Priya Ramesh (CONTRA) | Creative Director, BUMP Festival
CONTRA is a multidisciplinary artist who navigates the Canadian arts and culture landscape as a musician, filmmaker, curator, and creative director. Her most prominent project to date is through her work in Cartel Madras, an expansive and experimental music project now signed under the legendary Sub Pop Records. As a founding member of the FOREIGNERZ art & production house her artistic journey has also brought her into the world of filmmaking, through which she builds worlds and portals as a director & producer. To date, she has produced over fifty projects under FOREIGNERZ, ranging from documentaries and commercials to short films. Challenging cities, industries, and narratives to allow new voices in is at the very centre of how CONTRA pursues all her creative endeavours; furthering culture and allowing art to thrive. Her leadership in the arts has lead to her being sought out for her creative direction and artistic philosophy by various arts institutions in Calgary and Canada including Sled Island, Calgary International Film Festival, Arts Commons, Pink Flamingo, Pop Kultur Berlin, Debaser, BUMP Festival, Calgary Queer Arts Society, Beakerhead and more
Using her eclectic professional background within the creative sector, CONTRA has been able to combine her artistry with business strategy and marketing acumen with initiatives through her collective and work with other Calgary based arts organisations. Through her work in Cartel Madras, she has developed counter-culture showcases for new artists while touring extensively within Canada & The United States giving her an immediate, essential and thorough pulse of the underground across Canada. In 2021 she expanded her expertise into overseeing the creation and production of art exhibitions, digital series and documentaries and was the curator of the inaugural Arts Commons Incubator program for its 2021-2022 season. Since 2021, she has worked with BUMP Festival as their Creative Director. In 2023, her first short film JINN JULIAN, premiered at the Calgary International Film Festival. She is Downtown Calgary’s inaugural Filmmaker in Residence for 2024 and was named Avenue’s Top 40 under 40 in November 2024.