Motion
MOTION is an award-winning screenwriter, playwright, spoken word poet and emcee. Her work has been featured on stages, screens and airwaves internationally, including Canada, the U.S, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa. As a writer and producer, she has worked on TV series such as Coroner (CBC/CW), Diggstown (CBC/FOX), Robyn Hood (Global) and The Porter (CBC/BET). She is co-writer with director Charles Officer of the multi award-winning feature film Akilla’s Escape, which premiered at TIFF and went on to win the CSA for Best Original Screenplay. She is also a writer and Co-Executive Producer on the award-winning digital series Revenge of the Black Best Friend (CBC Gem). She is an alumna of the Canadian Film Centre, writer of the Dora-award nominated Oraltorio: A Theatrical Mixtape with DJ L’Oqenz (Obsidian/Soulpepper), and author of poetry collections Motion in Poetry and 40 Dayz (Women’s Press). Her work has also been published in Give Voice (Playwrights Canada), The Great Black North (Frontenac), In the Black: New African Canadian Literature (Insomniac). Everything Remains Raw (Gooselane), The Black Notes and The Routledge Handbook of Black Canadian Literature. Motion is creator and Course Director of Griots to Emcees: Culture, Performance & Spoken Word at York University.
Kadijah Salawu
Creative producer. Actor. Theatre Artist. Facilitator. DJ. Khadijah’s experience moves across digital platforms, cultural institutions, film, theatre, and live events. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto’s Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies program, and has served as the Artistic Director, co-founder and co-producer of FreeUp!- the Canadian Screen Award-nominated nation-wide televised celebration of Emancipation Day. She is currently developing series with her collective A.K.A with support by the Indigenous Screen Office and played the role of Jesse in the award-winning feature film Learn to Swim (dir. by Thyrone Tommy), an Official Selection for the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival. Khadijah brings her love for imagination and storytelling to young people as an arts educator at Soulpepper Theatre, Young People’s Theatre, and tdsbCREATES.
Juanita Muwanga
Writer and multimedia communications specialist, Juanita is an alum of Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), with an educational background in digital journalism, Political Science and New Media Studies. She has travelled internationally, connecting with students as Regional Recruitment Manager for the Caribbean & Europe at York University. A Masters in Education candidate, she fuses her global perspective of education with a passion for Hip Hop and the arts.