Meet the Cohort!

Gblekkenhorst is a multimedia narrative artist from Northern Ontario, currently living in Toronto. They love a good ghost story, breaking the fourth wall, and playing around with story structures and mechanics. They’ve worked in illustration, VFX, animation and production design before becoming known for their experimental comics and book art, as well as working as a narrative designer in the indie games industry.

Charlotte Crosland is a composer and sound designer located in Toronto, Ontario. Her passion for collaboration and improvisation is what draws her to interactive media, and they regularly participate in game jams outside of work. Charlotte’s other artistic projects include creating virtual instruments, many of which she creates using her own voice, as well as developing a new musical with her mother. When Charlotte isn't working on sound design or music, they can be found curled up on the couch reading a sci-fi or romance novel.

Rose Goodwin is a multidisciplinary artist and writer who has worked in film, theatre and games. They produced a cabaret called Rose's Buds for the 2021 Paprika Festival in Toronto and has co-produced a short film called Scaring Women At Night with Fae Productions. Rose also works as Front of House at Theatre Passe Murialle in Toronto.

Eliza Grafton is a 28 year old trans woman who specialized in technical level design. She studied at Sheridan College in the Bachelor of Game Design program, and has extensive experience in programming, education, and creative writing.

Born and currently residing on Unceded Algonquin Traditional Territory in 'Ottawa', Ashley Grenstone is a Senior Administrator for the CBC/RC and is - among many things - an advocate, a designer and an artist. A trans, intersex woman Ashley's educational acheivements include: +3 years at NSCAD University; a BA in Human Rights from Carleton University (June 2017); and, is working towards an MA in Human Systems Intervention.

Sam Hotchkiss is a game designer, programmer, and zine editor from Philadelphia. Their team at Summoning Circle Press publish Splat, an annual zine about tabletop roleplaying games that features essays, interviews, and advice from designers and other industry figures. In the last few years, he has been working on how to bring the rich narrative gameplay of tabletop RPGs to video games. Sam and Rose have been developing narrative-focused game concepts for a couple years, and are excited to have the funding and support to make them a reality!

MURRAY A. LIGHTBURN is a Montreal-based composer, musician, performer and music producer. He is also the lead singer and songwriter of a rock band called The Dears. Whether working solo or collaborating with others, he seeks to realize ideas and concepts through songwriting, composition and production while remaining true to a project’s artistic vision. He has written works for AAA games, film, podcasts and TV and appreciates the power of storytelling through music.

Myriad is a non-binary trans queer, a mixed-Black Caribbean-Canadian, an autistic and chronically-ill hopepunk, and ten thousand other things that don't fit neatly into a paragraph. As someone who exists at numerous intersections, they are obsessed with liminalities - the crossroads, the collisions, and the questioning. They've crafted lattés and interview profiles, gone door to door selling knives and politicians, and generally wandered the professional landscape accumulating stories in place of savings.

Zoe Osborne is a virtual and physical interior designer from Barbados. Her work has a focus on Caribbean symbolism and narratives with an exploration in homesickness in the Caribbean Diaspora.

Rosemary Travale is a designer and Art Director in the animation industry living and working in Vancouver, BC. She loves to make stuff and celebrates being a jack of all trades! Whether drawing, painting, plotting out stories, or teaching herself 3D modeling or python coding, she loves to get hands on and push herself to be able to look at a problem from multiple creative angles. After working on many award winning projects within the film and animation industry for other people, Rosemary decided it was time to develop her own dream projects!

Natalia Yanchak is best known as the keyboardist and singer of rock group The Dears. A graduate of Concordia's Creative Writing program, she is a published science-fiction author, writer and producer. She is working on her first indie title, Riley + Rochelle in collaboration with UK-based developer Shineman Games. She lives in Montreal and likes cats, gardening, and console gaming.