Marie Zimmerman is the Executive Director of the Hillside Festival in which capacity she oversees outreach, finance, operations, risk management and HR, and teaches songwriting. For over 15 years, she has worked for five Canadian arts festivals in music, dance, jazz, film and literature, acting as Artistic Director, publicist, HR consultant, emergency plan architect, strategic planner and Treasurer. She is one of the founding members of the Guelph Fab 5, a collective of local arts festivals. The Hillside Festival won the 2019 Clearwater Award for public leadership in sustainable event production; it has won 14 other environmental awards since 2010. The Hillside Festival became carbon-neutral in 2019.
