Connor Yuzwenko-Martin is descended from settlers, and recognizes and strives every day to honour and act upon the fact that his work and accomplishments take place on Treaty 6 territory, primarily in the region of Amiskwaciy’waskahan, known as the settler city of Edmonton. He benefits from the land, water, and air shared by countless generations that have come before us and will come after us, and aims to live in harmony with this cycle.

Connor Yuzwenko-Martin has nurtured a lifelong passion for theatre and accessibility, beginning in grade school with simple skits and continuing into his young adulthood with his first professional engagement as a rookie improvisor at Rapidfire Theatre. More recent work includes serving as the Deaf Consultant for Concrete Theatre’s production Songs My Mother Never Sung Me (2019) and various roles in Canada’s only Deaf arts festival Sound Off (2017–2019). In June 2020, Connor premiered his first independent performance, The Invisible Practice, during Nextfest’s 2020 season which took place online amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Connor considers this to be the beginning of a new journey into interdisciplinary art with a focus on symbology and ASL poetry.

Connor supports several local Edmonton theatres and organizations in improving their engagement with the Deaf community through consultations and creating informational and promotional vlogs in ASL with subtitles, transcripts, and visual description. He is counted among a small team of Edmonton peers working across institutions and identity groups to conduct research on accessibility needs, expectations, and goals as expressed by audience members and artists. As of June 2020, this has been compiled into a report and submitted for review and meaningful action.

In the coming months and years, Connor aims to gain permanent employment in the arts sector in Canada. His primary goal is to act as a liaison between multiple theatres and groups in order to bring a greater and more reliable consistency to the various inclusion efforts being put forth through coordination of events, communications management, and other facilitation roles—as well as pursuing his own art!

He completed a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at the University of Alberta (2014), and is currently completing a Public Relations diploma at MacEwan University.