Events

Intersections of Gatekeeping & Colonialism

Thursday December 15 2022 – 12:00pm to 1:00pm MT

Our last event of 2022 is inspired by our curator and moderator, Althea Cunningham.  We’ll unpack the complex intersections of gatekeeping and colonialism in our cultural sector, and explore how this directly affects the work of IBPOC artists + creatives within the colonial boundary known as Alberta.

This event is specifically for artists + creatives who self-identify as Indigenous, Black and People of Colour (IBPOC), and is a safe and open space to discuss this important topic.

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PANELISTS

Christine Frederick | Executive Director, Dreamspeakers Festival Society

Christine Sokaymoh Frederick is an urban Cree-Métis with decades of experience in multiple artistic disciplines. She is Executive Director and producer of the Dreamspeakers International Film Festival and the Rubaboo Arts Festival. She was the first Indigenous Associate Artist of the Citadel Theatre and first Indigenous board member of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the first Indigenous Chair of Edmonton Arts Council, former Vice Chair of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and has sat on the executive of the Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance. She’s attended the University of Alberta, the Banff Centre for Arts, and the University for Peace (Costa Rica). She served on the committees for the ᐄᓃᐤ (ÎNÎW) River Lot 11∞ one of the first Indigenous Public Art Parks. She recently performed in the Rez Sisters at the Stratford Festival and in Bears at the Citadel Theatre, produced/performed in a dance theatre double-bill national tour of Bears by Matt MacKenzie and her own play Minosis Gathers Hope. In 2021 on behalf of the National Arts Centre, she produced the global Indigenous showcase for the 2020 Dubai World Expo. She currently serves on the Advisory committee for the City of Edmonton Indigenous Artist in Residence program and recently joined the national advisory committee for the National Arts Centre’s Creation Fund. She is the recipient of the 2007 Esquao Award in Arts, and the 2016 Mayor’s award for Excellence in Artistic Leadership and the 2022 Queen’s Platinum Jubilee medal. 

Kijo Eunice Gatama | Performer, Actor, Clown & Dancer

Kijo Eunice Gatama is an Edmonton-based theatre performer, actor, clown, dancer, and emerging artistic director. Co-curator and producer of Fear The Festival, a horror film festival centring around elevating explorations by self-identifying members of IBPOC artists, as well as co-founder of Shakespeare’s Hunnies, an emerging artist blog. As a playwright, Gatama strives to create theatre that explores family dynamics, comedy, and Queer Afro-Canadian experiences.

Wunmi Idowu | Multidisciplinary Artist, Choreographer, Filmmaker, Performer & Producer

Wunmi Idowu is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist, choreographer, filmmaker, performer, and producer and the Founder and Director of Woezo Africa Music & Dance Theatre Inc. For the past 16 years, the arts organization has been passionately dedicated to bringing the history of African culture to the masses through traditional and modern modes of performing arts, including dance, music, theatre and storytelling. By pushing for increased visibility of ethnically and culturally diverse artists in Alberta, Wunmi hopes that perceptions will shift around who participates in the arts. Through dynamic, cutting-edge work that captures the imagination of a range of audiences, she curates programs, events and productions to enhance the creative economy in Alberta, empower communities and perpetuate the movement for instilling social change for African, Caribbean and Black artists.

Mboya Nicholson | Jazz Pianist

Edmonton jazz pianist Mboya Nicholson believes in the timelessness and beauty of swing and the blues; and how it can express the different dynamics of living.

Mboya spent his childhood taking classical lessons and also trying (with futility) to figure out jazz piano. The family record collection included everything from Paul Robeson to South African singers, to Nigerian drumming; and from Bob Marley to Andre Watts’ 1963 recording of Liszt and Chopin. “All these things were fodder for my imagination as a child. Nobody told me I shouldn’t be able to understand any of it because I was small. I listened and, wondering how and why things sounded the way they did, I listened some more, of my own accord. But jazz resonated with me, and defined me more than anything.” At a young age he was listening to Duke Ellington, Erroll Garner Thelonious Monk and more. “I distinctly remember, all of a sudden, Thelonious Monk died when I was eight. I remember being conscious of that. We had all those records in the house, so I was aware of who he was prior to that happening.”

After high school, Mboya studied at Grant MacEwan Community College (now MacEwan University), studying with celebrated Alberta jazz pianist Charlie Austin, who showed Mboya the intricacies of jazz piano, and also helped him identify some things he had taught himself, and how to expand on them.

In the 1990’s Mboya was a fixture on the local jazz scene, performing for the Jazz City Festival, as well as producing concerts including tributes featuring the music of Fats Waller, Duke Ellington and a centennial tribute to Paul Robeson. In the late 1990’s, the Francis Winsepar Centre for Music asked him to perform a jazz concert for young children during their grand opening festivities. And in 1998, the Edmonton Jazz Society asked Mboya to play a post-show reception for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s first performance in Edmonton.

In 1999, Mboya moved to New Orleans, soaking up as much of the music and the culture as he could. While there, he studied at the University of New Orleans, (UNO) where he obtained his bachelor and masters degrees in music. During the years in New Orleans, Mboya studied with jazz legends, Ellis Marsalis and Harold Battiste.

In 2005, Mboya moved to Toronto, and was writing string arrangements and a commission, for ArsMusica, directed by Colin Mendez Morris. In 2016, he returned to Edmonton, where he performs solo and with a trio, and currently teaches at MacEwan University.

Tololwa Mollel | Author

Tololwa Mollel is an author of over 20 internationally published children’s books, in English and in Swahili, the national language of his native country Tanzania. Among his books are the award-winning The Orphan Boy, My Rows and Piles of Coinsand Big Boy. Tololwa’s writings have been translated into various African, European and Asian languages. He is also author of several plays, writer of stories for performances, and a performer of stories, in solo storytelling/story performance, or with co-performers.

