Who is HKC

HEATHER KELLY
Owner & CEO of HKC Marketing

Heather Kelly is an award-winning communications professional with more than 15 years of experience managing successful campaigns. Her personal mission is to inspire audiences, participation, and media coverage for emotionally moving, intellectually stimulating, and human connection-building endeavours. 

In addition to working with many of Canada’s top arts events and organizations, Heather has had the privilege of working closely with numerous cultural communities, including the Aboriginal, Afghan, African, Asian, Black, Caribbean, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Jewish, Latin American, Persian, Philippine, Portuguese, and South Asian community.

Heather has been honoured with marketing awards from Festivals and Events Ontario, the International Festivals and Events Association, Alberta Tourism and others.

Heather currently teaches Marketing & Promo as part of the Independent Music Program at Seneca@York. She was on the Board of Directors of the Toronto Blues Society for 7 years and on the Board of Directors of the Ontario Crafts Council for 2 years. She’s been the Executive Director of an arts service organization, a speaker and panelist at conferences and workshops, and continues to be a jury member for grants and music awards programs. She launched HKC Marketing in 2002.

When we identified the need for a new strategic communications plan and a major programmatic relaunch campaign, approaching Heather was the obvious choice. She delivers equally strong messages towards the public as well as to industry audiences in the cultural field. Especially, the ongoing consultancy and support she gave made all the difference. But most importantly, she is a sheer pleasure to work with, overflowing with creative energy.
Jutta Brendemühl, Project Manager, Goethe-Institut Toronto

Working with Heather Kelly is just a joy. She is professional, quick and very savvy. Her marketing knowledge and instincts are superb. I hope that I have an opportunity to work with her again soon.
Rose Ginther, Chair, Arts & Cultural Management
Grant MacEwan College

Working with Heather Kelly has been a delightful experience. When Heather tells you a call will be made or a resource will be contacted, you can rest assured the job will get done and done professionally. She is creative, time-sensitive, phenomenally well-organized and an excellent writer. I offer Heather my highest endorsement and personally would not hesitate to retain her for future projects.
Dr. Guy Grenier, C. Psych.

Heather Kelly is a professional marketing person, with demonstrated skills in many areas as indicated by her list of satisfied partners, including the Canadian Aboriginal Festival and Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards. Ms. Kelly is one of, if not the best in her field in Ontario, supported by years of experience. Her work for the CANAB and CAMAs has been very instrumental in the ongoing success of both events.
Ron Robert, Executive Director
Canadian Aboriginal Festival & Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards

Heather had a remarkable ability to understand the nature of our project and translate that into a media campaign that expressed it beautifully. As a result, we received tremendous media response with broadcast, online and print coverage that also captured the essence of Collecting Loss and has helped to grow the project’s outreach substantially. Our experience with Heather and HKC Marketing was nothing but positive and we look forward to working with them in future!
Karen Haffey, Project Co-Director, Collecting Loss

Heather Kelly has extensive experience developing and implementing campaigns. Over the years, she has developed and excellent list of industry contacts and a good rapport with others throughout North America. Heather completes projects on time and on budget and achieves the desired results. She is innovative, industry-savvy, works well independently and as part of a team and is as generous with her time as she is with her outgoing personality.
Bruce Hutchinson, Director, Marketing & Media Relations
Harbourfront Centre