects the artists for What the Pop! 2026?
Artists are selected by a jury of Montreal-based creatives and industry experts.
What is What the Pop! ?
What the Pop! is a pop-up exhibition and professional development program supporting emerging artists in Quebec.
Participation in What the Pop! is determined through an annual call for submissions organized by YES. For What the Pop! 2026, the application period ran for four weeks and invited emerging artists from Montreal and across Quebec to submit their work. All applications are carefully reviewed by the selection committee, who select artists based on artistic merit, originality, and alignment with the event’s vision.
For more information on our Artists Program here, click here.
Funded by:
Media partner:
