Happy first birthday Creative Labour and Critical Futures (CLCF)! 🎉🎈🎂

It’s hard to believe CLCF’s first year has already flown by. To mark the occasion, we’re taking a look back at all the incredible achievements from our members to date.

Year One by the Numbers

Over the past twelve months, the CLCF community has been buzzing with activity. Here are some highlights:

Community Building

0
community-engaged research projects launched
0
artist-researcher and micro-residencies hosted
0
operations and cluster meetings, including our first in-person Research Day
0+
interviews conducted
0
successful grants (with more in the pipeline!)
20
Multiple international collaborations secured

Knowledge Creation

0
blog posts published (yes, this is number 44!)
0
scholarly papers published
0
conference presentations delivered
0
special issues in the works

Public Engagement

0
6 speaker series events organized
0
4 public talks by CLCF members
0
workshops and symposia planned
0+
pieces of popular writing and radio interviews
0
podcasts in development

Critical Futures: What’s Next?

As we head into Year Two, there’s no slowing down. We’ve got more events planned, new research projects launching, and grant applications that will help grow our research footprint even further. The Workers Governing Digital Technologies symposium next week is going to be particularly exciting (and there’s still time to register). You can also catch many of our researchers at the AoIR2025 conference in Rio de Janeiro this October and the GenAI & Creative Practices conference in Amsterdam this December.

Here’s to another year of creativity, critique, and collective imagination! Keep following our blog for weekly updates, check out our events, and join us as we continue exploring the futures of creative labour in the era of generative AI.

You can also read our full CLCF Year One List of Activities below.

Daphne Idiz
Daphne Idiz

CLCF Co-Director & Assistant Professor

Dr. Daphne Rena Idiz (she/her) is Assistant Professor in Film and Media Industries at York University. Her research investigates how media industries, cultural policy frameworks, and production cultures respond to and shape technological change, with a particular focus onstreaming and generative AI (GenAI).

Mary Elizabeth Luka
Mary Elizabeth (M.E.) Luka

CLCF Co-Director & Associate Professor

Dr. MaryElizabeth (“M.E.”) Luka is PI and Co-Director of the Creative Labour and Critical Futures (CLCF) cluster and Associate Professor, Arts & Media Management, at University of Toronto, where they examine modes and meanings of co-creative production and distribution in the digital age for arts, culture, and media.

Rafael Grohmann
Rafael Grohmann

CLCF Co-Director & Assistant Professor

Rafael Grohmann is a Co-lead and Co-Director of the Creative Labour and Critical Futures (CLCF) cluster and an Assistant Professor of Media Studies (Critical Platform Studies) at the University of Toronto. Rafael is the leader of the DigiLabour initiative and founding editor of the Platforms & Society journal.