In 1995 Marika Kovalcikova came to Vancouver from Slovakia (former Czechoslovakia) where she was successful in the cultural community as a producer and events manager of many special events, festivals, concerts, audiovisual programs, arts shows, dances, etc.

Her first contact with the cultural life in Canada was volunteering right here in Vancouver for the Fringe Festival as a Crew Chief for Performance Services. One of her bigest achievements was the production of her own Slovak television program, airing for three years several times a week on the Shaw Multicultural Channel. It was the first Slovak TV program ever, to be broadcast in B.C. This started in 1997 when she established her own company the "Slovak-Canadian Television Network".

Among other successful ventures was Marika's role as the coordinator of the Vancouver CityFests 1999 and 2000, the European Festivals, and co-producing Czech-Slovak Film Festivals. She also organized tours of well known Slovak actors with sold-out performances in Vancouver, Seattle and Los Angeles. The National Conference and Annual General Meeting at UBC (May 2002) for the MITACS (The Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems - Networks of Centres of Excellence) can also be added to her credit.

www.mitacs.com