In 2017, Tololwa edited HOME: Stories Connecting Us All , a freely available eBook in honor of Canada 150. It consists of 124 multicultural personal and community stories. From that experience, he learned much about the need and potential for diversity in writing in Canada. Between 2015 and 2017 bi-weekly, Tololwa shared on an Edmonton-based Swahili radio program, stories he created for Swahili-speaking listeners in North America and beyond. Tololwa has been a member of various theatrical and literary organizations such as the Editors Canada, Alberta Playwrights Network, Theatre Alberta, Playwrights Guild of Canada; Young Alberta Book Society where he served on the board, the Writers Union of Canada, and the Writers Guild of Alberta, where he served as president. He is also a writing instructor for youngsters for YouthWrite since the organization was founded in 1996.

Outside his professional artistic practice, Tololwa has worked on community arts projects and work at: Africa Centre; Action for Healthy communities; and Rising Sun, a barrier-free theatre group for adults with developmental and other disabilities.

Althea Cunningham | Musician, Multidisciplinary Artist, Writer, Actor, Arts Educator & Producer

Althea Cunningham, is an award winning Canadian musician. A multidisciplinary artist: writer, actor, arts educator and producer. On The Verge, her Neo-Soul EP was independently released in 2010, to critical acclaim and has had international airplay and featured artists spots. Her original music has been heard on: Black Souls Rhythms Radio, Time Trippin Radio, Bowl of Soul Radio and The Key of A (CBC) to name a few. As an Arts Educator she has influenced minds for fifteen years mostly across Western Canada.

Favorite theatre roles include: Ensemble; Working directed by Kate Ryan for Plain Jane Theatre, Bird Girl; in Seussical for Western Canada Theatre directed by Samantha Macdonald. Muse; for The National Ice Theatre of Canada directed by Allison Maclean, Azizi; for The Francis Winspear Centre For Music directed by David Hoyt and Elizabeth; The Vibrator Play directed by Amy DeFelice for Trunk Theatre.

Producing credits include: live music events across Canada (2007- 2017) and On The Verge CD. Co-producing include: Sunkiss To Death (2023) it will be her first exploration of producing theatre. She graduated with honors from Grant MacEwan University Theatre Arts Program.

Dabbling in television and film she hopes to increase her presence on screen. In film, she has played the leading role in The Invincible Jayson Garvey (2020) written and directed by Melanee Murray-Hunt, an afrofuturist story about current issues. This talent can be seen on screen in The Invincible Jayson Garvey playing at Film festivals globally.

Acknowledging the Land

Wednesday November 30 2022 – 12:00pm to 1:00pm MT

The land is an important foundation for all Indigenous communities. An artist’s connection to place is often critical to the artistic process.  In this discussion we will explore what connection to place means for Indigenous artists + creatives, and how everyone can acknowledge the land in their practice. Save the date and join us online!

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PANELISTS

Tim Kenny | Master Communicator: Collaborative, Creative, Catalyst

Timothy (Tim) Kenny is a mixed-race, non-status, Indigiqueer man who grew up in Edmonton’s community housing projects. His maternal Indigenous lineage comes from the Jean Baptiste Gambler #183 First Nation in Calling Lake, Alberta.

Tim is a proud graduate of Mount Royal University (MRU) in Calgary, Alberta —where he received his undergraduate degree in Public Relations (PR), with a Minor in Indigenous studies in Spring 2019. Tim is currently undertaking his master’s studies at University of Calgary, in a land-based interdisciplinary module that specializes in Traditional Blackfoot Ways of Knowing and Being.

In Fall 2015, Tim joined the team at Iiniistii Treaty Arts Society to help birth the launch of REDx Talks: Canada’s First International Indigenous Speakers Series. As the Head of PR, Media and Communications for the organization—he worked to bring the story, heart, ceremony and mandate of REDx Talks into the cultural conversation. In 2016, he also helped bring Indigenous musicians and their craft to the Canadian forefront with his PR and publicity work for Calgary’s JUNOfest Indigenous Showcase.

Since 2016, Tim has worked in Canada’s Federal Public Service and since 2019 he has been employed as a full-time permanent employee. He’s worked on various Indigenous communications initiatives such as National Indigenous Peoples Day campaigns, Indigenous Reads, Words Matter, and the award-winning Protect Our Elders Campaign. In 2020, Tim also did a short stint at the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) Secretariat to work in the funding and engagement unit—related to external contributions for the 2021 MMIWG 2SLGBTQQIA+ National Action Plan.

In early 2021 Tim participated in a discussion panel, along with other Indigenous communicators, for Royal Roads University’s 2^nd Annual Conference on Communications Ethics, while also diligently working to make his MRU Library, award-winning, undergraduate thesis publicly available.

Tim is passionate about Indigenous issues including the intersections of gender, race, terminology, art, humanities, culture and identity — and he is proud to lend his voice and continued support to these areas.

Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse | Indigenous Innovator, Storyteller, Wave Maker & Producer

Jodi is Cree and Mohawk from Michel First Nation and the current Executive Director of the Yellowhead Indigenous Education Foundation. She holds a BA from the Faculty of Native Studies and is completing an MSc with the Faculty of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology at the U of A. She also works with the Edmonton Shift Lab, a social innovation lab on anti-racism which has drawn positive attention from across the country, is the founder of Miyo-Pimatisiwin Productions and also the producer and broadcaster of an award-winning Indigenous radio program called Acimowin. She was instrumental in building strong community engagement as the consultation lead to erect the Wahkotowin Lodge, an Indigenous Legal Lodge at the University of Alberta and the first of its kind for any post-secondary institution in Canada. She is co-producing a series called Love Medicine: interviews with Indigenous and non-Indigenous wisdom keepers, elders and inspired individuals whose stories remind us that love is indeed the most powerful of all medicines.

Tarene Thomas | Indigenous Artist & Writer

Tarene Thomas is a Cree, Gitxsan, Tahltan, and Haisla writer from Enoch Cree Nation and the Northwest Coast of B.C. She holds a BA from the University of Alberta, and an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC. Her work examines the world through an Indigenous feminist lens, whilst critiquing the institutions she works inside of. Tarene fuses together the personal and political while telling stories of sadness, joy, rebellion, and refusal. 

