ONE 2 ONE GRANT MENTORSHIP PROGRAM
Supporting Alberta’s grant writers!
The One 2 One Grant Mentorship Program matches experienced grant writers with emerging media artists and art collectives, to provide personalized support specific to each individual’s need. Mentees may choose from our pool of mentors (see below) or AMAAS reviews the mentee applications and makes pairings based on the media artist/collective’s need and the grant writer’s area of expertise. Mentoring sessions can be conducted via phone, email, online or in-person dependent on the mentors/mentees.
Deadline: First Come First Serve until the program is full for the year. (Resets on April 1 of every year.)
APPLY TO BE A GRANT MENTOR:
Grant mentors will provide feedback on ideas and drafts, answer questions, and assist the media artist/collective with their specific grant writing challenges. An honorarium will be paid.
APPLY TO BE A MEDIA ARTIST/COLLECTIVE MENTEE:
Media artists/collectives receive up to 7 hours of grant writing mentorship, and will be ready to submit their grant application within 3-6 months depending on the grant deadline they are aiming for.
APPLICATION PROCESS:
1) You must be a current member of AMAAS to apply. To apply or renew, click here.
2) Log in to your AMS account below to gain access to either the grant mentor or mentee application. If you do not have your AMS account set up yet, please notify projects@amaas.ca. Please note that it takes 1-2 business days for a new membership to approved.
3) We will notify applicants by email. Mentors will sign an agreement in order to receive their honorarium.
4) When the mentorship session is completed, we will send you a short feedback survey to help improve the program.
5) We encourage mentees to submit their grant application to the appropriate funding body within 6 months of participating in One 2 One.
Contact projects@amaas.ca with any questions about the program or your application.
ONE 2 ONE MENTORS
Asal Andarzipour
grant writing, visual arts and design, arts administration
Asal Andarzipour is an Iranian-Canadian visual artist, curator, and designer. She identifies as an immigrant settler artist walking in her nomad ancestors’ shoes. Her creative profile is formed and informed by her long-term academic studies in art and design. Her practice explores themes of personal and collective trauma, displacement and body politics with a comparative approach. She is a Juried Member of the Alberta Society of Artists, offers occasional workshops, conducts research as an art historian, shares her insights as an arts juror, and practices from her studio at Harcourt House Artist Run Centre. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design from the University of Tehran, a Master of Fine Arts in Collaborative Design from Syracuse University and a Master of Arts in History of Art, Design and Visual Culture from the University of Alberta. She merges the realms of curated, created and designed objects, and her artistic career and activism as a woman in the diaspora are integrated into her daily life. For more info, go to: asalandarzipour.com
Geraldine Carr
Grant writing, casting your film - how to prepare, directing actors, coaching the artist in you!
Geraldine is the founder, president and festival producer of the Broad View International Film Festival (Broad View). She is an award-winning filmmaker (The Wise Fool / Voila! / Maud Mary & the Titanic / Aurora / Dance of the Kaleidoscope) with a passion for story, cinema and the creative process. Her films have screened across Canada, in the US, the UK and Turkey. Prior to Broad View and her work as a filmmaker, Geraldine was a casting director in Alberta’s film and television industry spanning 16 years. Geraldine is the 2025 recipient of the Spirit of Helen Award. Geraldine is an alumna of the Women in the Director’s Chair and is a graduate of the Film Production Program at Confederation College. She remains committed to her craft and is in possession of a keenly creative mind and spirit.
Penny McCann
Independent film, development of artists’ collectives
Penny McCann’s contribution to the media arts spans 30 years. A filmmaker based in Ottawa, Penny’s films and videos have been exhibited widely nationally and internationally. A veteran arts administrator, Penny served as Director of SAW Video (now Digital Arts Resource Centre – DARC) from 2004 to 2018, where she wrote countless grant applications. From 2019-2020, she served as the Independent Media Arts Alliance’s Strategic Development Director, substantially increasing the organization’s funding. Penny continues to contribute to Canada’s artist-run milieu through her work as an arts consultant and grant writer. As an artist, she supports her work through grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the City of Ottawa and is a founding member of the Lightproof Film Collective, an experimental film collective based in Ottawa. For more info, go to: pennymccann.ca
Nicola Waugh
Producing, Documentary, Experimental, Indigenous, Grant Writing, Marketing and Distribution
Nicola Waugh is an independent producer, communications strategist and educator working between Arcata, California and Calgary, Alberta. As co-owner of Kino Sum Productions from 2017-23, she produced short and feature narrative films including LUCKY STAR (Dir. Gillian McKercher), EVENTS TRANSPIRING BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER A HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL GAME (Dir. Ted Stenson); and documentaries BORROWED FROM NATURE (Dir. Guillaume Carlier) and ORPHANED (Dir. Gillian McKercher) for CBC Television. Her recent documentary projects include ‘A-T’I XWEE-GHAYT-NISH (STILL, WE LIVE ON) (Dir. Dave Jannetta) and CLIMATE CONTROL (Dir. Sarah Lasley). Nicola holds a Master’s Degree in Communication and Culture from Toronto Metropolitan University, and has a background in film programming and criticism. She is co-founder of the online film and media art publication LUMA Quarterly, and is currently a lecturer in the Film Department at Cal Poly Humboldt, where she oversees the Humboldt International Film Festival. For more info, go to: nicolawaugh.com
