Warm hello,
I’m Heather Kelly.
Lovely to meet you.
About HKC Marketing
Meaningful work deserves meaningful public connection.
That belief has guided HKC Marketing since the company was founded in 2002. It shapes how we think, how we work, and the standard of excellence we bring to every engagement.
HKC Marketing provides senior strategic marketing leadership for artists, cultural entrepreneurs, arts organizations, municipalities, festivals, destinations, and cultural institutions across Canada. We help organizations build audiences, develop markets, strengthen public connection, and create the conditions for sustainable growth.
Our work combines strategic thinking with implementation leadership because meaningful strategies deserve expert execution.
Resonance. Relevance. Relationship. Results.™
These four principles are the strategic foundation of HKC Marketing.
Resonance captures attention because it feels meaningful.
Relevance inspires engagement by reflecting people's needs, interests, and context.
Relationship builds trust through meaningful and ongoing connection.
Results strengthen organizations through measurable outcomes.
Together, they guide every recommendation we make, every partnership we build, and every engagement we undertake.
Strategic Leadership. Specialist Expertise.
HKC Marketing provides strategic leadership, brings together the right specialist expertise, and ensures every engagement benefits from one coordinated vision and one consistently high standard of excellence.
HKC Marketing is focused, agile, and responsive while delivering the depth of expertise required for complex initiatives across arts, culture, tourism, and the creative sector.
We are dedicated to helping arts professionals, cultural organizations and creative entrepreneurs have more impact – and ripple effect – with the meaningful work they do in the world. Everything we do is to strengthen the arts ecosystem and cultural infrastructure throughout Canada.
About Heather Kelly
I founded HKC Marketing in 2002 with a vision of building a strategic marketing practice dedicated to arts, culture, and the creative sector.
Over the past two decades, I've had the privilege of working with artists, creative entrepreneurs, galleries, museums, festivals, municipalities, destinations, post-secondary institutions, and arts and cultural organizations across Canada. Every engagement has reinforced my belief that meaningful connection is built intentionally through thoughtful strategy, strong leadership, and consistent implementation.
In 2021, HKC Marketing acquired Akimbo Art Promotion & Consulting Ltd., Canada's leading visual arts promotion network and independent publisher. Today, as CEO of both organizations, I lead their strategic direction while expanding the ideas, partnerships, and capabilities that support our clients' success.
My work is driven by an enduring curiosity about how people connect with meaningful work, why those connections matter, and how organizations can strengthen them over time. That curiosity continues to shape the evolution of HKC Marketing and the strategic thinking that guides our work.
In addition to my work through HKC and Akimbo, I have served on the Board of Directors of East End Arts, The Bentway Conservancy, CONTACT Photography Festival, Craft Ontario, and the Toronto Blues Society. I’ve been a collaborator with NACDI (North American Cultural Diplomacy Initiative), Co-Chair of the Juno Awards Classical Committee, Marketing Advisory for the Downtown Yonge BIA, and a Fellow of the Toronto Arts Council Cultural Leaders Lab.
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“I was impressed by her vision, ability to inspire collaboration, creativity, and boundless energy. Her passion for championing support for the arts and culture sector continues to this day.”