Lana Whiskeyjack | Multidisciplinary Indigenous Artist and Digital Storyteller

Lana Whiskeyjack is a multidisciplinary treaty iskwew scholartist from Saddle Lake Cree Nation, Treaty Six Territory, Alberta. Guided by her grandmother’s advice, “Go to school, travel, and see as much as you can. Then return home to share what you learned, but do not forget where you came from.” After graduating high school, the young mom moved to Red Deer to attain her Art & Design diploma, then moved to Ottawa with her growing family, attaining B.A. (Honours) and M.A (Canadian Studies) degrees. The story continues with returning to work near her home community and attain her doctorate degree at University nuhelot’įne thaiyots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills (UnBQ) in iyiniw pimâtisiwin kiskeyihtamowin, the first Indigenous owned and operated educational institution in Canada. Prior to 1970, UnBQ operated as Blue Quills Indian Residential School, where two generations of her maternal family attended.

Lana’s research, writing, and art explores the paradoxes of what it means to be nehiyaw (Cree) and iskwew (woman) in a Western culture and society; and, how she and other Indigenous peoples are reclaiming, re-gathering, and remembering their ancestral medicine (sacredness and power). Her art is passionate and expressive, born from the deep roots of her culture, history, and intergenerational relations. Through the examination of sometimes difficult subjects, her art reflects the intrinsic beauty of her interconnections with the earth, nêhiyawêwin (Cree language) and wahkohtowin. 

Lana brings her leadership and knowledge in nêhiyaw (Cree) arts-based practices, community-engaged research and scholarship into her role as an assistant professor in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department, Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta.  Her decolonizing learning and being at UnBQ grounded within nêhiyaw (Cree) ceremony, nêhiyawêwin (Cree language) and nêhiyaw worldview is foundational to her creativity, research, teaching and community service practices. Her current research projects explores issues re-matriation, (re)connecting to the spirit of nêhiyawêwin; and, nêhiyaw diverse gender worldviews and rites of passage.  

Lana is featured in a documentary by Beth Wishart MacKenzie, Lana Gets Her Talk (2017) that explores how she uses art as ceremony in confronting and transcending historical trauma and reconciliation. For more information please see http://pikiskwe-speak.ca/

Nigel Robinson | Curator & Moderator

Nigel is a Denesuline organizer, radio host, and humorist from Cold Lake First Nations. As a former student of Humber College in the Comedy: Writing and Performance program one of Nigels main interests is exploring Indigenous culture through humour. Currently this looks like making memes and practicing stand up comedy. Nigel hosts a radio program called Acimowin on CJSR 88.5.

Cultivating & Harvesting EDI

Wednesday October 26, 2022 – 12:00pm to 1:00pm MT

To cultivate means to acquire or develop, and to harvest means to collect or obtain for a future use.

Since the summer of 2020, equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) has become ‘top of mind’ throughout the cultural sector, and a priority in funding.

Who is cultivating and harvesting EDI, and the money that’s available for it?

And is the equity-seeking community actually being empowered in the process?

Join us for an insightful discussion as we explore these questions, and the complex issues that can arise from this important work, with our incredible panelists Jordan Baylon, Soni Dasmohapatra, Dinu Philip Alex and Pam Tzeng.

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We also collaborated with Canadian Cinema Editors to turn this enlightening conversation into a Podcast – have a listen!

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PANELISTS

Jordan Baylon | Artist, Community Worker & Consultant

Jordan Baylon (they/she/he) is a second generation PilipinX artist, critic and community worker imagining justice and abundance for equity-deserving peoples within the spaces of all our relations: personal, communal and societal. As an artist, Jordan’s explores queer and racialized identities as liminal spaces: both and neither; between, across and through; both inside and outside; and both literal and imagined. Jordan’s community practice leverages a decade of experience in the non-profit arts and culture sectors, where they developed their critical lens around equity, anti-racism and systems change. After many years navigating institutions, Jordan now devotes their interest and attention to working at grassroots alongside equity-deserving individuals and communities. 

Recent work:

• The City of Calgary – Indigenous and Anti-Racist Equity Analysis of Calgary Granting Programs (with Thulasy Lettner, Tapisa Kilabuk, Kinya Baker, Erin MacFarlane)
• Calgary Arts Development – EDIA Audit (with JD Derbyshire & Steve Williams)
• Chromatic Theatre – General Director
• The Calgary Foundation – Racial Equity Audit (with Thulasy Lettner, Kinya Baker, Evans Yellow Old Woman, Erin MacFarlane)

Soni Dasmohapatra | Consultant, Educator & Arts Practitioner

Soni is a passionate consultant, educator and arts practitioner who uses yoga and somatics as pathways of self discovery, healing and artistic creation. Soni has built her career for over twenty years in the sectors of government, higher learning, non-profit, public education and philanthropy, across Canada and Internationally. Currently she is a sessional instructor at MacEwan University, Arts and Cultural Management Department. Soni,  has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Alberta, a Masters in  Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Victoria and a certificate in gender studies and  human rights from Oxford University, UK.  Soni, has been involved in the Alberta arts, cultural and Heritage sector since she was a child. She is a trained classical Indian Kathak dancer and yoga teacher. She has been a cultural administrator in the areas of Canadian Heritage and Arts in Alberta and Ontario. Check out her UNESCO article on Arts Education in a Post National State.

Dinu Philip Alex, MSc, B’Arch | Founder & Chief Disrupter of Next Evolution Ventures

Alex is a disruptive strategist motivated by breaking the system for the greater good. He has a background of implementing change at a root level and creating an atmosphere of cultivating and transforming ideas into viable solutions that create efficiencies, challenge the norm, and prepare for the future.

Through his almost 15 year career with the City of Edmonton, he found himself getting more involved in the organizational development and transformation work to ensure the service lines are relevant and optimized to meet the needs for the future. 

He has been actively involved in developing  several strategies, creating innovative analytical models, revamping and restructuring several operational services to ensure job clarity, job satisfaction and increased employee morale. 

In his position as Branch Manager, Alex was also on the steering committee for the Smart Cities Challenge. He received the Culture Commitment Award under the category of Excellence in 2018.

He has also been nominated for the City Manager’s Award for Leadership Excellence in the past.

