Dear all,

It is with equal parts sadness and excitement that we are announcing a new chapter at UNIT/PITT. After three years of dedicated leadership, Catherine de Montreuil has stepped down as Executive Director of UNIT/PITT as of January, 2026. At the same time, we are also pleased to announce that Alison Bosley has accepted the role of UNIT/PITT’s new Executive Director.

Catherine joined U/P as Executive Director in January 2023, at a time when the organization was still operating remotely in the fallout of pandemic closures and budgetary concerns. She hit the ground running, quickly moving us into our facility at 2945 West 4th Avenue (September 2023), curating and hosting our first gallery exhibition in several years (Blue Greens Workers, 2023), and collaborating with guest curators Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes (Sound of the Sun, Volume I and II, 2023), Felix Rapp (Gravity wins, Entropy rules, 2024), Asia Jong (to carve without cutting, 2024), and Jefferson Alade (Sound of the Sun, Volume III, 2024).

Throughout 2025, Catherine oversaw an extensive renovation of our space, finally providing U/P a warm, dry, and charming facility to call home and share with the community. Together, Catherine, Ali, and Archives Project Coordinator Kira Saragih orchestrated U/P’s 50th anniversary celebrations on November 7, 2025, including the publishing of UNIT is U: 50 Years of UNIT/PITT and the archival exhibition 50: Half a Century of UNIT/PITT.

Central to Catherine’s artistic vision was the creation of a setting for artists and visitors to engage with the natural world—investigating the intersections of land use and cultural production in order to foster a heart-led and critical approach to pressing topics such as climate change, food security, decolonization, ecosystem resilience, and personal relationships to nature. Key to this was the development of U/P’s beloved garden space, which Catherine led with the benefit of her horticultural training and background. We wish Catherine the very best as she launches Fool’s Errand Farm, a farm focused on the production of fine craft materials and native plantings on the Sunshine Coast.

Catherine’s deep commitment to ecology and community, and her strong vision for what U/P could be and do, ushered in a tremendous period of growth for this 50-year-old organization. We are thrilled that Ali Bosley will carry this work forward as Executive Director, supported by the strong foundation set by Catherine.

Ali was initially hired in August 2024 as Interim Executive Director for a 3-month term, and was then invited to stay on permanently as Associate Director (September 2024) to co-lead the organization alongside Catherine. Over the past year and a half, Ali has brought a keen and sharp eye to U/P’s operations and organized several innovative programs and events with friends of The Pitt. Ali came to U/P following 5 years of administration and organizing with Duplex Artists’ Society, and previously worked with Catherine to help found the Vancouver Artists Labour Union Co-op. Ali is an artist in her own right, maintaining a painting, drawing, and poetry practice alongside her theoretical and academic work—having earned a Masters in Contemporary Art Theory from Goldsmiths College, University of London, in 2023.

Going forward, Ali aims to bring a fresh, lively, and energized vision to this legacy organization—one that combines criticality, political discourse, and contemporary curatorial sensibilities with a grounded tactility and responsiveness unique to the rich and beautifully distinct cultural and environmental ecosystem of these unceded Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh territories. Ali is committed to embracing the special unit-pitt-ness that has long defined the organization, while returning once again to the garden as both a form of ecological expression and as a method of grounding in the real. Drawing on a multidisciplinary artistic and academic practice spanning ecology, media theory, critical theory, noise methodology, and literary and realized poetics, Ali hopes to see U/P grow and evolve: as an organization, as an artist-run centre, and as a space for community and gathering that genuinely responds to the needs of people, arts, and culture, far and wide. 

U/P is ultimately an organization shaped and co-created by all of its amazing contributors—artists, volunteers, members, Board, and more—both past and present. Despite fifty years of changing names, locations, and visions, U/P’s prevailing ethos of at-the-margins criticality, community responsiveness, and good humour has always shone through, and will remain at the heart of everything we do. Ali is honoured to take on this role and is excited to carry forward U/P’s vision and mission in service of all those who care for this influential organization and its expansive legacy.

We look forward to sharing what’s ahead, and Ali will publish a formal Director statement on our website soon. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions, ideas, or just to say hi, or bye. The Board can be reached at board@unitpitt.ca, Ali at ali@unitpitt.ca, or general inquiries at info@unitpitt.ca.


With gratitude,


UNIT/PITT Society for Art and Critical Awareness Board of Directors:

Madison Stensrud, Craig Stensrud, Nico Ford, Marianne Thodas, Sara Ellis, Henry Tsang, Héloïse Auvray, Kaila Bhullar, Solange Adum Abdala

And

Alison Bosley, Catherine de Montreuil