A Program of Atira:
BECOMING ON THE COMMITTEE OF ADVISORS
Atira's Digital Storytelling Project is a community driven non-profit organization. With a small group of dedicated staff, they are thankful for the support from their Committee of Advisors and volunteers. If you are interested in becoming an advisory committee member of Yayem, please contact Janice Abbott at jabbott [at] atira.bc.ca.
CURRENT COMMITTEE OF ADVISORS
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Jacob Beaton
- Justin Klevguard
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Dylan Okeymow
Janice Abbott
Janice Loves Stories
Hair Big feet Spectacular
First-rate fundraiser
Janice Abbott is the executive director of Atira Women's Resource Society, a single mandate organization the mission of which is the elimination of all forms of violence against women and children. Since becoming the executive director of Atira Janice has lead the organization from a single transition house located in South Surrey to a large, multi-service agency with 11 sites located across the Lower Mainland and more than 20 programs. Described by the Vancouver Sun as one of Canada’s leading social entrepreneurs, Abbott conceived of and launched Atira Property Management Inc. in 2002. Atira Property Management Inc. is a wholly-owned for-profit subsidiary of Atira Women's Resource Society. All of the profits earned by the property management company are donated to Atira Women's Resource Society to support its social profit activities. Janice is of Secwepemc, Norwegian and other ambiguous ancestry. She is mostly happy and mostly harmless.
Paul Abbott
“I believe in the power of stories to to transform us, and our world. In fashioning our stories, we give ourselves a better sense of who we are, and what we value. In telling our stories, we take a stand, because they express not only our perspective on the world as it is, but also on how we think it should be. For far too long, too many Aboriginal stories have been told by people outside of their communities, and are thus stories about them, rather than their own. It is my hope that our project can offer a place for Aboriginal youth to tell and be strong in their own stories.”
Paul Abbott is a teacher and a counselor. He has been teaching students from almost every corner of the globe for 15 years. Currently, he works at a community college in Vancouver, in a bridge program for foreign students who wish to attend university in Canada, teaching reading, research, presentation, and writing skills. As a counselor, Paul has worked with First Nations clients, and his long-term interests are in supporting aboriginal peoples in their struggle for social, political, and economic justice in Canada.
Michael Bednar
camera in hand
a slav-scot scours the globe
in search of the shot
Michael is a professional photographer who specializes in nature and travel photography. He became fascinated with pictures and the wider world as a child but studied and worked in forestry, fisheries and wildlife before finally setting out to explore the world around him. Travel reignited his passion for photography and he also discovered a profound appreciation for the diversity he encountered in his journeys to Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean. Michael studied photography and worked as a photojournalist, heading the photography department of a daily paper before setting out as freelance photographer. He is constantly learning more about photography and the world around him. Michael finds working with youth in the digital storytelling program incredibly rewarding and is committed to expanding and improving the program.
Jonathan Frantz
Intrigued by image.
A wishful mountain skyline,
waiting to behold.
Jonathan approaches story telling from a diverse background in planning, film and economics. As President of Ear to the Ground Planning, he uses digital video to tell stories, engage people in dialogue, and educate the public about building sustainable communities. In doing so, Jonathan focuses on process oriented methods of production where those individuals who have a story to tell, or message to share are actively involved in the production of the video. Jonathan is also an Adjunct Professor at UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning, where he teaches digital video to graduate planning students. And he is a founding member of Dynamic Cities Project, a non-profit organization working to help municipalities create energy transition strategies. Through his work Jonathan is continually expanding his understanding of how video can be used as a transformative medium to enrich the lives of individuals, and enhance the common world around us.
Darlene Haber
Michelle Houle
Photos, quilts, running
Michelle loves quite recklessly
Of course there’s Chris too
Michelle Houle is many things to many people. To some, she is a wall to get through when they want to see the Executive Director. To others, she is an accidental techie whose skills rival, well, someone who doesn’t have a degree in computers but knows her way around and knows who to call. Others know her for her quilting, love of photography and scrapbooking, and her all-around craftiness. Some even know her as a recently converted exercise fanatic, but don’t get her started on that topic. A know-it-all of epic proportions, Michelle is an unusual collection of atoms that manifests itself as a short-ish, mostly brown hair-ish, bespectacled woman in her 40’s who's rather fun to have around in a serious yet amusing kind of way.
Eliza McCullough
Imagination
Animals Music Life Death
Eccentric Grateful
Eliza is a singer, songwriter, and a creative writer. She specializes in professional audio production, and has a background an a love for visual arts including, film making, drawing, and now digital storytelling. Eliza has came through many personal struggles with her creativity as her shield, and perseverance as her weapon. She is dedicated to sharing creative tools such as multimedia arts, as well as life skills in developing a positive drive, with youth who re at risk or have limited access to training and gear.
Eliza believes the Yayem Digital Storytelling strengthens communities, both for youths and elders. She can also be found roaming the streets and spending time with people, who are less fortunate and in need of an ear; she is a poor philanthropist.
Amber Prince
Woman with Bay Horse
Enjoys trotting up the trails
(will also muck stalls).
Amber is a legal advocate for Atira Women's Resource Society in Vancouver's downtown eastside. Before this she obtained a law degree from University of British Columbia and a Master’s in law at the University of Victoria. Amber’s interests in school and life have centered on women, Aboriginal peoples, and other (non-human) animals. Amber lives in Burnaby but has spent most of her life in Prince George, BC, and is a member of the Sucker Creek First Nation in Enilda, Alberta. Amber spends most of her free time with her horse Cadence, and enjoys the company of her four-legged relatives in general. Amber was drawn to Bridges to Understanding Canada because of its potential to connect youth, and raise awareness and understanding of issues affecting youth, especially marginalized youth.
Fei Wang
I love animals
Except worms, snakes and sharks
I'm great at haikus
Fei is a graduate of Simon Fraser University, majoring in Interactive Arts. She is currently working at Atira Women's Resource Society, where she first started as a summer student in 2004. She first heard of the Digital Storytelling Project in the winter of 2006 at a pilot workshop. She had a chance to make her own digital story and greatly enjoyed the experience. The approach to creating a story was very similar past projects she had completed at SFU and she hopes to carry over her experience to help in future workshops.
Charles Yoong
Charles is a computer technician/web developer for the Digital Storytelling Project. He graduated with a Computer Systems Technology Diploma from BCIT in mid-2007. Currently, he is continuing third and fourth year studies as an undergraduate at Simon Fraser University. He believes that the Internet is the best solution to share everyone's thoughts and achievements.
Justin Klevguard
Howard
James, the office manager