He is inspired by his young son, an aspiring hockey player, who keeps him in touch with his values of doing good for others through innovative thinking and action.

Pam Tzeng | Choreographer, Performance Maker, Movement Educator & Arts Worker

Pam Tzeng 曾小桐 (she/her) is a second-generation Taiwanese-Canadian choreographer, interdisciplinary performance maker, movement educator and arts worker based in Mohkínstsis Treaty 7 Territory. Pam takes pleasure in extremes to craft honest, visceral and animated performances about the politics of the body with objects and costumes. Led by her embodied curiosities, she graciously traverses charged thematic territories to reveal and empower unseen truths. 

Pam is a commitment to offering the breadth of her experiences, creativity and intelligences to the work of anti-racism, anti-oppression and conflict transformation in the arts and cultural sector. As 2022-23 Artist in Residence with Dancemakers (Toronto), she is focused on researching conflict transformation from an artistic and embodied lens. Currently, Pam is also an advisor with the Canadian Dance Assembly, faculty and practices of care weaver for the Rozsa Foundations REAL Executive Leadership Program, a member of the Cultural Instigators – a collective of artist activists visioning an anti-racist future for Calgary and part of Calgary Arts Development’s EDIA working group.

WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA? Inclusion and Diversity in the Industry

CIFF Industry Week – Thursday September 22, 2022 – 11:00am to 12:00pm MT

We all want our screen industry to be more inclusive, diverse and accessible. It’s one thing to say it, but how can we really put these IDEAs into action for our Industry? Join CIFF and our expert group of panelists to discuss the actions we can take – individually and collectively – to make the Alberta screen industry truly a space for all to create.

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PANELISTS

Julian Black Antelope | Herd of 1 MEDIA and Counting Coup Indigenous Film Academy

Representing the Buckskin/Black Horse family of the Weasel People, Julian Black Antelope (aka “JBA”) is a Canadian actor of First Nations/Central American and Irish descent. JBA’s performing career first began in the Canadian music scene before transitioning to acting in film and television in the early 2000’s. As a self-taught actor with a growing family, JBA built the foundation of his career with an amalgamation of day player roles, stunts and working various crew positions on a steady stream of projects in southern Alberta including DreamWorks/TNT’s epic six-part mini-series Into the West (2005). JBA’s breakout role in a television series would come on the gritty and critically acclaimed Blackstone (2009-2013). Four seasons of Black Antelope’s portrayal of Darrien Tailfeathers earned him several accolades including a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Actor alongside Ed Asner and William Shatner. 

In 2014 JBA was cast as “Mr. Kidd” in John Logan’s Penny Dreadful (2014) which took him overseas to Ireland and has since worked consistently both nationally and internationally on Film and TV projects such as Dominion Creek (2015), Condor (2018), Dark Justice (2018), Caught (2018), Hold the Dark (2018) Debris (2021), The Flash (2021), and now is starring in the soon to be released Netflix series Grendel (2022).

Also an accomplished award winning writer, director and producer JBA has produced an impressive slate of award-winning feature films that have screened worldwide in high profile festivals and whose work on his own television series, Secret History TM of which he is creator, writer, director and showrunner of, continues to win awards, nominations and accolades. With his own Alberta based growing production company Herd of 1 Media, JBA’s industry relationships, skills, experience and hands on approach continue to make him a strong and valuable asset to film and television productions and creative development.

Kathryn Fasegha | BalminGilead Movie Productions (Canada) LTD

Kathryn is an award-winning filmmaker based in Calgary, Alberta. Her first feature film “Treacherous Heart” Premiered at Cineplex Chinook Centre, Calgary in 2012. Written and directed by Kathryn, Treacherous has been screened at various cinemas and venues across Canada, as well as in festivals like Black Women Film Festival Atlanta and Reelworld Film Festival, Toronto. The film was nominated for awards in several categories at the Nollywood and African Film Critics’ Awards (NAFCA) in 2012 and won the award of “Best Drama in Diaspora”.

In the course of her career, Kathryn has worked as an Admin Coordinator with the office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman and as a Customer Service Coordinator with Outpost at the Petroleum Development Oman. She also worked in the Canadian banking industry and ran a property management company in Calgary Alberta for 8 years. In ministry, Kathryn works in the voluntary position of a Facilitator/Coordinator for the Redeemer’s International Leadership Academy (RILA), Lagos and has been involved in Drama Evangelism for the past 23 years, setting up drama evangelism ministries in churches in Warri, Nigeria; Muscat, Oman; Calgary, Canada; and most recently at RCCG Olive Tree Parish, Lagos, Nigeria.

Kathryn’s second feature film “2 Weeks in Lagos” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2019 and screened at the Pan African International Film Festival, Los Angeles and the New York African Diaspora International Film Festival, New York. “2 Weeks in Lagos” opened in Cinemas across West Africa in February 2021 and made its Netflix debut in July 2021. “2 Weeks in Lagos” was nominated for an AMAA (Africa Movie Academy Awards) 2020 award for “Best film by an African Living abroad”. Kathryn has two feature films “2 Weeks in Calgary” and “Last Flight from Lagos” and three TV series currently in development.

Kathryn is a Theatre Arts graduate who started out writing and directing drama for television in Nigeria’s entertainment industry of the late eighties. She is the Film Coordinator for African Women Acting (AWA), Toronto, Canada; She is also a member of Film Fatales Canada; the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers (CSIF), Women in Film and Television Toronto (WIFTT), Women in Film and Television Alberta (WIFTA) and the current president of Black Actors and Film Guild Canada, Alberta chapter.

Kathryn received the “Global Woman of Vision” Award from Global TV, Calgary, in June 2012. 

Michelle Thrush | Award-Winning Actress

Michelle Thrush is a Canadian actress and First Nations activist for Aboriginal Canadians and the other Indigenous peoples of the Americas.

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This panel was sponsored by CIFF Industry Partners: Creatives Empowered, Calgary Economic Development and the International Cinematographers Guild Local 669.

CE MEMBERS CHECK-IN!

Wednesday August 31, 2022 – 12:00pm to 1:00pm MT

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Join us for a Creatives Empowered (CE) Members Check-In!

