Tuesday, November 12th, 2019

3:15 PM - 4:00 PM, Herscher Hall, Guerin B

Movies, TV, Technology & Music that Matter: Meet the Educators – A Creativity Exchange

Moderator, Armine Kourouyan, MPH Senior Project Manager, Hollywood, Health & Society, USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center

Shish Aikat, co-founder and Head of Global Learning, John Hughes Institute & Head of Global Learning, Tau Films

Eva Bitar, Motion Picture and Television Manager, City of Los Angeles

Akira Nakano, founder, President and Artistic Director, Los Angeles Inception Orchestra

Tantoo Cardinal, Award-Winning Métis/First Nations Actress

Scilla Andreen, CEO & Co-Founder IndieFlix Group Inc.

Armine Kourouyan is Project Manager for the Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S) program at the Norman Lear Center. She has experience working at the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters, specializing in risk communication, where she worked to teach public health professionals how to effectively communicate risk to the public and media in the event of an emergency or disaster. She has a background in entertainment education through her work with The Media Project, a program of Advocates for Youth, providing the entertainment industry with the latest facts, research, and script consultations on sexual and reproductive health issues for adolescents. Armine holds a Master of Public Health from UCLA, from the department of Community Health Sciences. She received a B.A. in English from the University of California, Berkeley and is certified as a Community Health Education Specialist (CHES).

Tantoo Cardinal is an award-winning actress of Métis/First Nations decent who can be seen on the ABC Television Network series Stumptown playing Sue Lynn Blackbird. A Canadian native, she has appeared in over 120 film and television projects over the course of her 48-year career. She has won the Earle Grey Award (a lifetime achievement award by the Canadian Screen Awards), is a Member of the Order of Canada and is a CBC/Playback Hall of Fame inductee. Her credits include numerous plays, television programs, and films, including: Legends of the Fall, Dances with Wolves, Black Robe, Falls Around Her, Wind River, The Corruption of the Divine, Where The Rivers Flow North, Maina, Chasing Shakespeare and Eden. Television credits include: SEE, Westworld, Longmire, Mohawk Girls, Frontier, Blackstone, Lonesome Dove, Nobody’s Girls, Godless and Penny Dreadful among others. Theatre work includes playing "Gertrude in Hamlet," Regan in the production of "King Lear" and the role of Pelajia in a production of "The Rez Sisters."

Shish Aikat is the Co-Founder and Head of Global Learning  (also at Tau Films). Prior to that, he was the Vice Principal of Exceptional Minds Studio, a vocational academy/studio in animation and VFX for young adults on the autism spectrum. In addition, he is the former Manager-Education and Head of Global Learning at Rhythm & Hues (R&H) Studios in Los Angeles. At R&H, he oversaw the knowledge management/dissemination and global learning for the studio's operations in the U.S., Canada, India, Malaysia, and Taiwan. During that time, he also co-founded Rhythm & Hues University (RHU) to create and foster a global learning eco-system for R&H. Shish was also a technical communicator in both the Los Angeles area and in Silicon Valley and is a former President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (LASTC). He also taught as a Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing (MPW) Program at USC and in the School of Film and Television (SFTV), Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. Shish received his M.F.A. from the Division of Animation and Digital Arts, School of Cinematic Arts (SCA), University of Southern California (USC), where he was also a Nickelodeon Fellow. He also has an M.A. in Communication Management from the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, USC. and a B.S.in Mechanical Engineering from Jadavpur University, Kolkata.

Eva Bitar is the City of Los Angeles Motion Picture and Television Manager of the Mayor’s Office of Film and Television Production. She is the dedicated Citywide Filming Coordinator and Industry Liaison for the past 14 years. Eva serves as the single point of contact to address production needs of the Film Industry. She has created a comprehensive program to support and encourage motion picture and television production in the Los Angeles area, and advises the Mayor and City Council on film related matters. She is the FilmL.A. Contract Administrator and chairs the Citywide Film Task Force, a body that creates a forum for the film industry to communicate their needs to the City. Eva is a recipient of four State recognition awards for excellence, innovation, networking, and the California on Location Awards for the City of Los Angeles ‘Public Employee of the Year’. Eva serves on three Boards including the Hollywood Trust Fund, Metropolitan Fashion Week Walk of Fame, and Hollywood PAL. She also serves on three Advisory Boards including Los Angeles Valley and City Colleges Cinema and Television, and Digital Hollywood Influencers. She is a member of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and Australian’s in Film. A graduate of California State University, Northridge with a degree in Computer Science, and UCLA Public Policy Certificate Program in Transportation Demand Management. Eva is a Computer Science and E-Commerce educator for the past 26 years in the Los Angeles Community College District and teaches special classes designed for At-Risk and Special population as part of the Los Angeles County of Education. Eva is a motivational speaker and conducts Love and Relationships Seminars, professional development workshops on job readiness, résumé, interviews, leadership, and business development. She mentors Film, Paralegal, and Computer Science students. As part of a collective group of authors publishing an Immersive Media Book with expected publication in early 2020, Eva’s chapter covers the Impact of Immersive Technology from a Citywide/Business development level and the impact on the community education and government.

Scilla Andreen, CEO & Co-Founder IndieFlix Group Inc.: Scilla, (Pronounced Sheila) is an award-winning TV and film industry veteran with 25+ years of experience working at several major film studios including Sony and Warner Bros before co-founding IndieFlix, a global, streaming and screening service that focuses on content for a purpose. She’s Included in Screening International’s Women To Watch, Variety’s Women’s Impact Report as an Executive making a difference and is a popular speaker at Sundance, Cannes, CES, SXSW, Women in Film and several global mental health conferences. IndieFlix now finances, produces and distributes social impact films such as, Angst, LIKE, Nevertheless, Screenagers and streams and screens them in thousands of communities reaching millions of people around the world. Scilla is on a mission to change the world with film. indieflix.com

Akira Nakano is the founder, President and Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Inception Orchestra, a program dedicated to innovating music education in under-represented communities through original composition and Virtual Reality. Mr. Nakano grew up at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in both piano and percussion, soloing with numerous orchestras throughout Southern California as a youngster. He studied with Dr. Heewon Kwon with master classes from Jeffrey Kahane, Leon Fleischer, Ilana Vered, John Perry and Daniel Pollack. He was the winner of the 1st Annual Herbert Zipper Award in Music Composition amongst other piano competitions. Entering UCLA on a full ride piano performance scholarship, he won the UCLA Concerto Competition and graduated with a B.A. in Film & Television production. Akira spent over twelve years working as a video editor, writer, producer and live event director at TRW Space & Electronics and went on to have 20+ years of video marketing/communications and film producing experience. Akira's play, "A Concerto for Claire", premiered at Zipper Hall at the Colburn School in 2002. He was the Music Director and on-stage pianist for Lodestone Theatre Ensemble's "Closer Than Ever" (L.A. Times Critics' Choice) in 2009 and resumed classical piano full time in 2010. Akira has been a performer/lecturer as part of the Great Speaker Series at the Beach Club in Santa Monica benefiting the California State Parks Foundation; soloed with the Southeast Symphony, Dream Orchestra, the LA Inception Orchestra and in solo recital at the Colburn School; and has played multiple engagements at the Huntington Library President's house for their donor dinners. Akira is thrilled to be combining his love of classical piano, composition and video producing skills in spearheading the Los Angeles Inception Orchestra.