AMI announces participants in first-ever Accessible Writers' Lab

TORONTO, Oct. 26, 2022 /CNW/ - Accessible Media Inc. (AMI), in partnership with ReelAbilities Film Festival Toronto and the Miles Nadal JCC, and sponsored by the Canada Media Fund (CMF), is pleased to announce the six Canadians?from over 180 applicants?invited to participate in the first-ever Accessible Writers' Lab.

The Accessible Writers' Lab, which runs until November, is an innovative, national lab for writers with disabilities and established showrunners/senior writers to experiment with what an accessible TV writers' room might look like, breaking down barriers and creating pathways for creatives in the disability community to thrive in the Canadian television industry.

As previously announced, the Accessible Writers' Lab is designed and led by multi-award-winning disabled writer, performer and consultant Ophira Calof. This initiative is designed to address those barriers by focusing on collective accessibility, fostering relationships and knowledge sharing and culminates in a case study report that will be distributed industry wide.

"I am incredibly excited to work with the participants of our first edition of the Accessible Writers' Lab," says Ophira Calof. "They each bring a unique set of skills and experience to the program, with the common goal of building a truly accessible Canadian television industry."

The participants in the Accessible Writers' Lab are:

Connor Yuzwenko-Martin (He/Him)
Connor Yuzwenko-Martin is a professional communications specialist, actor, producer and playwright. In June 2020, Connor premiered his first independent performance, The Invisible Practice, during Nextfest 2020, which took place online amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This was followed up with The Invisible Practice: Grief on the Hands in 2021. Currently, he is writing and producing his first original script, After Faust, in partnership with RISER Edmonton.
Instagram: @temporalways
Twitter: @TemporalThinker

Wake Lloire (They/Them)
Wake Lloire (they/them) is a parent, poet, comedian, writer and non-binary human from Northern Manitoba, currently residing on the unceded territory of the Anishinaabe peoples outside Ottawa, Ontario. They have a strange little creative community space in Almonte (the town where all those Hallmark movies were filmed) called Curious & Kind.

Carrie Cutforth (She/Her, They/Them)
Carrie Cutforth has been on the forefront of cutting-edge interactive storytelling and has served in the roles of consultant, adviser, producer and evaluator for interactive projects, including VR, AR, transmedia, web series, alternate reality games and interactive fiction. Recently, she was the executive producer and creator of Stargaze, a queer campy sci-fi digital series intended for OTT, the pilot of which wrapped post-production spring of 2022. Stargaze was generously funded by Ontario Creates and produced by Borken Creative Inc., the production company where Carrie serves as president.
Twitter: @Bitcherific @BorkenCreative

M.C Cruz (They/Them)
M.C Cruz is a child of Chilean immigrants who was born, raised and is currently based in Toronto. As part of Fright Film Academy and Fright Film School, they facilitated filmmaking workshops for marginalized communities. They have written, directed and produced several live action and animated short films, including Vampyric PSA, La Llorona and Root Causes. The animated film Root Causes screened at OCAD in a special preview, and Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival with an invitation to join a filmmakers' panel.
Instagram: @Aisha_Amcic
Twitter: @localeopardlady

Kitoko Mai (They/Them)
Kitoko Mai is a multidisciplinary artist, based in Ontario, who is primarily interested in creating performance-based work that challenges the notion of binaries and explores power dynamics within marginalized communities. Kitoko is the recipient of the 2021 Promising Pen Prize from Cahoots Theatre, and a 2020 Gilded Hammer Emerging Artist Award from Hamilton Fringe Festival. They currently have several unscripted TV projects at different stages of development.
Instagram: @Kitokomai

Katarina Ziervogel (She/Her)
Katarina Ziervogel is an Ojibway-Mohawk woman from Treaty 1 Territory. She is a Deaf writer and filmmaker who is a registered member of Sagkeeng First Nation. Upon graduation from Toronto Metropolitan University's Media Production program, her first co-written feature with Madison Thomas, Finality of Dusk, entered post-production. Katarina is currently developing her first feature-length documentary. Her main career goal is to increase the visibility of Indigenous and Deaf representation in the mainstream media.
Instagram: @katarinaziervogel

Presenting Sponsor: Canada Media Fund
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) fosters, develops, finances and promotes the production of Canadian content and applications for all audiovisual media platforms. The CMF guides Canadian content towards a competitive global environment by fostering industry innovation, rewarding success, enabling a diversity of voice and promoting access to content through public and private sector partnerships. The CMF receives financial contributions from the Government of Canada and Canada's cable, satellite and IPTV distributors. Please visit cmf-fmc.ca.

Industry Partner: Accessible Media Inc.
AMI is a not-for-profit media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians who are blind or partially sighted. Operating three broadcast services, AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French, AMI's vision is to establish and support a voice for Canadians with disabilities, representing their interests, concerns and values through accessible media, reflection and portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

Presenting Partner: ReelAbilities Film Festival Toronto
Presented by the Wagner Green Centre for Access & Inclusion at the Miles Nadal JCC in Toronto, the ReelAbilities Film Festival Toronto is dedicated to showcasing the work and stories of Deaf and/or disabled communities and filmmakers from around the world.

SOURCE Accessible Media Inc. (AMI)