An Update on CERB

A screenshot from the Government of Canada website captured on July 8, 2020. Alerts remind site visitors that the CERB has been extended from 16 to 24 weeks; that applications to the CERB can be made via the CRA or Service Canada (but not both); and that anyone eligible for the CERB may be eligible for support via other programs as well.

[Last updated: July 8, 2020] It has been three months since the government introduced the CERB payments, and although we were all hopeful that businesses would be back to ‘normal’ by now, that has proved to be far from the truth. As some businesses begin to reopen, many artists are still waiting to see their sources of income come back.

CERB Extension (and one change)

CERB has been extended another eight weeks to August 29 (a change from a 16-week eligibility period to 24). Most of the same requirements apply as with the previous periods, with one notable addition. Recipients must now sign an attestation stating that they are actively looking for work. This is an ordinary requirement for people collecting unemployment insurance, and since CERB is acting as a parallel for unemployment insurance, this additional requirement makes sense.

Eligibility

As a reminder, CERB is available to those who:

• Are over the age of 15 and living in Canada

• Have stopped working because of COVID (either because they were sick, taking care of a sick person, or taking care of children who can’t get daycare)

• Earned at least $5,000 in the last 12 months (before self-employment deductions)

• Have NOT quit their job voluntarily

• Have NOT earned more than $1,000 in the period in which they are claiming the benefit

The CRA has not released any information on how they will be confirming recipients’ eligibilities. At the moment, it is up to the individual to attest to their own eligibility.

Timing of Earnings

One question that has come up often with respect to self-employed artists is the timing of that $1,000 earnings restriction. We have heard from many people who are nervous about depositing a cheque into their bank account because they are worried it will alert the CRA that they have earned that income at that time. However, the revenue restriction is based on the timing of when you earned it, not when you physically received the money. If you worked on a project in January and the client has just paid you now, that payment does not count towards the $1,000 earned income for the period in which you’re depositing that money into your bank account. It was earned back in January, not today. Keep in mind, the reverse is also true: if you’re doing work on a paid project now, you’re technically earning that money now – even if you don’t get paid for it until October.

The same would apply for royalty payments. If the royalties are earned for work you did during the application period, that would count towards the $1,000 minimum, but not if the royalties were for work you completed in a prior period.

The CERB government website is actually quite helpful and lists a number of scenarios to help you understand when and if you qualify for the benefit.

Note

[July 20, 2020] We’ve been hearing that folks are getting conflicting information about time of earnings v. time of payment, so we want to clarify how we arrived at the above conclusion. Under the accrual basis of accounting, revenues are reported on the income statement when they are earned. When the revenues are earned but cash is not received, the asset will be recorded as accounts receivable. In contrast, under the cash basis of accounting, revenues are not reported on the income statement until the cash is received. (Source: AccountingCoach.com)

CRA is making no distinction between accrual or cash accounting - but generally accepted accounting principals use the accrual method. One valuable reference point here is the question and answer below, via the government CERB website:

“Do artists’ royalties count as employment or self-employment income with respect to the CERB?

”Yes, in some cases. Artists’ royalties would be considered payments received as self-employment income if they were received as compensation for using or allowing the use of a copyright, patent, trademark, formula or secret process that is a result of their own work or invention. These royalties count towards the $5,000 income threshold, as well as towards the $1,000 that claimants can earn per month while receiving the Benefit. However, royalty payments received from work that took place before the period for which a person applies for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit do not count as income during that specific benefit period. Other royalties (i.e., from investment activities) do not count with respect to the Benefit.”

Retroactive Applications

Keep in mind that applications to CERB can be made retroactively, up until December 2, 2020. So if you didn’t apply because you didn’t think you qualified, but when you reviewed the eligibility requirements you in fact were eligible – you can apply at any time before December 2.

More Resources

• Prosper Canada has released a Financial Navigator tool that helps Canadians see benefits available to them based on the region they live in.

• Rags to Reasonable’s Chris Enns shared ‘9 Thoughts on Financial Planning in the Time of Covid.’

• This is the third post in our blog series on Artist Finances in the Time of Covid. If you’re looking for more context, check out The Economics of Covid-19 for Arts Workers and Tracking Financial Losses due to Covid-19, both of which were last updated on March 30, 2020.

• If you are in crisis, here are some resources on ArtistProducerResource.com: Mental Health, Health Care, Housing and Childcare, COVID-19 Artist Health & Safety

---

View fullsize

Written by

Visions for the Future

At a July 2018 #UrgentExchange co-hosted by Generator and the Toronto Fringe, artists covered the Fringe Postscript Patio with sidewalk chalk, brainstorming around artist precarity and mental health.

