Atefeh Zargarzadeh
Co-organizer, Graphic Designer
Atefeh (Aati) is a PhD candidate in Theatre Studies and a graduate student fellow in the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria. She is interested in intercultural theatre historiography, diaspora studies, and digital repository development for preserving cultural heritage. Her doctoral research focuses on less-represented Middle Eastern immigrant artists in the diaspora, exploring how these diverse exilic identities intersect with the politics of theatre production, cultural appropriation, and the commodification of identity representations within Canada’s intercultural theatre spaces.
Beyond her research, Aati is deeply engaged in collaborative and community-based projects that bring together academic inquiry, artistic practice, and cultural preservation. She has co-authored publications on language revitalization and arts-based research, such as "Language Reawakening through Theatre" in the Routledge Handbook of Arts and Global Development and "Healing-ish Healing: Languages Heroes on an Indigenous Theatre Festival" in Performing Knowledge: Arts-Based Research in Global Development.
As a co-organizer of the Indigenous Theatre Festival, Aati is honored to support coordination, website content management, and graphic design. For her, being part of the festival is not just organizational work but also a chance to work with an amazing team and learn from Indigenous artists, Elders, and knowledge keepers about the role of theatre in language revitalization, healing, and cultural resurgence. She values the festival as a space of meaningful exchange, where her academic and creative skills can contribute to collective work on preserving and honoring Indigenous traditions and cultures.