Meet the Jurors for DARC’s Indigenous Residency Program!
The DARC Indigenous Residency Program is a one-month residency supported by the Hnatyshyn Foundation, which offers artists access to DARC’s facilities and resources. It’s an opportunity to explore, create, and collaborate in an environment that encourages hands-on technological play and artistic experimentation. The following jurors will form an Indigenous recommender jury with advanced experience and knowledge of Indigenous video production and media arts.
The jury will independently review each grant application. After independently reviewing the submissions, the jury will meet as a group to select one resident artist. We are honoured to present our jurors for the 2024 DARC Indigenous Residency:
Sonya Ballantyne
Sonya Ballantyne is a Swampy Cree writer and filmmaker from the Misipawistik Cree Nation in Northern Manitoba. Her work focuses on contemporary and futuristic portrayals of Indigenous women and girls. Her past work includes The Walking Dead: The Last MILE, Sesame Street, and God of War: Ragnarok. The Death Tour is her feature directorial debut.
Liz Barron
Liz Barron is a founding member of the Harbour Collective (harbourcollective.ca). Working within the Indigenous media and visual arts, Harbour Collective engages in research activities, artistic programming and service delivery for Indigenous filmmakers, media artists and visual artists. Harbour Collective has hosted four LAB series and is currently working on Indigenous artist rights working in artificial intelligence, along with commissioning five Indigenous artists to create augmented reality stories based on their traditional moon stories with a launch in Vienna in November 2024.
Barron has been in the arts for the last 30 years. She started her cultural career at Plug In ICA as their digital producer. During her time with Plug IN ICA, she met Louise Ogemah and Debra Prince who invited her to join them to create Urban Shaman, a contemporary Indigenous artist run centre, in Winnipeg.
Barron’s connection to place is the homeland of the Metis. Her mother is from St. Francois Xavier, Manitoba and her father is from St. Francois Xavier/ Pigeon Lake, Manitoba. Her maternal grandparents are from St. Charles, Manitoba (Peltier / Pelletier) and Harperville, Manitoba (Miller). Her paternal grandparents are from St. Francois Xavier (Barron / Chalifoux). The Chalifoux were identified as Cree on the Canadian Census and claimed scrip.
Barron is a member of the Manitoba Metis Federation and a member of the Catfish Local, Winnipeg.
Howard Adler
Howard Adler is the co-founder/director/programmer for the Asinabka Festival, an annual Indigenous film and media arts festival in Ottawa. Howard has a bachelor of arts in Indigenous Studies from Trent University, and a master of arts in Canadian Studies from Carleton University. Howard’s film, video and art, have been exhibited in gallery settings, broadcast nationally, shown on airplanes, featured on CBC Gem, and shown extensively at film festivals both in Canada and internationally. His art practice is diverse and includes visual art, meme-making, stained glass, beadwork, VJ’ing, video projection mapping, and experimental and documentary filmmaking. He often works as a freelancer or on a contract basis in various capacities, including film and video production, as a university instructor, a guest speaker, a workshop instructor, or leading art making classes for youth. Howard’s pronouns are he/him, he is 2-Spirit, Jewish and Anishinaabe, and a member of Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation in North-Western Ontario.
Miigwech and thank you to our talented jurors for supporting us in selecting the recipient of the DARC Indigenous Residency. We can’t wait to see the incredible work that will emerge from the submissions!