This is a safe and confidential space for members of the IBPOC community in Alberta’s cultural sector; film, television, media and the arts.

We want to hear from you:

What challenges and issues are you experiencing in your work as IBPOC?

What questions do you have?

What kind of advice / guidance would help you navigate these challenges and issues?

Are there specific types of professional development / assistance you would love to experience through Creatives Empowered? 

And how can we create spaces for ourselves that are free of racial and unconscious bias?

This event is designed to be an open, empowering and decolonized space to share and discuss.

To ensure a positive experience for all, space is limited.  And open to folks of all experience levels – from emerging to established.

To attend, please register at info@creativesempowered.ca, and confirm that you are a Creatives Empowered member.

If you aren’t yet a CE member, CE offers free lifetime memberships to individuals and organizations living and working in the colonial boundary known as Alberta, that self-identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Colour / racialized. Check out our Vision, Mission and Values (scroll down) and if this resonates with you, you can easily sign up for membership here.

Thank you for your time and for connecting!

In solidarity,

Creatives Empowered

WHY ANTI-RACISM STILL MATTERS

Tuesday March 1, 2022 – 12:15pm to 1:15pm MT

Our first event of 2022 explores why anti-racism still matters.  

As we revisit what anti-racism means, we’ll deep dive into its continued importance in our individual lives, our work as IBPOC artists + creatives, allyship, and in the cultural sector at-large.

Join us for an illuminating and engaging conversation with Reneltta Arluk (Director of Indigenous Arts for BANFF Centre for Arts and Creativity), Patti Pon (President and CEO of Calgary Arts Development), and Kizzie Sutton (Executive Director of the Calgary Society for Independent Filmmakers).

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We also collaborated with Canadian Cinema Editors to turn this powerful conversation into a Podcast – have a listen!

Reneltta Arluk | Director of Indigenous Arts, BANFF Centre for Arts and Creativity

Reneltta is an Inuvialuit, Dene and Cree mom from the Northwest Territories. She is founder of Akpik Theatre, a northern focused professional Indigenous Theatre company. Raised by her grandparents on the trap-line until school age, this nomadic environment gave Reneltta the skills to become the multi-disciplined artist she is now. For nearly two decades, Reneltta has taken part in or initiated the creation of Indigenous Theatre across Canada and overseas. Under Akpik Theatre, Reneltta has written, produced, and performed various works creating space for Indigenous led voice. Current works include Pawâkan Macbeth, a Plains Cree takeover of Macbeth written by Arluk on Treaty 6 territory. Pawâkan Macbeth was inspired by working with youth and elders on the Frog Lake reserve. Reneltta is the first Inuk and first Indigenous woman to graduate of the University of Alberta’s BFA Acting program, and Reneltta is the first Inuk and first Indigenous woman to direct at The Stratford Festival. There she was awarded the Tyrone Guthrie – Derek F. Mitchell Artistic Director’s Award for her direction of the The Breathing Hole. Reneltta is Director of Indigenous Arts at BANFF Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Patti Pon | President & CEO, Calgary Arts Development

Calgary Arts Development President & CEO Patti Pon (she/her/hers) is a veteran community and arts champion. Her extensive track record of leadership and service in Calgary include staff leadership positions at EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts (now Arts Commons), Alberta Performing Arts Stabilization Fund, and Alberta Theatre Projects, and volunteer positions with Calgary Foundation (board), Calgary Stampede (committee), the Asian Heritage Foundation of Southern Alberta (founding board member), imagineCalgary (steering committee), and CKUA Radio Network (board). In 2021 Patti was the first woman of colour to be appointed to the board of the Calgary Stampede. Patti has been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal as well as the 2013 Harry and Martha Cohen Award, recognizing significant contribution to Calgary’s theatre community.

Kizzie Sutton | Executive Director, Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers

Kizzie Sutton is an engaging arts and community professional and is happy to be returning to her roots in Film as Executive Director of CSIF. She holds a Diploma in Broadcasting, Radio and Television from the School of Communication Arts at Seneca College, and Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Theatre and Film Studies from Queen’s University. Kizzie has applied her education to a gamut of capacities both here in Canada including lighting and sound design, dramaturgy, production management, directing, youth mentorship and programs management, at a number of arts and public sector organizations in Toronto, Ontario and northern Alberta; and internationally.

RESEARCH & REFERENCING INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE INTO CONTEMPORARY ARTS PRACTICES **sold out!**

Wednesday December 8, 2021 – 12pm to 1:30pm MT

Creatives Empowered presents

There is a space that is being created in the development of Indigenous Arts Practices with the engagement of community and Elder knowledge, that is our reference in storytelling and authenticity.  We are experiencing a protocol that needs to be addressed, in how to utilize this knowledge in a very contemporary way. 

Please join us in this virtual discussion with a diverse panel I have curated, that brings together varied experiences in how we engage and build trustful, meaningful relationships.  

This sharing circle is how we can work together, as taught by many Elders, and we will seek positive outcomes through this approach – by listening and learning – about our work together, to foster the greatest understanding.

I have been speaking with many leaders in the artistic community on this topic and our sharing circle will be a wonderful and much needed discussion on the subject, with the intention to be as helpful as possible.

Kaatamatsin! 

Troy Emery Twigg

 

Adrian A. Stimson | Artist

Adrian Stimson is a member of the Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation in southern Alberta. 

Adrian has a BFA with distinction from the Alberta College of Art and Design and MFA from the University of Saskatchewan. He is an interdisciplinary artist and exhibits nationally and internationally.

His performance art looks at identity construction, specifically the hybridization of the Indian, the cowboy, the shaman and Two Spirit being. Buffalo Boy, The Shaman Exterminator are two reoccurring personas.

His paintings are varied yet his use of black and white monochromatic paintings that depict bison in imagined landscapes are melancholic, memorializing, whimsical, they evoke ideas, cultural fragility, resilience and nostalgia.

His installation work primarily examines the residential school experience; He has used the material culture from Old Sun Residential School on his Nation to create works that speak to genocide, loss and resilience.

