On Wednesday, November 1, 2023, the Indigenous Futures Research Centre (IFRC) collaborated with the Just Feminist Technology and Scholarship Lab to cohost this virtual artist talk featuring two remarkable pairs of Indigenous sisters working at the intersection of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM). This event highlighted the exciting work of Kahentawaks and Wannekerakon Tiewishaw, founders of Revital Software, and Keara and Caeleigh Lightning, founders of Studio Ekosi.  

Revital Software is a small company that works with Indigenous communities to create interactive language revitalization software and Studio Ekosi uses narrative-driven games and animated films, to create moments of joy, worlds that spark wonder, and characters people see themselves in. 

The Tiewishaw and Lighting sisters spoke about their work, challenges and aspirations as Indigenous women in STEAM, but also about their path to Indigenous language/culture revitalization and their relationship to software development and animated films as means to achieve their ambitions. 

This event was co-sponsored by Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace (AbTeC) and moderated by IFRC co-director Prof. Jason Lewis. It was part of the 5th season of the Feminist and Accessible Publishing and Communications Technologies Speaker and Workshop Series Disrupting Disruptions, organized by Dr. Alex Ketchum.