Instructor

Amelia Winger-Bearskin is a Banks Family Preeminence Endowed Chair and Associate Professor of Artificial Intelligence and the Arts, at the Digital Worlds Institute at the University of Florida. She is also the founder of the AI Climate Justice Lab, the Talk To Me About Water Collective, and the Stupid Hackathon.

In 2022 she was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Award as part of the Sundance AOP Fellowship cohort for her project CLOUD WORLD / SKYWORLD which was part of The Whitney’s Sunrise/Sunset series.

In 2021 she was a fellow at Stanford University as their artist and technologist in residence, made possible by the Stanford Visiting Artist Fund in Honor of Roberta Bowman Denning (VAF).

In 2020 she founded Wampum Codes, an award-winning podcast and an ethical framework for software development based on indigenous values of co-creation, while a Mozilla Fellow at the MIT Co-Creation Studio.

In 2019 she was a delegate at the Summit on Fostering Universal Ethics and Compassion for His Holiness, The 14th Dalai Lama, at his World Headquarters in Dharmsala, India.

Instructor

Renae is a Cree/Anishinaabe, multifaceted, intertribal artist involved in music, theatre, film, and television within various communities across Turtle Island. Through her community-oriented art practices, she has been a director, writer, and facilitator, dedicating herself to sharing Indigenous stories that move beyond resilience to create hope and love.

Instructor

Raised in Waterhen Lake First Nation in Northern Saskatchewan, Rueben Martell was enamored with the oral tradition of storytelling. Having heard Cree tall tales from his grandmother from a young age, his imagination pushed him to make the images more physically represented in a visual media. His first experience came as an extra in a CBC movie “Revenge of the Land”. The experience changed his opinion on the industry, where he wanted to be behind the camera. Starting as a production assistant for Seventh Generation (1999,2000) for two seasons.

After working with Big Soul Productions, they pushed him from production assistant to 1st assistant trainee for Season 1 (2003) of “Moccasin Flats”, then 3rd AD for Season 2 (2004). Rueben was asked to teach aboriginal youth the basics of film making. Detour Youth centre (2007) and University of Saskatchewan’s Aboriginal Peoples Program (2008). He made the jump to Directors Observer on “Rabbit Fall” (2007) and “Corner Gas” (2008).

Between 2009 and 2015, he took a step back to raise his two sons. He took work as a pipeline supervisor and as a videographer for Land claim depositions. In between time, he wrote screenplays to keep the creative side alive. He developed one based on the life of Dwayne Jocko, a known cigarette smuggler during the Oka situation entitled “Jocko Road”. He also directed the music video for George Leach’s Juno award winning song “Let it go”.

As of January 2020, he has finished principal photography on his first feature film “Don’t say its name” for Chaos Films and has been presold to Super Channel Canada. Currently developing a tv series “RedWater”, a feature film script “A life less empty” and “Tied” for Raven Banner.

Rueben Martell is also a graduate from the IM4 Lab Virtual Production MicroCredential Training Program, where he produced a short virtual film in Unreal.

Instructor

Dallas Flett-Wapash is an Ininew/Saulteaux digital artist working with video game design, expanded reality, and other interactive technologies. His practice is an ongoing digital reconstruction of his cultural identity – including cosmology, culture, language, and lifestyle – using video game aesthetics. Raised primarily by Swampy Cree Matriarchs in the educational sector, the sharing of practical and technical knowledge is one of the key elements of his Arts career. He has taught digital arts workshops for many arts and educational organizations. Recent exhibitions include After Effects: Emerging New Media Artists in Winnipeg at the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown PEI, Azimuth Nitehi at VideoPool in Winnipeg MB,and DAiR v1:Video Games by Artists at the Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina SK.

Instructor

Nancy Lee 李南屏 is a Taiwanese-Canadian media artist, DJ, XR creator, curator, and cultural producer known for their interdisciplinary works. They ventured into XR with the 2017 360 dance film “Tidal Traces,” produced by the NFB, and co-created “Telepresence” in 2018, blending VR with live performance. Lee’s art has been showcased internationally at Cannes, SXSW, MUTEK (Montreal & Japan), Centre Phi, and the Berlin Film Festival.

Instructor

Shenaz Baksh serves as the Director of the Screen Industry Training Hub (SITHub), an Unreal Authorized Training Centre (UATC) dedicated to empowering diverse storytellers through accessibility and skill development, professional industry workforce upskilling, and community development initiatives. She is of Guyanese heritage and respectfully acknowledges that her work takes place in Tkaronto, the traditional and unceded territories of numerous Indigenous peoples, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat nations.