This week, FOLDA/SpiderWebShow published a piece by Generator, featuring writings from Artist Producer Training graduates Jordan Campbell, Susanna Fournier, Laura Philipps and Brian Postalian. Four months into life with COVID-19, there’s some room to start imagining different futures. To recognize the arts sector isn’t coming back anytime soon, and to ask: what do we want to come back to? What do we want to leave behind? What do we want to remember about this moment? What would it look like for artists to thrive? So we asked our artist producer community: what is your vision for the future?

The Economics of COVID-19 for Individual Arts Workers

Please note this post has not been updated since March 30, 2020 and should not be referred to for the most up-to-date information.

Updated on March 30, 2020. Can you believe it’s only been a week? So much has changed! And they just keep changing.

Tax Deadlines

Registered Charities

The filing deadline for registered charities has been extended to December 31, 2020 for any charities with T3010s due on or after March 18. In normal life, T3010s are due six months after the charity’s year-end. So this extension means that for any charities with year-ends between September 18 and June 30 now have until December 31, 2020 to file their T3010s. 

Individuals

The tax deadline for individuals has been moved from April 30 to June 1. Currently, the June 15 filing deadline for self-employed individuals has not been changed. 

Tax payments are now due August 31 (instead of April 30).

We still recommend preparing your taxes as soon as possible, so that you know what balance you’re working with - plus, if you qualify for a refund, it might be helpful to you to receive it sooner rather than later!

GST/HST Filing

Updated on April 1, 2020: Any GST/HST payments due between March 15 and May 31, 2020 are now not due until June 30, 2020. (The payments you choose to defer will all be due on June 30, 2020. ). The filing deadline has not changed, but there will be no penalties on late filing.

Read the government notice here.

Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)

This benefit was announced on Wednesday, March 26 - and it already has a fun acronym. This is a combination of the “Emergency Care Benefit” and “Emergency Support Benefit” that was mentioned on the last edition of this blog post (points 1 and 2)…which we have conveniently removed so that you will no longer refer to them, as they are now irrelevant.

Updated on April 1, 2020: Trudeau said today that direct payments could arrive within five days, mailed cheques within ten days.

Learn more on the Government of Canada website here.

Who is eligible for CERB?

Anyone who is either: sick with COVID, quarantined, taking care of children, taking care of a sick family member PLUS anyone not receiving a paycheque because their workplace has been closed. You are eligible if you are a contractor (AKA – self-employed, freelancer) or an employee. 

Update: Prime Minister Trudeau confirmed on April 1, 2020 that if you've already applied through EI, you're all set up for CERB - you do not need to reapply for the CERB when the portal opens. If you’re already receiving EI benefits, you can continue to collect your EI benefits and if your benefits run out before October 3, you can apply for CERB as well. 

How much is it? 

Applicants will receive $2,000 a month for 4 months. That’s $8,000 total. And it’s available for Canadians who’ve had their work disrupted between March 15 and October 3, 2020. 

When can you apply & get your money? 

The portal to apply is set to open on April 6 with payments coming as soon as 10 days after.

Updated April 2, 2020: The CRA has identified days of the week corresponding to birth month to help service applicants without overloading the system, once applications are open.

Born January, February or March? Apply on Mondays, starting Monday, April 6.
April, May or June? Apply on Tuesdays, starting Tuesday, April 7.
July, August or September? Apply on Wednesdays, starting Wednesday, April 8.
October, November or December? Apply on Thursdays, starting Thursday, April 9.
Any month may apply on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

What do I need to prepare? 

Well, the government hasn’t yet released details on what documents or information you need to provide but one can assume you will need the following: 

1. Up to date taxes (you should have filed up to 2018)

2. What income you’ve earned so far in 2020

3. How much income you anticipate losing or have already lost due to this ‘disruption’ (learn more about how to do this in our blog post: Tracking Financial Losses due to COVID-19)
   Side note: we know it can be scary to face the numbers, but trust us, it will make you feel better once you can quantify the losses and know the numbers you’re working with so you can come up with an actionable plan. 

4. Get registered for CRA My Account! If you forgot your login or your security pin – good news – you can call CRA and request to reset your password. You will need to have a copy of your last tax return on hand to answer their security questions. It’s possible your taxes need to be up to date to create MyAccount for the first time. The number to call is: 1-800-959-8281, or you can watch CRA’s How to Register for MyAccount video here (or click the video link above).
   

Note: the following two sections have not been changed since March 20.

GST credit 

The government is proposing (read: this needs to be approved by all parties first) an additional GST credit of up to $400 for singles or $600 for couples. Currently, the maximum GST credit is $451 and individuals with income of less than approximately $48,000 qualify for this credit.  The lower your income, the higher the credit you receive. 

