About The Préville FINE ARTS CENTRE
About The Préville FINE ARTS CENTRE
About préville
The Préville Fine Arts Centre is a not-for-profit organization and charity that has been a leader in bilingual, arts-based education ever since 1974, when it was founded by musician and visionary, Belva Thomas. Préville is led by General Director, Veronica Thomas, and is overseen by a dedicated board of directors.
Located on Montreal’s south shore, Préville provides group and private lessons in all artistic disciplines, from music, dance, visual arts and theatre, to Indigenous arts, songwriting, sound recording and much more.
In the Fall of 2020 Préville launched The Préville Dance Academy, followed soon after by a unique virtual platform, Préville Online, which has allowed Préville to expand its community far beyond its geographical region. Préville’s latest venture, Préville Productions, offers workshops that range from interactive performance-based experiences to hands-on sessions where students, whether local or remote, can create alongside phenomenal presenters.
The staff at Préville believe that sharing through the arts is the best way to bring people together and to promote cultural understanding and respect.Whether learning in person or online, Préville is committed to offering its growing community accessible, inclusive, high-quality programming at the lowest possible cost.
600+
Students each year
1200+
Camp registrations each summer
100+
Bursaries awarded annually
The Belva Thomas Charity Bursary
Discover our Day Camp
MEET THE TEAM
Veronica accepted the position of General Director in September 2019. Being the daughter of Préville’s founding director, Belva Thomas, means that the Centre has been a huge part of her life ever since its earliest days. Under Veronica’s guidance, Préville has experienced remarkable growth and now boasts many new initiatives, including The Préville Dance Academy, Préville Online, Préville in Schools, community outreach programs and Indigenous partnerships, to name just a few!
Using the knowledge and connections made in her years of experience as an artist and teacher, she is guiding this institution in a new direction, while remaining true to the values that have been at the heart of the Centre–such as offering excellence in private lessons and group classes in all artistic disciplines.
Through her personal and professional connections in the arts, she has been able to build a team of the best creators and educators. By encouraging their creativity and innovation, she believes that Préville will become one of Canada’s leading arts schools, ensuring that it survives and thrives for generations to come. Veronica strives to create the most rewarding work environment for her staff and the most welcoming learning environment for the Centre’s clientele.
More about Veronica
Veronica has had a long career as a professional violinist, sharing the stage with some of the world’s greatest talents, while also maintaining her love of education. She has given masterclasses and has been invited to judge many events, including the Canadian Music Competition, where she traveled across the country listening to and encouraging many of this country’s most talented young musicians.
Maria is the General Manager of the Préville Fine Arts Centre where she participates in many aspects of the Centre’s day to day operations, including communications, marketing, outreach, program management and blog writing.
More about Maria
Maria joined the Préville Fine Arts Centre staff in 2020, just in time to be part of the early days of Préville Online. As a musician and writer, Maria brings with her a history of professional artistic collaboration, as well as not-for-profit volunteering that dates back 25 years.
Heather is the Outreach Director at Préville, where she works with artists to help them share their inspiring work with schools, and other community groups, both online and in person. Heather has connected artists from all over Canada to eager participants in urban and remote communities in Quebec and Ontario.
More about Heather
Heather joined the Préville Arts Centre team in 2020. She is a professional violinist, teacher, and recording artist who has enjoyed a robust career touring and performing with musicians like Oscar Peterson, Barbara Streisand and Celine Dion, to name a few! Heather brings access to an immense network of fellow artists with whom she has worked and taught over the last 25 years.
Heather and her family are no strangers to arts advocacy and outreach–they are the creators and directors behind The Kincardine Summer Music Festival, which has been a fixture in the cultural landscape of Bruce County, Ontario since 1991.
Heather currently teaches at École Secondaire Publique De La Salle in Ottawa and performs regularly with the National Arts Centre Orchestra.
Colin Enright is the Director of our Summer Day Camp, as well as our Spring and Summer Musical Theatre Camps. A talented and experienced musician, Colin brings creativity, leadership, and a genuine passion for working with young children to every aspect of our camp programs.
More About Colin
Colin holds degrees in both Music and Education from McGill University, where he is currently pursuing graduate research. Throughout the year, he also teaches voice at Préville, where he tailors his instruction to each individual student, focusing on healthy vocal production and classical technique across a wide range of popular and traditional musical genres.
Grounded in the belief that everyone has a voice, Colin’s pedagogical approach encourages confidence, curiosity, and self-directed learning. With over a decade of experience in the Montreal area as a music teacher, vocal and instrumental technician, conductor, musical director, and coach, he creates engaging, adaptive, and inspiring musical experiences for students of all ages and abilities.
