Fellowship History and Goals

The IBPOC Fellowship was created by Single Thread Theatre in PXR's inaugural year to offer two racialized artists a free Oculus headset and free admission to PXR. The program then expanded into a two-year paid training program for IBPOC creators to develop their skills and proficiency in the XR medium. In 2022, Single Thread Theatre partnered with Debbie Deer Productions and York University, expanding the fellowship to include an increased cash award and a three-month paid training incubator for eight IBPOC artists supported by the Canada Council for the Arts Digital Greenhouse Grant.

The main goal of the fellowship program is to offer an opportunity for IBPOC artists to expand their knowledge of the extended reality (XR) industry under the guidance of established mentors, in order to increase their employability and collaborative potential in the emerging XR and live performance medium.

Key Accomplishments of the IBPOC Fellowship Program:

  • Provided the program to eight IBPOC Fellows

  • Facilitated a 3 month training incubator for the 8 Fellows with 11 XR influencers

  • Granted fellows with a $1,000 honorarium and Meta Quest 2 headset during the program and free access to the PXR conference

  • Secured almost $20,000 in sponsorship to support the program

  • Provided survey and feedback forms for the fellows and mentors

  • Facilitated an XR production simulation where the fellows could apply their knowledge as a group

  • Created a pathway for a partnership with York University to include findings from the fellowship program in an intensive stream (beta test) for accreditation in XR

Program Facilitators

Key Roles: Program Director, Curriculum Builder, Mentor Outreach, Program Publicity

Debbie Deer

Ari Tarr

Key Roles: Primary Workshop Lead, VR World Builder

Liam Karry

Key Roles: Outreach Manager, Program Consultant

Key Roles: Program Consultant, Workshop Facilitator, Sponsorship Outreach

Jake Runeckles

The main aim of the IBPOC Fellowship program is to address the disparity between emerging XR artists from marginalized backgrounds and their non-racialized counterparts in the industry. Virtual reality production in the film and arts sector is one of the fastest growing industries in 2023. Forbes magazine has estimated that by 2024, the Virtual Production sector will be a $300 Billion USD industry. Unfortunately, like many thriving industries, marginalized folks from demographics such as IBPOC and 2SLGBTQIA+ do not have access to resources that can expand their creative growth.

XR hardware is also costly, so there is a gap between artists who have the stories to tell but cannot access the equipment, and technologists who have the equipment but lack the stories (artists usually don’t get to use XR technologies unless they book a project with a game studio). Throughout the pandemic, software companies increasingly monetized digital spaces, while individual performing artists struggled to access viable avenues in the digital space, and were predominantly limited to the use of zoom to showcase their work. Over the last few years, Debbie Deer Productions and the Performance and XR Conference have worked to empower artists in this emerging medium, and bring together like-minded artists who are already employing new technologies in their work. With the fourth year of the conference approaching, a tremendous amount of knowledge has been amassed between both organizations, which has greatly contributed to the success of the Fellowship initiative.

Providing performing artists with the lucrative skills and connections to engage with the XR (and by extension, the gaming) industry will significantly boost the economy and viability of the performing arts sector overall. The three main goals of the IBPOC Fellowship are to ADVANCE, REIMAGINE and CONNECT a viable artistic landscape for IBPOC artists. We ADVANCE by: Teaching participants about XR production for live performance as well as how to access digital tools and resources; REIMAGINE by: Demonstrating ways of monetizing immersive projects post-pandemic; and CONNECT by: Creating a community of peers with the lucrative skills to engage with the XR industry by pairing them with industry professionals who can assist them with their goals.

For a PDF of our Fellowship in Review 2023 Contact Us