Student loan interest

The government is also proposing to stop charging interest on student loan for six months. 
Other credits are being made available to Indigenous communities, parents, seniors with RRIF withdrawals, the homeless and women and children escaping domestic violence. 

More Resources

• A great breakdown about programs announced last week, compiled by Dr. Jennifer Robson of Carleton University

• Sara Clarke is breaking down government announcements as they roll in on her blog page Financial Information During COVID-19

• The official CRA bulletin that our initial breakdown was based off of

• A great explainer and guide on how to survive this financial emergency

• The COVID-19 Health and Safety for Artists page on ArtistProducerResource.com includes emergency funding initiatives, mental health tools, digital sharing platforms, food bank information, and external resource lists

Take care out there and support one another.

Did we mention it’s time to get set up online with a CRA MyAccount (if you’re not already)?

---

View fullsize

Written by

Tracking Financial Losses due to COVID-19

Please note this post has not been updated since March 30, 2020 and should not be referred to for the most up-to-date information.

A screenshot from Arts Link New Brunswick’s Lost Income Tracking Tool.

What are your losses?

Those who work in the arts have been hugely impacted by physical distancing measures taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While our governments and arts councils are still in the process of determining what financial support they will be able to provide to workers who have been affected by event cancellations and public closures, they have all stated the importance of documenting your financial losses. An important part of this is collecting all contracts and cancellation notices (that email you got notifying you that your show was not going on? Save it as a PDF).

Here’s what to keep in mind… 

If you were producing an event that has been canceled or postponed, your financial losses would include:

• Artist and production fees paid for the event that didn’t happen/hasn’t happened

• Hours you have volunteered outside of the scope of your contract, likely due to making the decision to cancel/postpone and communicate it, as well as the time that goes into tracking your losses 

• Advertising (print or online) for the event and anything with dates on it that is no longer relevant, or that may become irrelevant should details change as a result of postponement (e.g. venue change, cast change)

• Non-refundable deposits/payments for venue rental, equipment rental, etc.

• Insurance

If you are postponing your event, it might be the right time to consider “remounting” costs, such as:

• Additional Artist and production fees 

• Additional Producer fees 

• Advertising and rental costs

• Rehearsal and Venue rental

• Insurance

• Potentially diminished box office revenues (given that future measures to ensure public health and safety may include lowered seating capacities and/or lower attendance)

It is very likely that these losses will need to be proven/documented, so make sure your invoices are well organized. If you didn’t have contracts, now’s the time to make them. If you are producing your own show, make an estimate of the time you already spent working on it, and will have to spend working on it in the future, and set a rate for yourself. 

If you are wanting to track losses for work outside of the arts, such as in the service industry, it might be worth tracking the following things:

• Hours worked each week for the past six months and, if relevant, tips earned - this will help estimate your losses related to the cancellation/closure

• Any emails or notifications from your producer/employer of event cancellation/business closure

• Services, health care, or self-care expenses that you continued to pay while you were experiencing income loss and didn’t have the resources to cover the costs

• Expenses that you incurred because you were expecting to work but did not, such as costumes/materials purchased, travel expenses

Tools

ArtsLink New Brunswick has created a Lost Income Tracker. Visit their website to download the Excel template in English or French.

Tau S. Bui and Pam Tzeng have created French and English versions (respectively) of a similar tracking tool, which gives you the option to select your province and input tax information relevant to you. Excel en français ici, Google Sheet in English here.

Other things to keep in mind…

File your taxes

Perhaps the most important thing is to make sure your taxes are up to date. Even if you are behind a couple of years, take the time now to file. Loss calculations are often based on past earnings. If you need support with your taxes, the Income Tax page on ArtistProducerResource.com is a good place to start.

On March 18, the Federal Government announced that the individual filing due date for 2020 will be deferred to June 1, 2020. Read more here.

Fill out surveys about your losses

Arts organizations with mandates to advocate for the arts sector have been and will continue to collect data about losses to the arts sector and artists. These surveys help these organizations advocate to government on behalf of the whole sector. Please take a moment to share your information and experience with them. 

• Indigenous Artists and Cultural Practitioners

• Canada: PACT Survey

• Ontario: TAPA Survey

• BC: GVPTA Survey (includes a budgeting framework)

Statements from funders about COVID-19

• Canada Council (updated March 16, 2020)

• Ontario Arts Council (updated March 16, 2020)

• Toronto Arts Council (updated March 16, 2020)

Government Support

In general, Employment Insurance is a program is for folks who are employed and have had their employment disrupted through no fault of their own. 

Here is a resource for applying for EI from BC that outlines how to apply:

• For those out of work due to self-quarantine. Do not have to be laid off by your employer to qualify, but must be able to say your employer or a medical professional asked that you stay home. You must be unable to work from home to qualify.