Instructor

Michael Running Wolf (Northern Cheyenne/Lakota/Blackfeet) was raised in a rural prairie village with intermittent water and electricity on his mother’s reservation in Montana. His grandmother only spoke her tribal language, Cheyenne, which like many Indigenous languages is near extinction. Michael is an AI ethicist who envisions an Indigenous future where Indigenous communities, alongside reclaiming their languages, attain technological sovereignty while addressing data ownership and systemic barriers to Indigenous AI.

Instructor

ASKO is a teaching lodge that you enter into with hesitation and humility. It is an immersive experience in which, if you bring an open heart and an open mind, you will learn to listen in a different register and come out of the lodge with a different perspective than you entered. ASKO is a coming together –a meeting of emotional and intellectual knowledge, a meeting of the heartbeat and the sound of thought travelling through space. It is a place that teaches us how to listen to the energies and forces that continually create nêhiyawak worlds in spite of and despite the noise of colonialism.

Instructor

To create with unrestricted freedom. To make the unrealistic a reality. To imagine environments unbound by the laws of physics. To imagine our people and stories within future generations.

Instructor

DJ Kookum is an Indigenous-renowned DJ and producer from the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation and based in Vancouver, BC. Known for her versatile skills and ability to transcend genres, Kookum is always cooking, keeping the atmosphere alive, fresh, and electrifying. Blending EDM, hip hop, bass music, and global sounds, Kookum creates high-energy performances that resonate with music lovers of all backgrounds. With an extensive music library, Kookum ensures each performance is tailored to the crowd, igniting a shared sense of connection through the power of music.

Instructor

Jana Hafez is an XR Director and educator focused on immersive storytelling and virtual production using Unreal Engine. She leads creative projects at UP360 and has experience teaching game art and interactive media at SITHub and Virtual production at George Brown College. Her work bridges cutting-edge technology with narrative design to shape the future of immersive experiences.

Instructor

Derek Jacoby is a PhD computer scientist who has spent the past 6 years running a team of 12 on a National Research Council contract in geospatial analytics. During this time education/outreach projects include engagements with the Nuu-Chah-Nulth nation on site selection for kelp farms, mentorship of students in the Verna J Kirkness program and the creation of VR tsunami simulations which have been displayed to middle schoolers across the province. Derek founded and runs the local makerspace and has secured over $750k in work-integrated-learning contracts over the past two years through his education non-profit, the Pacific Coastal Computing Association (PCCA). In prior decades, Derek ran the speech recognition team at Microsoft Research and filled various roles on the Windows team at Microsoft. Derek has been involved in synthetic biology since 2008 and has deep interests in genetics and medicine, he is currently on the teaching team for an MIT course called How To Grow Almost Anything. Besides publishing highly cited remote sensing and AI research, Derek is a passionate educator who is focused on equity and diversity in AI education. Derek is a sailor and has recently built an off-grid home near Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island.

Instructor

Tamara Abas is Canada’s first female Unreal Authorized Instructor who is passionate about virtual production and game development. Most recently, Tamara is an Engine Operator with PXO Clara at Pixomondo and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Tamara received accreditation for being an Unreal Engine Gold Authorized Partner (2025). She is an Unreal Engine Instructor at SITHub (Screen Industry Training Hub), an Epic Games Unreal Authorized Training Centre, and a creative screen industry training company based in Toronto.

Tamara worked as part of the VAD (Virtual Art Department) team as an Unreal Engine Generalist for the ETC (Entertainment Technology Center) at USC School of Cinematic Arts. She worked on an in-camera visual effects (ICVFX) production ‘Europa’ in collaboration with Sony Pictures Entertainment, Pixomondo, and Qube.

She was one of the Lead Unreal Engine instructors for Canada’s first Indigenous Virtual Production Micro credential program through IM4 Media Lab and Emily Carr University of Art and Design (2023). She provided virtual and in-person training for numerous topics including previsualization, lighting and ICVFX and technically supported 24 students from across Canada.

She was featured on Epic Games ‘Meet Someone Unreal’ series (2023) sharing her passion for training industry in utilizing Unreal Engine. Tamara participated in the Unreal Fellowship Animation (2023) program with Epic Games. This was a three-week, virtual course that examines the principles of animation and the technical foundations of constructing keyframe and/or motion capture data within Unreal Engine.

