Johnny Mrym Spence is an artist of Jewish & European Settler ancestry who loves and creates in Tkaronto and across Mi'kma'ki. He is grateful to the many Indigenous nations who have been here since time immemorial and who continue to live here to this day. He recognizes the people of these nations as the rightful stewards of the land and pledges to do all he can to return control of it to them. Johnny’s maternal great-grandmother was Sara, his paternal grandmother was Joan, his maternal grandmother is Judy, and his mother is Annie. He owes whatever compassion and creativity he has to them, and thanks them for the gifts of story and song.

Some recurring themes in Johnny’s work are: Judaism, ritual, semantics, playfulness, orientation, collaboration. He works across many mediums including: sound, movement, storytelling, installation, performance, video. Past installations and performances have been presented internationally, including at the Art Gallery of Ontario; Third Place (Chicago, USA); HearSay International Audio Arts Festival (Dublin, Ireland); Long Winter; and White Rabbit Arts Festival (Nova Scotia, Canada). He has been nominated for 3 Dora Mavor awards for interactive theatre and musical composition; worked on 5 different shows at CBC Radio; and has been featured on a number of critically acclaimed recordings and film scores.