He was a participant in the Canadian Forces Artist Program, which sent him to Afghanistan.

Adrian was awarded the Governor General Award for Visual and Media Arts in 2018. REVEAL Indigenous Arts Award –Hnatyshyn Foundation 2017. He was awarded the Blackfoot Visual Arts Award in 2009, the Alberta Centennial Medal in 2005 and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2003. 

Beverly Hungry Wolf | Writer

Beverly Hungry Wolf is a Canadian writer and a member of the Blackfoot Confederacy.  She was born Beverly Little Bear in 1950 near Cardston, Alberta, on Blood Indian Reserve No. 148, and studied at a Catholic residential school on the reserve.  

The school discouraged interest in her tribe’s traditions, but as an adult, she started investigating and recording them after she married a German man, Adolph Gutöhrlein.  Gutöhrlein was fascinated with First Nations’ culture, having immersed himself in it and adopting the surname Hungry Wolf.

Along with her husband, Hungry Wolf has published a number of books about her personal and her peoples’ experiences.  She interviewed her female relatives and tribal Elders, collecting information about gender roles, domestic arts, child rearing, myths and legends, which she published in Ways of my Grandmothers (1980). Her interview subjects included her grandmother Anada-Aki, her aunt Mary One Spot, and tribal Elder, Paula Weasel Head.

Herman Yellow Old Woman | Elder

Herman Yellow Old Woman has left an indelible mark on not only Alberta’s museum sector, but the national and international sector as well. He was a key member of the committee behind Glenbow’s Nitsitapiisinni Gallery, created to reflect the Blackfoot worldview. The Gallery has been internationally recognized as one of the first exhibits told from an Indigenous perspective and is the epitome of the reconciliation and healing museums are now striving for.

One of Mr. Yellow Old Woman’s most impactful contributions to the museum sector has been his fight for the repatriation of Chief Crowfoot’s regalia from The Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter, UK, an effort that began over a decade ago. Alongside his colleagues at Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park, Mr. Yellow Old Woman worked tirelessly to educate both the public and Exeter City Council about the importance of Blackfoot Cultural Patrimony, and encouraged them to see clothing not as objects or artifacts but as living beings – ancestors who, upon their return to their people, have the ability to help heal the harms done by the colonial legacy of museums. This year, the hard work paid off when Exeter agreed that Crowfoot should be returned to the Siksika Nation. Said Mr. Yellow Old Woman: “I feel like we’re bringing his spirit home.”

Mr. Yellow Old Woman was instrumental in the development of the First Nations Sacred Ceremonial Objects Repatriation Act (FNSCORA), and the repatriation of over 260 sacred and ceremonial objects from Glenbow’s collections and many more from other museum collections. He has cared for museum collections worldwide by conducting ceremony, visiting and caring for sacred bundles and the ancestors residing in museums in Canada and internationally.

“In selecting Herman Yellow Old Woman for the Lieutenant Governor’s Award, the AMA Board of Directors recognizes his spirit of giving and his important role in establishing best practice standards for the Alberta museum community,” said Meaghan Patterson, Executive Director / CEO, “His contributions to the sector are a gift to future generations, not only for the Blackfoot, but for museum professionals navigating the changing role of museums in society and the necessary work of reconciliation.”

Nicole Mion | Artist & Curator

Nicole Mion is an artist and curator. She is Artistic Director for Springboard Performance where she curates the Fluid Movement Arts Festival, a Signature dance presentation series, Interrarium creative practice workshops and residencies, and ContainR, an Art Park made of retrofit shipping containers used to connect communities through art. She is also an active contemporary choreographer and multidisciplinary artist whose creative practice transverses the fields of installation, choreography, new media and design. At the core of her practice is a focus on creating space that supports the making and experiencing of live performance. She is a condition-maker whose leadership and sensibility opens up space for her own creation and helps artists make their work possible, while connecting audiences to the awe-inspiring possibility of live performance. Nicole has been recognized as the inaugural award winner for Calgary’s Creative Placemaking Award at the Mayor’s Lunch for Calgary Arts Champions and was recently awarded an innovation award from the Calgary Chamber of Volunteer Organizations (CCOV) for “disruptive, adaptive, and innovative programming”. In December 2020, Mion was credited as more a primal force than AD inspiring Springboard and the Fluid Fest as “One of 11 Innovative Canadian Arts Groups Who Made the Pivot” by Ludwig Van, Toronto.

Mion views artmaking from the lens of the body, where the body is the political ground, body politic, an artifact of social control, where the history is held at the cellular level and the power and grace of possibilities – unending. Where choreography offers a somatic lens on presence, culture and future, within a cultivated parallel interior ecology. Through this wave, the resonances of historical and future creation and performance are manifested. She looks at diverse subjects who have mobilised their bodies to create systems of signification. Where the body exists despite the corporate, virtual world, ripe with its vulnerability, needs, and desires. A practice where each moment, interaction, movement, or reaction is a simultaneously set and improvised act, and so by extension, all experiences within the body and landscape, are facets of the art. A reminder that we exist beyond our digital presence, and art product, and continually considering performance to explore what it means to be a body in the world. 

Lisa Doolittle | Professor Emerita, University of Lethbridge

Lisa Doolittle works in dance, arts-based community engagement, and scholarship.  Her participatory theatre/dance projects include intergenerational performance with Age Exchange (London UK 1998) and health promotion in Malawi (2008-2016).  In Alberta she has collaborated on workshops, productions and film with immigrants and people with disabilities, in partnership with local social service organizations.  She has presented and published internationally on community-engaged performance, Canadian dance and multiculturalism, and Indigenous dance.  Doolitte, Ann Flynn (University of Calgary), and Troy Emery Twigg, interviewed Kainai Elders and others on the role of dance in settler-Indigenous histories in 20^th century Canada as part of SSHRC-funded research (Assimilating Bodies and Dance: Canada’s Choreography of Nationhood).  The filmed interviews can be accessed in the Blackfoot Digital Library.

