User:SurprisedPikachuOno/The Initiative for Indigenous Futures (TIIF)

The Initiative for Indigenous Futures (IIF) is a research-creation network that was established and is conducted by Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace (AbTeC), based at Concordia University. The IFF works in partnership with the University of British Columbia, Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace , Obx Labs , Kahnawake Education Centre , The Centre for Indigenous Media Arts , ImagineNATIVE , Kontinónhstats – Mohawk Language Custodians Association , Kanien’keháka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa Language and Cultural Center , Dechinta Bush University Centre for Research and Learning , Western Arctic Moving Pictures , MacKenzie Gallery , and Behaviour Interactive.

Through these partnerships, the IFF aims to promote Indigenous presence in digital media through workshops, residencies, symposia, and archival records. The initiative supports the work of Indigenous creatives and academics across Canada, including in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Northwest Territories.

The IFF is funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Concordia University , Research Chair in Computational Media and the Indigenous Future Imaginary , Milieux Institute , Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation , Hewitt Foundation , Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada.

Goals & Objectives
The Initiative for Indigenous Futures (IIF) is a partnership of universities and community organizations dedicated to developing multiple visions of Indigenous peoples tomorrow in order to better understand where we need to go today. The Initiative for Indigenous Futures (IIF)

The IFF takes a multidisciplinary approach to research-creation by collaborating with a wide network of diverse fields in both academia and industry, in order to promote digital fluency in Indigenous communities, with the goal of improving cultural connectivity and research innovation.

Curricula
Taught by industry professionals, Indigenous artists, and senior students from Concordia University’s Computation Arts programme, IFF curriculums are centred on the concept of “future imaginary”, drawing specifically from Indigenous Futurism. Through the Skins Workshops, Indigenous youth are encouraged to combine storytelling with digital media to imagine themselves as empowered and participatory members of future worlds. This process allows Indigenous youth to integrate traditional knowledge with industry-related skills, like game design, art direction, 3D modelling, animation, sound design, and computer programming.

Students are offered funded residencies and are also guided through the process by mentors who act as cultural consultants and provide moral support throughout their studies.

''One of our goals is to encourage our youth to envision themselves in the future while drawing from their heritage. We believe this helps to promote and preserve our stories, languages and cultures while also exposing our youth to the digital tools of today and tomorrow.'' The Initiative for Indigenous Futures (IIF)

Symposia
Our goal is to create a space in which visions of tomorrow’s Indigenous communities and cultures, including the work produced by the IIF Partners, can be articulated, shared and discussed. The Initiative for Indigenous Futures (IIF)

The Symposia on the Future Imaginary hosts an interdisciplinary collection of activities grounded in Indigenous Futurism. The symposium allows artists, academics, industry leaders, and community members to envision the future of Indigenous pedagogical frameworks both on the ground and within the digital landscape.

Archives
The Indigenous Digital Art Archive (IDAA) houses the work of Indigenous artists, in order to provide a digital cultural record for future generations, while enabling future collaborations between partners of the initiative.

''IDAA is a response to both the need for Indigenous-led archives and the need to develop practices to conserve digital art’s interactive behaviours in a rapidly changing technological world. Combined, IDAA is an exercise in identifying and formulating Indigenous archival practices to address artworks made in complex digital environments [...] The need to care for and make accessible the digital work of Indigenous artists was and remains to be paramount to establishing an Indigenous digital art history, ensuring that these works can be experienced, and their social contexts understood, by future generations.'' The Initiative for Indigenous Futures (IIF)