Michele-Elise Burnett
Founder | Creative Producer | Experiential & Multidisciplinary Storyteller
Michele-Elise Burnett is a seasoned producer, storyteller, and cultural strategist with more than 35 years of experience in broadcasting, arts programming, and multi-sensory public storytelling. Her career began in her family’s radio business and evolved into producing some of the most celebrated cultural and educational projects in the region bridging the worlds of sound, performance, land-based learning, and immersive installations.
As founder and creative lead of Kakekalanicks, Michele-Elise works alongside Elders, artists, Knowledge Keepers, and historians to co-create public experiences that are emotionally resonant and historically grounded. Her productions have redefined how audiences engage with place, memory, and truth—from full-scale festivals and exhibitions to sonic trails and theatrical performances.
Michele-Elise Burnett - Founder of Kakekalanicks
Michele-Elise is the creative force behind the Strawberry Moon Festival, and has produced numerous site-specific audio installations such as Reawakening: Sounds of the Forest (Ball’s Falls), Rekindling All Our Relations (Niagara Parks), and Her Moccasins Talk (Artpark Trails). She led the creation of the Red Dress Exhibit: If Only These Dresses Could Tell Their Story, a national touring installation, and served as the Indigenous Lead and Audio Director for the Erie Canal Bicentennial Waterway of Change Exhibit, producing 15 layered audio pieces that reframe history through immersive storytelling.
Other curatorial work includes the multimedia installation Mino Bimaadiziwin: An Indigenous Journey Through the Arts, and a series of powerful performances with acclaimed composer-artist Geneviève Gros-Louis. Whether through audio, visual, or live experience, Michele-Elise’s work centers collaboration, integrity, and truth.
She is the President of Landscape of Nations 360°, a national education and tourism initiative, and sits on several boards including the Niagara Parks Foundation and Brock University’s Board of Emeriti. Her expertise is regularly sought by cultural institutions, municipalities, and educational bodies looking to develop impactful, community-engaged programming.
Michele-Elise brings a deep understanding of production, audience connection, and place-based storytelling, transforming public spaces into sites of reflection, learning, and cultural exchange.
meburnett16@gmail.com
Zander Burnett-Metz
Born in Florida and based out of Buffalo and Toronto, Zander chose to study Film Studies at Brock University and Film Production at Weengushk Film Institute. Zander is a writer, director and producer of short films and has worked in the sound department as a boom operator, mixer, and sound utility for many professional feature films, TV productions and commercials. Such productions include: "Trew Calling" (2015), "Two for One" (2016), "MTV: True Life" (2016), and "Johnny Gruesome" (2017). Zander is currently working on a new project due to be released Summer 2017.
Michael Gruyich
Michael Gruyich was born and raised in Niagara Falls. He received his BA from Trinity College, University of Toronto and his MBA from Niagara University, Lewiston, NY. Michael and his family have owned and operated a business in the Niagara area for over 80 years. He is currently President of Niagara Duty Free, an award-winning duty-free store located at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls. Michael is very active in the community and was Honorary Capital Campaign Chair for the Bethlehem Housing and Support Services Kenmore Court Building in Niagara Falls which provides permanent housing for men, women and families in Niagara with low to moderate income. Michael is a board member with Landscape of Nations 360° Inc. not for profit organization and until recently a board member with BravoNiagara! Festival of the Arts in the Niagara Region. Michael volunteers his time with the Lifeline Humanitarian Organization, helping to support orphanages, safe houses for children rescued from human trafficking, homes for the elderly, and hospitals in Serbia.
Geneviève Gros-Louis
Composer and Musical Collaborator, Kakekalanicks and Board of Director of Landscape of Nations 360
Geneviève Gros-Louis is a Los Angeles–based composer, producer, and violinist from the Huron-Wendat Nation whose work bridges Indigenous tradition and contemporary sound. CBC spotlighted her as “the Wendat violinist weaving her culture into music for the masses,” a mission that runs through her work across film, television, concert halls, and stages worldwide. She has scored multiple seasons of National Geographic’s Emmy-winning Life Below Zero, Magnolia Pictures’ A Savage Art: The Life and Cartoons of Pat Oliphant (dir. Bill Banowsky), and the award-winning short film Courage (dir. Eric Michael Hernandez). Her recent film and television credits include OPB’s Guardian of the Land (dir. LaRonn Katchia) and Reclaim My Skin (dir. Marie Clements), Hallmark, and her original music has been featured on AMC Networks’ Dark Winds. In 2025, she recorded her debut orchestral album at Abbey Road Studios in London with members of the London Symphony Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for Audio Network, and premiered Ya’ta’ with Ensemble Urbain in Montréal, bringing the Wendat clay-creation story to life - including a custom wood-fired clay percussion instrument she helped create. A #GRAMMYsNextGen artist and member of the Recording and Television Academies, collaborations include Nelly Furtado, John Densmore (The Doors), the Clooney Foundation for Justice, Dancing with the Stars, Indigenous music icons Pura Fé (Ulali), Keith Secola, and Tony Duncan. Her music has been featured at Cannes Film Festival, Paris Fashion Week, Santa Fe Indian Market, and in museums and cultural showcases around the world. At the heart of her work is storytelling through music- composing living narratives that carry memory, honor community, and connect audiences to the pulse of the people behind the story.
Jesse Smith (he/him/they/them)
Jesse Smith is Saulteaux through his mother’s family and a member of Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation in Manitoba. His path has been shaped by a longstanding love of plants, forests, ecology and the relationships that connect people to the land.
For the past two years, Jesse has been part of the Kakekalanicks team. Much of his work has centred on the Thorold Indigenous Unity Garden, where he has helped care for the plants, oversee seasonal growth, support harvesting and share teachings connected to the plants and their place within the garden. This work has given him the opportunity to bring together his environmental knowledge, his love of native plants and his commitment to creating spaces where community can gather, learn and reconnect with the land.
Going forward, Jesse is expanding his role with Kakekalanicks through a range of land responsive initiatives. His knowledge of plants, restoration, ecology and environmental education brings another important layer to the work, helping shape experiences where culture, story and the living landscape are understood as deeply connected.
Jesse’s background has varied experience working in the environmental field, from working in landscaping, parks, and contributing to restoration efforts.
His educational path started with going through forestry program in British Columbia. That experience also caused him to question some of the ways land and forests are managed, ultimately guiding him toward conservation, restoration and environmental stewardship.
After moving to Niagara, Jesse worked as an Indigenous Relations Intern with Niagara Region, supporting Reconciliation initiatives and the development of an Indigenous garden guide. Jesse has also worked with the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority over two summer seasons. In his role as a Programs Associate in Education, he led environmental programs for children, youth and adults. He also completed a summer co-op as an Afforestation Technician, contributing to restoration work through the planting of native trees and shrubs in forests, fields and wetlands.
He is currently continuing his education at Niagara College through the Environmental Technician Program, continuing to build his knowledge and practical experience in conservation, restoration and ecological systems.
At the heart of Jesse’s work is a belief in stewardship, reciprocity and the importance of rebuilding relationships with the land. He is particularly interested in creating Indigenous gardens, medicine gardens, pollinator spaces and native plant landscapes where people can gather, learn, grow food and medicines and strengthen their connection to place.
Through his work with Kakekalanicks, Jesse is bringing that knowledge and care into a growing body of land responsive work rooted in culture, community and the living landscape.