Sable Sweetgrass | Storyteller & Playwright

Sable Sweetgrass is a member of the Kainai Nation, born and raised in Calgary/ Mohkinstsis. Sable is a storyteller/playwright. Sable has been an active member in the Calgary Indigenous community working for organizations such as the Calgary Friendship Centre, Making Treaty 7, Calgary Public Library, The Glenbow Museum and is a founding member of the Urban Society of Aboriginal Youth (USAY). She is a graduate of the English/Creative Writing program at the University of Calgary and received her MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 2006 Sable won 1st place in the Canadian Aboriginal Arts – Story Writing Contest. She has written and performed on stage for Making Treaty 7 and created a short film titled IPOWAHSIN AT HOME. Sable’s play, Awowakii, is currently being developed for the stage at Theatre Calgary. Sable works for the arts community in Calgary/Mohkinstsis and Treaty 7 as the Director of Indigenous Engagement & Reconciliation with Calgary Arts Development.

Troy Emery Twigg | Curator & Moderator

Troy is from the Kainai Nation in southern Alberta.  He has worked as an actor, dancer, choreographer, director, dramaturg and instructor, but is primarily an artist in movement, choreography and staging, mostly creating his own works which have been presented nationally and internationally, including Iitahpoyii; They Shoot Buffalo, Don’t They?; Dancing the Universe in Flux; Pulse; and Static.  Troy was one of the original visionaries and founding artists of the ground breaking Making Treaty 7 theatrical presentation.  He is co-director for the young people’s theatre version of Making Treaty 7 titled We Are All Treaty People in partnership with Quest Theatre which has been nominated for a Dora Award in the Best Production, Theatre for Young Audience Division.  Recently he has worked with Decidedly Jazz Danceworks; The Prairie Dance Exchange; the Iinisikim puppet project with the Canadian Academy of Mask and Puppetry, The Banff Centre, and Jupiter Theatre.  He has co-curated an exhibition called By Invitation Only: Dance, Confederation and Reconciliation for Dance Collection Danse.

my difficult relationship with Alberta

Friday October 29, 2021 – 4pm to 5pm MT

Creatives Empowered and Sweet Potato Productions presents

“I have a difficult relationship with Alberta.”

Althea Cunningham said this in one of our previous events, and it resonated with everyone present.

How does that statement make you feel?

Living in Alberta as a racialized person, can be challenging at the best of times.  We’re now in the fourth wave of a COVID-19 pandemic.  It’s been a year and a half since Black Lives Matter protests erupted worldwide.  Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Representation are now in the consciousness of Alberta’s arts + culture sector.  And the heavy work of “moving the needle” has begun.  So how are we all faring today?

It was clear we needed an event to explore this statement, and CE approached Althea Cunningham to curate and host it – since she was the inspiration.

We invite artists + creatives who self identify as Indigenous, Black and People of Colour (IBPOC) to join us.  This is a safe and open space to discuss our difficult relationships with Alberta. 

Soni Dasmohapatra | Cultural Administrator & Educator

Soni has been involved in the Alberta cultural sector since she was a child.  She is a trained classical Indian Kathak dancer.  Soni is a choreographer of folk dances from India as well as Bhangra and Bollywood.  She also has been a cultural administrator in the areas of Canadian Heritage and Arts both in Alberta and Ontario.  She has collaborated with Skirts Afire to be a story teller in the documentary “Covid Collections” which is being featured during the month of October 2021 in the Edmonton International Film Festival.  As part of her community work in Edmonton she is a board member of two cultural organizations, Azimuth Theatre and Litfest.  She participates in theater as a member of Thirdspace Playback Company.  Soni is a passionate educator and practitioner who uses yoga and somatics as pathways of self discovery, healing and artistic creation.

Christine Sokaymoh Frederick | Executive Director, Dreamspeakers Festival Society

Christine is an urban Aboriginal Cree-Métis residing in Edmonton, Alberta.  She is co-founder and the artistic director of Alberta Aboriginal Performing Arts and produces the annual Rubaboo Festival, and the Executive Director of the Dreamspeakers Film Festival.  She is the first Indigenous Associate Artist of the Citadel Theatre, and the first indigenous board member of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.  She is former chair of the Edmonton Arts Council and former Vice Chair of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.  Christine served on the steering, working and selection committee for the ÎNÎW River Lot 11, one of the first Indigenous Public Art Parks in the world.  She is the recipient of the 2007 Esquao Award in Arts, and the 2016 Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Artistic Leadership.  She also sits on the Advisory Committees for the City of Edmonton Indigenous Artist in Residence, and the Creation Fund of the National Arts Centre.

Melanee Murray-Hunt | Writer, Actor & Filmmaker

Melanee has written, directed and performed for stage and screen.  She has co-produced a pilot script for Time Warner and is currently in development with a series with Mosaic Entertainment.  Her most recent work, a web series on domestic violence, will be launched at the end of August 2021.  Melanee has won awards for her short films Race Anonymous, The Trial of Miss Mudimbe, and for her solo stage show, The ‘Hoodwink.  Her plays, The Venus of Basin Street, (aka Nothing Like The Sun) The ‘Hoodwink have both premiered to critical acclaim in Calgary and New York City.  Her other films include Do The Math, and her film, currently in post-production, The Invincible Jayson Garvey, the screenplay of which garnered a twenty thousand funding award from Calgary Arts Development as well as being selected for the Women In The Director’s Chair Career Accelerator Program and shortlisted by WIDC for Telefilm’s Talent To Watch Program.  As an actor Melanee can be seen in various television, film and independent productions, including the award winning Jasmine Road, the APTN series Tribal, the indie film Black and Blue, the Nickelodeon Show 100 Deeds For Eddie McDowd (as a series regular), the feature film K-PAX, the series Judging Amy, Law and Order and others.

Titilope Sonuga | Poet, Playwright & Performer

Titlope is a Nigerian writer, poet, playwright and performer whose work grasps for moments of tenderness and persistent joy at the intersection of blackness and womanhood.  She is the author of three award-winning collections of poetry, Down to Earth (2011), Abscess (2014), and This Is How We Disappear (2019) and has composed and released two spoken word albums, Mother Tongue (2011) and Swim (2019). Titilope has written three plays, The Six; an intergenerational exploration of womanhood, Naked; a one-woman play and Ada The Country, a musical.  She has scripted global advertising campaigns for brands including; The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, Intel Corporation, Guaranty Trust Bank and The MacArthur Foundation.  She was an actor on the hit television series Gidi Up, which aired across Africa.  Her writing has been translated into Italian, German and Slovak.  She is the 9th Poet Laureate of the City of Edmonton.