Alana Bartol
experimental video, performance art, public art, interactive and installation-based media, curating, arts advocacy and administration
Alana (Al) Bartol (she/they) is an interdisciplinary artist whose installations, performances, and experimental videos often incorporate ritual, collaboration, and speculative research to challenge extractive logics and propose alternative relationships to land and community. Their work has been presented nationally and internationally in exhibitions and festivals. Their video work is distributed through Vtape, Video Pool, and the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre. Alana brings extensive mentorship and teaching experience. They have also worked in arts administration and advocacy through organizations including the Ontario Arts Council, Arts Council Windsor & Region, College for Creative Studies (Detroit), and Steps to End Domestic Violence. They are an Assistant Professor in the School of Visual Arts at AUArts in Mohkinstsis (Calgary), Treaty 7 territory. For more info, go to: alanabartol.com
Peter Hemminger
Animation, Film/Video, Festivals/Events, Arts administration
Peter Hemminger is a writer, editor, cultural advocate and communications professional with over 15 years of experience in the arts ands non-profit sectors. His career has included work as a journalist, copywriter, researcher, film festival programmer, and nearly a decade as the Executive Director of Calgary’s Quickdraw Animation Society. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Arts in Communication, both from the University of Calgary, and in his spare time he hosts a weekly radio program on campus and community station CJSW 90.9FM. For more info, go to: peterhemminger.com
Matt Prazak
Directing, Writing, Producing, Narrative Filmmaking
Matt Prazak is a filmmaker from Calgary, Alberta where he studied film and video production at SAIT Polytechnic. He’s directed, written, and produced films that have played festivals around the globe. His short film, Landline, screened across Canada as a part of the CBC Short Film Face Off, where it won the $30,000 Telefilm grand prize and is now available to watch on Gem. Prazak was the recipient of the Best Screenwriter (Scripted under 30 Minutes) award at the 2022 Alberta Media Production Industries Association/Rosie Awards for his short film, Theft. For his efforts in the film community, he was nominated for a City of Calgary Community Achievement Award in the Arts category. The bittersweet beauty of Prazak’s portfolio is that it encapsulates the big little moments of the mundane lives we live. He explores feelings of empathy, compassion, grief, and intimacy in the stories he tells, hoping to warm viewers with intricacies many can resonate with. Prazak wrapped production on his debut feature film, EA, which he produced, wrote, and directed. He’s currently in development on his next long form narrative project, Poor Man’s Hawaii.
Adam Bentley
Experimental, narrative, and documentary cinema; arts presentation
Adam Bentley, the face of #yegfilm, is an Amiskwaciwâskahikan (ᐊᒥᐢᑲᐧᒋᐋᐧᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ ) (Edmonton)-based screenwriter, filmmaker, and co-founder of the International Festival of Winter Cinema. He produces video works on anxiety and distance in an era of climate breakdown and isolation. His works have been funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, Edmonton Arts Council, Calgary Arts Development, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and Edmonton Heritage Council. He was also short-listed for Telefilm Canada’s Talent to Watch program. His works have been screened at over 50 film festivals across Canada, and on every continent except Antarctica. His work has also been featured on Air Canada and CBC Television. When not writing or filming, he can be found biking, summer or winter, in Edmonton’s river valley.
Jacqueline Huskisson
Animation, Media Art installations, Projection mapping and AR
Jacqueline Huskisson is a visual artist from Calgary, Alberta Canada and currently living between Calgary and Berlin, Germany. In 2011 she received a BFA in print media from the Alberta College of Art and Design (Now AU Arts.) In 2017 she received an MFA in studio arts from the Belfast School of Art in Northern Ireland. She works primarily with printmaking, painting, comics, and media arts. She considers herself a “comic” artist. Majority of her practice relies on narratives, abstract or linear. She focuses on telling narratives of the human body, illness, and the human form’s relation to its surroundings. For more info, go to: jacquelinehuskisson.com
Teresa Tam
3D modelling and printing, CAD, electronics, game design, performance, video, installation, digital illustrations/image-making
Teresa Tam is an artist from and based in Calgary. She likes to alter spaces and experiences that are familiar, making them a bit foreign through re-interpreting and re-creating. Tam’s projects are developed to emphasize audience interactions as integral components to her work, impelled by the possibility of people experiencing something intimately personal through action. Tam doesn’t specialize in anything, but likes to work with digital processes, functional installations, all things shaped in paper, excessive labour, and collections of mildly niche objects. Recent work includes the Good Job Arcade project and TAM’S Express as part of Idle Worship 2025. She graduated from AUArts in 2014 and co-runs Yolkless Press with Areum Kim. She’s currently interested in: collecting interesting tech, both retro and modern. For more info, go to: teresatam.net
MISSION
AMAAS exists to advocate, educate, and celebrate the media arts in Alberta.
VISION
The media arts in Alberta is advanced through the generation of awareness, strengthening of connections, and continuous advocacy. AMAAS builds a sustainable and vibrant future for media arts in Alberta.
DEFINITION OF MEDIA ART
AMAAS defines media art as independent artist initiated and controlled use of film, video, new media, audio/sound art and related media.
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