Kristen is the Director of Marketing for the Préville Fine Arts Centre and oversees the planning, development, and execution of the centre’s marketing initiatives. She also manages the several of the centre’s websites, helping to ensure a strong and engaging presence across all platforms.
More About Kristen
Kristen brings more than 25 years of experience in marketing and communications to the team. She graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Commerce specializing in International Business and Marketing, and also holds a Graphic Design certificate from Concordia University.
Earlier in her career, Kristen worked primarily in the high-tech industry, where she held leadership roles in sales and marketing, including serving as Director of Sales and Marketing in her final corporate position. Over the past decade, her focus has shifted toward consulting, working mainly with small non-profit organizations to support their marketing, communications, and strategic outreach efforts.
Karen is the payroll administrator and bookkeeper for PFAC. She keeps the numbers organized and balanced, which gives us a clear picture of our current situation, and allows us to see opportunities for advancement in the future.
Alexander is a passionate entrepreneur and technology educator. First starting with Préville three decades ago as a bursary student, he now sits on the Board of Directors. He acts as a technical advisor to Préville and other organizations.
More about Alex
Alex is a co-founder of Robot in a Can and other EdTech initiatives that focus on creative programming, web application development, 3d design, expressive arts and many other forms of innovative emergent technology. His curriculum is taught online and in-person to children, teenagers, adults, and seniors worldwide.
Craig is a teacher at Préville as well as the coordinator of Préville’s Indigenous Arts program.
More about Craig
Craig has participated in many international artist residencies including Re(Claim) and Diverse As This Land, at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity; and cultural exchange residencies in Aoteara / New Zealand, as well as in Haïti, in collaboration with LOJIQ (Les Offices jeunesse internationaux du Québec). His work has been screened in festivals including Asinabka (unceded Algonquin territory – Ottawa, Canada); ImagiNATIVE (Toronto, Canada); Kurzfilmtage (Winterthur, Switzerland); Maoriland (Otaki, New Zealand); and the Wairoa Maori Film Festival (Nuhqkq, New Zealand).
Katherine joined the Préville team in early 2025 taking on the role of administrative assistant and the assistant direction of our summer camp. You will be able to see Katherin at the welcome desk on Saturdays, at our shows and at the front desk at camp! Katherine loves to help and bring people together.
More About Katherine:
Prior to working for Préville Katherine was a band instrument and print music specialist for a Canadian music company and has been performing as a freelance musician for over fifteen years. Katherine majored in Jazz performance at Vanier College and Concordia University, studying saxophone.
After university she worked as a woodwind instrument repair technician in the heart of Montreal. At this time Katherine is a band leader working on personal projects with her jazz quartet playing a variety of saxophones (4) and singing jazz voice. Katherine loves inspiring people to follow what draws them to any form of artistic expression!
Philippe is the creative and talented mind behind our Préville Fine Arts Centre promotional and educational videos.
More about Philippe
Philippe has been experimenting with video for fifteen years and has been creating documentaries for the last five. Philippe has two feature films to his credit; the first won the prize for best documentary at the Montreal World Film Festival in 2016 and the second was acquired by Bell Media in 2019.
Our Mission Statement
Our mission is to offer, in person and online, musical, artistic, cultural and other classes and programs to children and families in our local community in Montérégie, Québec and, where we identify a need, through outreach programs to other communities, especially underprivileged communities within and outside Québec.
Our mission includes soliciting donations in order to support our bursary program, which enables children from low-income families to participate in any of our activities, as well as to support outreach programs to remote, isolated or underprivileged communities, such as new immigrant communities and the organizations that support them.
One of our objectives is to offer rewarding employment to professional musicians, artists and other teachers. In doing so, we are able to retain a highly-trained staff, which allows those who wish to prepare for advanced studies in the arts, and to participate in performances, competitions and exhibitions.
Policies
To offer the best possible environment to our staff, teachers, students and parents, the Préville Fine Arts Centre complies with the following policies:
Zero-Tolerance Harassment Policy
The Préville Fine Arts Centre is committed to maintaining a safe and respectful environment for ALL. As part of this commitment, we enforce a zero-tolerance policy for any form of violence. This includes, but is not limited to, physical assault, verbal threats, intimidation, and harassment.
- Pay Equity Act (in French)
- Harassment prevention policy (in French)
- Sustainable development policy (in French)
Our Other Policies
Activity Report
The Préville Fine Art Centre’s mission is to offer enriching programs in the field of music (its main activity), and the fine arts, to young people and their families.
The Board of Directors is made up of dynamic individuals with backgrounds in the arts and not-for-profit administration. We are a team of visionaries, artists, and art-lovers with a common vision and passion for arts-based education.
Personal INformation Privacy
For all issues related to personal information privacy, please contact Melissa Thomas (Vice-President, Préville Fine Arts Centre).