50 Remarkable Alumni: Tara-Lynn Kozma-Perrin combines artistic talent, activist roots, and managerial skills to support art community

Tara-Lynn Kozma-Perrin is an artist. She’s also a community builder. And an experienced public servant.

Combine those three superpowers and you have all the necessary ingredients for bringing communities to life. And UFV helped her develop those skillsets. Twice.

Her first degree was a Bachelor of Fine Arts, completed in 2008.

“I started out thinking I wanted a business degree so that I could pursue a marketing career but found out quickly that was not for me,” she recalls. “In my second year I explored, taking courses in anthropology, history, philosophy, and art history. I decided I had found my home in the BFA program.”

Graduating into a recession and needing a steady income, Tara-Lynn started in a clerical position with the City of Abbotsford, where she gained an understanding of government and an appreciation for the importance of policy and legislation.

“I became interested in cultural plans, and the lack thereof, as well as the process for creating one,” she says. Eventually, Tara-Lynn was recruited to sit on the Abbotsford Arts Council, an organization she first got involved with as a student.

At the same time, she started her creative practice, working on projects in a variety of media. In 2017 she completed an arts residency in Banff, was invited to create a public art mural in Ottawa and had a solo multidisciplinary exhibition at The Reach Gallery in Abbotsford. Since then, she has been part of more than 16 exhibitions.

In 2019, she combined her passion for art, her community involvement, and her knack for administration when she became the culture coordinator at the City of Abbotsford.

“I had experience with drafting bylaws and procedures, but also an artist’s perspective and a history of volunteering with the arts council.”

During her time as the culture coordinator she worked on a new cultural strategy, building and renewing relationships with arts groups in Abbotsford. “The end product was a phenomenal policy that has specific actionable items,” she says. “Interested citizens could look at it and ask what progress was being made in each area.”

Along the way, Tara-Lynn developed a keen interest in placemaking, the shaping of public spaces influenced by community members. This and a general penchant for education brought her back to UFV for a second time to take the Global Development Studies degree.

And then, she and her husband decided to do a massive reset. They quit their jobs, gave up their home, and set out to see the world and recharge their creative spark. They travelled for 17 months, visiting a dozen countries in Africa and Asia and opening themselves up to the world.

“Work can be all consuming when you really care about your profession and community,” she says. “We took a break from the expectations of what it means to be an adult in Canada.”

Upon returning, they set up house on Quadra Island, where they are continuing their artistic practice. Tara-Lynn maintains her connection to the Fraser Valley through contract work she’s done for a number of departments at UFV. She also just completed a stint as the production and volunteer coordinator for the Creative City network’s 20th Creative City Summit, which was hosted by Vancouver. She will continue her work with the Creative City network to help organize the 2025 summit.

Infused in everything she does is respect for her Indigenous heritage. Tara-Lynn describes herself as an urban Indigenous person. She has with roots in Saskatchewan which were partially severed when her mother was taken from her family in the Sixties Scoop. She and her mother, Tery Kozma, organized the first Aboriginal Arts and Culture Days in Abbotsford.

She values the learning she has received from the Stó:lō People and is grateful to divide her time on the unceded, ancestral and traditional lands of the Leq’á:mel, Mathxwí, and Semá:th First Nations and the Laich-Kwil-Tach people; We Wai Kum and We Wai Kai First Nations.

She is honoured to be named one of UFV’s Remarkable 50 alumni and sends her thanks to the many people at UFV who helped her on her journey, including Jacqueline Nolte, Davida Kidd, Grace Tsumuru, Geetanjali Gill, Chris Friesen, and Cherie Enns.