AGM 2021 Announcement!
We’re here to announce that we will be having our AGM on October 3rd between 2-5PM. Mark the date!
Throughout 2020 we did strategic planning with Currents Group. So we’ve put together a Strategic Plan! You can check it out here. After 12 years of incorporation we’ve been working towards documenting and improving our programming to keep improving, keep tweaking, and pushing ourselves to make the best events we can! That means things like multi-year planning, sponsorship goals, and adapting programming when needed. We’d love to hear your feedback on it and what type of programming you’d like to see from us in the future!
Over the past year and a half, we’ve been moving our programming non-congregational and online. Moving forward, we’ll be keeping our programming online as we feel as a small organization and the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic that it is the best, and safest, option for us to run our programming.
Just as we did last year we’ll be hosting it online on our Discord. The first half of the AGM is open to the public while the second half is closed to Membership. You’re welcome to continue hanging out in the Public channels while the members-only portion takes place. Please use the link below to register for the AGM.
Board Nominees
We’re excited to announce our Board nominees for 2021! We’ll be voting on them on the AGM, so if you’re a member give them a look over.
Yifat Shaik
Yifat Shaik is an Assistant Professor in Computational Arts at York University and an indie game developer whose focus is on creating personal autobiographical work and the use of systems, data, and game mechanics in social interaction and political activism. Her work explores the way “play” can become a powerful way to talk about and examine social structures, especially using mechanics as the primary tools of subverting the meaning of well-established video game systems. As an independent game developer, Yifat is currently working on Real Army Simulator, an anti-militarization game about the mundanity of military service, The Mattress of St. Dundas, a game about gentrification in Toronto and The Engine is the Message, a series of small experimental games which are done in nontraditional game engines. Her work has been exhibited and presented internationally in events like MIGS (in which she was keynote speaker in 2018), Indiecade, Full Indie, Qgcon, and more and has received press attention from publications like Boing Boing, The Financial Post, and The Torontoist. Since graduating from OCAD University in 2014, Yifat has been working as an instructor and course director in such institutions as OCAD University, Sheridan College, The Toronto Public Library and since 2016 she has been a course director (and later Assistant Professor) at York University’s Computational Arts program. Yifat was co-director of Dames Making Games Toronto and is a member of the Different Games Collective and head organizer of Different Games Toronto conference in 2017.
Nick Fox-Gieg
Nick Fox-Gieg is a researcher, animator, and developer in Toronto. Most recently, he’s been working on XR projects for the Verizon 5G EdTech Challenge, NYT T Brand Studio, the University of Waterloo, Google Creative Lab, and Framestore. His awards include a 2017 Engadget Alternate Realities grant, Eyebeam and Fulbright Fellowships, and the jury prize for Best Animated Short at SXSW 2010; his work has also been shown at the Ottawa, Rotterdam, and TIFF film festivals, at the Centre Pompidou, and on CBC TV; his practice has been supported by grants from Bravo!FACT, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the arts councils of Ontario, Pennsylvania, Toronto, and West Virginia. Fox-Gieg holds an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts and a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University.
Maxwell Neely-Cohen
Maxwell Neely-Cohen is a writer based in New York City. He is the author of the novel Echo of the Boom and was Editor-At-Large for The Believer from 2018-2021. When not writing he spends his time making and funding music, games, art, and dance.