Althea Cunningham | Curator & Moderator

Althea is an award winning musician with On The Verge her debut soul music EP.  Produced in (2009) it has had local, national and international featured artist spots and airplay. She is interarts: actor, writer and producer.  As an actor she has worked for several theatres across Canada.  A few of them are: Western Canada Theatre, Theatre Calgary, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, National Ice Theatre of Canada, Francis Winspear Centre For Music and Citadel Theatre.  In television and film she has played roles for Farewell Productions, Coast Mountain Productions (The L Word 2007- 2009), Tooth Fairy Productions and Pyramid/AlphaMel Productions on The Invincible Jayson Garvey (2020).  As a writer she centres around intersections of trauma, healing and social justice.  Her first commissioned play was 2 Metres (2020).  She has written four short plays and two (full-length) pieces.  Shorts were produced with three companies: Sunkiss; Snapshots 10 minute play festival (Chicago 2017); Brown Suga and Color Blind by Workshop West Playwrights Theatre.  Readings of work: DaPopo Script Series (2017), Black Arts Matter(2018), Script Salon (2017) and RBC Emerging writer program (2017).  Monologues from Sweet An Nice (full- length) and The System (spoken-word and hip hop) were produced by Sarasvati Productions (2017- 2018).  As a producer On The Verge soul music EP (2010) and live music events across Western Canada; Althea Cunningam Duo, Trio and Quartet (2007- 2017).  She will be a co-producer for the world premiere production of Sunkiss To Death on February 7- 13, 2022..

Making it in Alberta

Monday July 26, 2021

Creatives Empowered and BIPOC TV & Film presents, in partnership with AMPIA

Making It In… is a regional panel series presented by BIPOC TV & Film featuring creatives from different cities and provinces in Canada. Panelists share their professional journeys, their experiences working and creating in different parts of Canada, and how they navigate the system.

This edition features Cheryl Foggo, Cody Lightning and Roseanne Supernault, and is moderated by BIPOC TV & Film’s Executive Director Kadon Douglas!

Cheryl Foggo | Playwright & Filmmaker

Cheryl Foggo is a playwright, author and filmmaker, whose work over the last 30 years has focused on the lives of Western Canadians of African descent. In 2020 her NFB feature documentary “John Ware Reclaimed” had its World Premiere at the Calgary International Film Festival where it received the Alberta Feature Audience Choice Award. The film was also awarded the 2021 Grand Prize in the Regards D’ici section of the Vues d’Afrique Festival and is now screening on nfb.ca. Additionally in 2020, the 30th anniversary edition of her book “Pourin’ Down Rain: A Black Woman Claims Her Place in the Canadian West” was released by Brush Education Press. She is the 2021 recipient of the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Outstanding Artist Award, the Calgary Black Chambers Black Achievement Award in Arts, Media and Entertainment and the 2021 Doug and Lois Mitchell Outstanding Calgary Artist Award from Calgary Arts Development.

Cody Lightning | Actor, Writer & Director

Cody Lightning, is an established actor originally from Alberta, Canada and is a member of Samson Cree First Nation in Maskwacis. Lightning grew up in Los Angeles with his mother, celebrated actress Georgina Lightning, who moved there in the 1980s to pursue a career in Hollywood.  He displayed artistic talent early on landing his first role at just 5 years of age.  From there he went on to become one of Hollywood’s top Native American child actors of the 90s decade.  Lightning has worked with some of Hollywood’s top actors like Johnny Depp, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Marlin Brando, Don Cheadle, Bradley Cooper, Zoey Deschanel, Luis Guzman and Chuck Norris.  Throughout his teenage years Lightning continued to work in the film and TV industry travelling extensively across the USA and Canada.  His experiences have enabled him to develop a unique ability to relate to people from all backgrounds and have shaped him into a remarkably diverse talent.  Additionally, Lightning has experience working in improv, theatre, stand-up comedy, executive producing, public speaking and mentoring.  Having spent almost a quarter decade of his life in the entertainment industry, now at the age of 34 Lightning possesses a broad range of impressive talent.  Lightning has also just finished his directorial debut “Hey Viktor” of which he also co-wrote and acted in.

Roseanne Supernault | Actor, Writer & Director

Roseanne is an award-winning actress from East Prairie Metis Settlement in northern Alberta.  She was discovered by a Los Angeles casting director at age 13, and has gone on to have a prolific career as a performer.  Select screen credits include the Netflix hit series “Blackstone”, in which her haunting performance garnered several accolades; the lead character in the historical pre-contact epic “Maina”, for which she received the Best Actress Award at the American Indian Film Festival, and the groundbreaking feature, “Rhymes For Young Ghouls” by Jeff Barnaby, that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was named TIFF Top 10.

Kadon Douglas | Executive Director, BIPOC TV & FILM 

Kadon Douglas is the Executive Director of BIPOC TV & FILM, a grassroots nonprofit organization advocating for equitable representation, access and opportunity for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour creatives working at all levels, above and below-the-line, in Canada’s screen media sector. 

The Rise of BIPOC Media Data & Distribution

Thursday May 27, 2021

Presented by Cool.World with Stories First and partners, BIPOC TV & Film, REMC, Creatives Empowered and Collective Bunch

This FREE salon series event emphasizes understanding and analyzing film, television, and media arts measurement and data.  The Canadian screen industry must build capacity for these tools, specifically for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour filmmakers, producers, their marketing teams and impact producers.  The majority of funding grants and reports require that data be included as creative leverage and capital; what creatives include in their digital, marketing and distribution plans is crucial to successful funding.  Canada is significantly behind in data measurement and digital disruption and the pressure to close the gap is increasing rapidly.  By shifting the understanding of these tools into our own hands, we give room for the potential to understand our audiences more intimately than traditional funders.