Founders

Joseph Donato (he/him) is super cool and popular. He is Block Party’s Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, and Illustrator. Joseph is currently studying Creative Writing, Studio Art, and Anthropology at the University of Toronto. He has published work in various journals and magazines, but maintains that Block Party is Number One. Joseph is a fan of The Kardasim Podcast, Conor Oberst, and winning.

Isla McLaughlin (she/her) is a writer and friend. She is the Managing Editor of Block Party. She studies Creative Writing and Arts & Media Management at the University of Toronto Scarborough. Her debut chapbook, girl, online, was published by Gap Riot Press in August 2022, and launched at Fertile Fest hosted by KFB. Isla likes Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and hates being perceived.

Staff

Abigail Wiley (she/her) is going into her fourth year of the York Bachelor of Design program specializing in visual communications. Abigail is a visual artist and designer with interests in editorial design, branding, and content creation. Finding inspiration in her everyday life, she loves house music, travelling, fashion & mixed media painting. Her practices and projects are fuelled by her creativity and passion with the end goal of bringing meaningful and creative experiences to life. She is so incredibly humbled to be a part of the Block Party team.

Naomi Cabral (she/her) is entering her final year of study at the University of Toronto Scarborough. With a focus in New Media and Creative Writing, she has grown a love of finding ways to combine her passions for storytelling and visual media. She works as a freelance artist in her city as a producer, video editor, writer, and self-proclaimed professional movie critic who rarely has anything bad to say. With a city as diverse and full as Toronto, she acknowledges the many stories that may go left untold, she aims to be part of the generation who gets around to tell as many of them.

Madeleine Frechette (she/her) is in the fourth and final year of her undergraduate degree at Trinity College in the University of Toronto, where she is studying Environmental Studies, Indigenous Studies, and Criminology & Sociolegal Studies. She is currently researching the impacts of environmental justice on individuals and communities marked as marginal by intersecting identities of race, class, gender, Indigeneity, and queerness. You can most likely find her adding to her ever-growing record collection and loving her friends.