Photographer, Director, Producer, Organizer, Manager, Instigator, & Artist, Chetan Kothari affectionately known as “Che” brings an army of energy towards anything he creates. Beginning as a photographer in Toronto, Che has had intimate portrait sessions with the likes of Damian & Ziggy Marley, Nas, Erykah Badu, Ashanti, Ice Cube of NWA, Chuck D of Public Enemy, Common, Cypress Hill, A Tribe Called Quest, Talib Kweli, Dead Prez and many others as personal work and for covers of magazines. Although Che had ample opportunity to focus solely on photography he knew he had a responsibility to do more. The next step for Che was building the award winning non-profit organization, Manifesto Community Projects, of which he served as the Executive Director for 7 years and now resides as the organizations Chair of the Board of Directors. Manifesto’s mission is to unite, inspire and empower diverse groups of young people through arts & culture. Che also co-founded a sister organization of Manifesto in Kingston, Jamaica which was instrumental in the Reggae Revival moment we are witnessing today. Che’s latest pursuit involves managing and supporting the work of artists through his Management and Creative Services company, Gifted Management. Through Gifted, he has played a role in the careers of artists like Ms. Lauryn Hill, Machel Montano, Protoje, Mustafa the Poet and more. Through all of his work and contributions to the cultural landscape of Toronto and the world, he is determined to make a difference in his community in hopes that emerging and established artists will shape and follow his lead. READ MORE
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CULTURE. OPPORTUNITY. CHANGE. LOVE. These are a few words that sum up what Chetan Kothari, affectionately known as ‘Che’, stands for. At a young age, born on October 12th, 1983, he has not only become a revered photographer but also a role model and leader within his community dedicated to fostering other young artists and young leaders in the cities he lives in and the world at large. Fresh out of school, he focused his lens on documenting the current artists of our time – those artists who have a message of social change embedded into their storytelling. He has photographed intimate portrait sessions with the likes of Damian & Ziggy Marley, Nas, Erykah Badu, Ashanti, Ice Cube of NWA, Chuck D of Public Enemy, Common, Cypress Hill, A Tribe Called Quest, Talib Kweli, Dead Prez and many others as personal work and for covers of magazines. These images have been apart of over 100 exhibitions from museums to the streets in Toronto, Canada, Kingston, Jamaica, New York, USA, Tokyo, Japan, Bombay, India and more.
Although Che had ample opportunity to focus solely on photography and play a role in helping to document artistic leaders of our time and support individuals and organizations with building their brands, he knew he had a responsibility to do more. The next step for Che was building the award winning non-profit organization, Manifesto Community Projects, of which he served as the Executive Director for 7 years and now resides as the organizations Chair of the Board of Directors. Manifesto’s mission is to unite, inspire and empower diverse groups of young people through arts & culture. Manifesto’s main initiative is a multi-day annual festival. Growing to be the largest and most unique festival of its kind, the annual Manifesto Festival of Community & Culture brings together countless community members, artists, performers, and audience members to showcase local youth culture, strengthen foundations by building a collective sense of pride and possibility, and provide a stage for voices that are often marginalized from mainstream arts festivals. In addition to the festival, Manifesto hosts year round educational opportunities for local artists & arts entrepreneurs, produces independent media, runs a programming space and has plans to embark of the development of social enterprise businesses to support artists and ensure the organization’s long term sustainability. Che also co-founded a sister organization of Manifesto in Kingston, Jamaica which was instrumental in the Reggae Revival moment we are witnessing today.
The international work of Manifesto stems from another project Che was involved in. In 2008, Che became the Execute Director for Ignite the Americas Youth Arts Policy Forum, an initiative that brought together young artists, industry professionals, policy experts and government authorities from 30 countries across the Americas to explore and develop effective ways to amplify the power that arts and culture has in mitigate violence and poverty, build social inclusion and generate economic opportunities for communities. Making sure that all the findings of the forum didn’t just sit on a shelf and collect dust, Che went on a mission and presented the findings in Barbados at the Fourth Inter American Meeting on Culture of the Organization of American States for Cultural Ministers and Highest Appropriate Authorities, to The Inter-American Committee on Culture of the OAS in Washington, to the Ibero-American Congress on Culture in Sao Paulo, Brazil and at the UN-Habitat Safer Cities forum at Harvard University as well as to artists and arts practitioners on a grassroots level in his day to day environments. Che continues to build his artistic networks hemispherically and globally, both learning from and sharing the abundance of knowledge that exists.
Che’s work branches from within these organizations out, often sitting on boards or leading other groups. Che has sat on the City of Toronto’s planning committee reshaping the community arts action plan as well as the Toronto Arts Council Advocacy advisory. Che was only 1 of 7 people to be chosen for the Mayor’s Blue ribbon panel for the City of Toronto Creative Capitol Gains Advisory, which developed a 10 year plan for Toronto’s cultural division. He was a member of the Steering Committee for ArtReach Toronto, a member of the Daniel’s Spectrum (voted best new Cultural Centre/Venue in Canada) Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre’s Programming Advisory, a member of the 2015 Pan Am Games Cultural advisory and a member of Civic Action’s Steering Committee. In all of these positions, Che brings a voice to the table that is representative of the communities he is a part of and that is often one of the only voices of this nature at the table. Che has been working and advocating for more spaces to be open for more of his communities voices to be at these tables and has been successful many times. One of the biggest achievements in Che’s advocacy was co-founding the BeautifulCity.ca Movements and chairing it's mobilization committee which lead to putting a fee on the billboard industry in Toronto which raises approx. $18 million per year earmarked for public youth arts initiatives in marginalized communities. A big part of Che’s mission is to share what he has learned along the way and regularly involves young people in his projects to gain experiences. He has also led many workshops, talks, and month long mentorship programs and has mentored over 30 young people to date. Che has been recognized for his work with multiple awards and acknowledgements, including the Mayor’s Cultural Leadership Award and The Toronto Community Foundation’s Vital People award.
Che’s latest pursuit involves managing and supporting the work of artists through his Management and Creative Services company Gifted Management. Through Gifted, he has played a role in the careers of artists like Ms. Lauryn Hill, Machel Montano, Protoje, Mustafa the Poet and more. Che is determined to make a difference in his community in hopes that emerging and established artists will shape and follow his lead. Whether through photography, film, gatherings, mentoring or management, Che leads with the utmost passion for what he does, instigate change.