She values bringing her knowledge and skill set to help others thrive in the industry and be a part of the community.

Instructor

Dr. Carlos Vilchis is a creative technologist, educator, and virtual production expert with over 15 years of experience in 3D animation, visual effects, and real-time graphics. Holding a PhD in Computer Science, his research has focused on digital humans, AI-driven storytelling, and the intersection of education and immersive technologies. He has trained hundreds of artists across Latin America and contributed to the development of specialized academic programs in animation and virtual production.

Carlos has worked with major studios and global brands, including a collaborative Emmy-winning engineering contribution at ILM and an Epic MegaGrant award for his research on real-time performance and digital characters. Today, he supports industry innovation as a Virtual Production Expert at Vicon, helping connect tools, talent, and technology across creative ecosystems. He’s passionate about democratizing access to production pipelines and building stronger communities through education, open tools, and collaboration.

Advisor

Hello. My name is Christine Leo. I am a member of the Lil’wat Nation (also known as Mt. Currie). I am a proud mother to two adult children, one daughter and one son; and a proud grandmother to my four grandsons.

My background is in Aboriginal Human Resource Development. I had worked in my community of Lil’wat for 20 years, developing and delivering employment and training programs.

I have lived and worked in Vancouver since 2005, working for various Indigenous organizations/programs, where I utilized my skills in the area of program management and development, human resources, employment and training, job coaching and mentoring.

Now that I am retired, I work with Nicola Valley Institute of Technology, and Capilano University, as an Elder. I also worked with Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week as the Designer Coordinator from 2019 to 2024.

I have a general knowledge and understanding of Indigenous Culture and History in BC and Canada. I enjoy working with Indigenous people in Vancouver. I am very aware of the importance of our connection to our respective cultures.

Advisor

Dr. Xwalacktun OBC (born Rick Harry) is a Squamish Nation artist whose works are recognized internationally. Some significant awards he has received are: the Order of British Columbia (2012), the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2013), Canadian Confederation medal and the “FANS” Honour Award from the North Vancouver Arts Council (2005). These awards acknowledge his many contributions to various communities as well as his commitments both locally and world-wide. Emily Carr University Honorary Doctorate 2022. West Vancouver Mayor Award for Arts & Culture. Award of Distinction from BC Achievement First Nation Art Award. 2023.

Xwalacktun was born and raised in Squamish. He carries with him the rich ancestries of the Indigenous backgrounds of his father’s (Squamish Nation) and mother’s (‘Namgis Nation) Coast Salish clans.

Xwalacktun’s artwork is featured on the 20 foot tall Squamish Pedestrian overpass spanning Highway #99, The Sea to Sky Highway for Transport Canada. His significant metal, brick and glass sculpture in West Vancouver’s Ambleside Park is monumental at 24 feet x 11 feet x 8 feet wide. His 5 tonne basalt carving graces the West Vancouver Spirit Trail. He created 10 foot x 8 foot Double Doors for the Gordon Smith Gallery, the Senior’s Olympics metal torch. A multimillion dollar home in Whistler featuring Xwalacktun’s four carved house posts received two Gold Georgie Awards. He is also known for the numerous and ongoing works he has done with a huge number of elementary and secondary schools in 10 different school districts.

Xwalacktun’s works are seen throughout Vancouver and the surrounding areas. Some widely recognized pieces are: First Nations designs on Vancouver 2010 Olympic wear and tourist items, Audain Museum’s metal pole (16 foot x 6 foot diameter) and 34 wooden totem poles throughout Scotland. Other significant works can be seen at Vancouver General Hospital (15 foot house post), Vancouver School Board’s 45 foot Truth and Reconciliation cedar pole (collaboration with son James Harry), Whistler’s Peak to Peak welcome figure, Emily Carr University (mace and double doors).”Making Connections”10′ x 20′ made of 8 metal panels with LED lights lighting up a new complex in Coquitlam. Xwalacktun is a respected mentor to many artists and is a highly acclaimed artist in wood, paper, stone, glass and metals.

Healing, growth and raising an awareness of the environment are central themes in Xwalacktun’s work. By focusing on how the traditional stories relate to his own life, he suggests to us how to use this ancient knowledge to help heal ourselves and our community. The giving out of positive energy and seeing it come back through the young people is the reward that continues to feed his spirit so that he can give back to others.