• For those out of work due to workplace closure due to COVID-19. Must have worked a combined total of 700 hours in the last year if you worked in Vancouver. This is all your workplaces combined. 

• For those on quarantine that may finish their quarantine to find their workplace closed.

On March 18, the federal government announced a COVID-19 emergency response package:
For Canadians without paid sick leave (or similar workplace accommodation) who are sick, quarantined or forced to stay home to care for children, the Government is:

• Waiving the one-week waiting period for those individuals in imposed quarantine that claim Employment Insurance (EI) sickness benefits. This temporary measure will be in effect as of March 15, 2020.

• Waiving the requirement to provide a medical certificate to access EI sickness benefits.

• Introducing the Emergency Care Benefit providing up to $900 bi-weekly, for up to 15 weeks. This flat-payment Benefit would be administered through the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and provide income support to:

  • Workers, including the self-employed, who are quarantined or sick with COVID-19 but do not qualify for EI sickness benefits.

  • Workers, including the self-employed, who are taking care of a family member who is sick with COVID-19, such as an elderly parent, but do not quality for EI sickness benefits.

  • Parents with children who require care or supervision due to school closures, and are unable to earn employment income, irrespective of whether they qualify for EI or not.

It might be worth considering Self-Employment Insurance, however it is worth noting that even if you applied now, you would not be eligible for benefits until 12 months after registration.

Further Resources

We made a blog post to help break down what this week’s government announcement’s mean for individual artists, and your ability to collect Employment Insurance and benefits.

If you’re in BC, here’s a handy guide for applying to E.I.

If you are in financial crisis, here are some resources on ArtistProducerResource.com:

• Mental Health

• Health Care

• Housing and Childcare

• COVID-19 Artist Health & Safety

---

View fullsize

Written by

Transformative Justice

Transformative Justice (TJ) is the framework we’re engaging for Transform Dance, our pilot project looking at workplace harassment in the Toronto dance community. Transform Dance is about finding ways into healing and transformation, both at the individual and at the collective level, within the dance sector in Toronto.

This post provides some case studies and answers to common questions that people have about TJ. If you want to do a deep dive into TJ, we recommend the Creative Interventions Toolkit, and the TransformHarm.org website.

In a nutshell, what constitutes a TJ response or intervention?

Transformative Justice interventions... 

1. do not rely on the state (e.g. police, prisons, the criminal legal system);  

2. do not reinforce or perpetuate violence such as oppressive norms or vigilantism; and 

3. actively cultivate the things that we know prevent violence (such as healing, accountability, resilience, and safety for all involved).

(from Mia Mingus’ blog)

That sounds really broad…

Yes, it is! That’s because every TJ process is different. It’s all based on the specific circumstances, the needs of the person affected, the responsiveness of the person who did harm, the surrounding community, and a whole host of other factors. 

OK, so can you give me some examples?

• Here is a written case study of a process that happened following a sexual assault in Chicago. (Editor’s note: in this case study, they talk about Community Accountability, or CA. This is a term that is sometimes used interchangeably with TJ.)

• Here is a podcast interview with Hirut and Rachel, two members of the Third Eye Collective in Montreal. They discuss various work they’ve done. (Hirut is on Transform Dance’s Advisory Group.)

• Here is another written document. It includes a description of an accountability process that took place in the late 2000s in New York City. It also includes a description of a second group process some of the men associated with the first process later undertook. (This is a good example of how TJ processes often morph and evolve as they develop.)

So does the survivor/victim need to interact with the person who has harmed them?

No. Sometimes community allies supporting a TJ process will engage with the person doing harm, but this DOES NOT mean that the survivor or victim needs to have any contact with the person doing harm.

Video from the Barnard Center for Research on Women’s event Transforming Harm: Experiments in Accountability. Video features Sonya Shah, nuri nusrat, Mimi Kim, Ann Russo, Esteban Kelly, adrienne maree brown, Rachel Herzing, Stas Schmiedt, Lea Roth, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and Mia Mingus. See more videos here.

What if someone who has done harm doesn't want to engage with the process?

Most of us struggle with accountability and experience it as a rejection, a threat, and an unjust imposition. Experienced TJ facilitators take this struggle into account - the goal is to create systems flexible enough to allow for the expected process of dodging and delaying accountability and strong enough to withstand and diminish these tactics over time.

(From the Creative Interventions Toolkit.)

Of course, sometimes a person who has done harm does not want to engage, and, even with time, this attitude does not shift. TJ does not use coercion and instead relies on consent and engagement. In cases where a person who has done harm ‘stonewalls’ or refuses to engage, there is often serious frustration among community members and grief and pain on behalf of those harmed. As such, the process will often shift its resources and focus to the healing and well-being of these actors.

It can be a huge disappointment when someone refuses to engage in a process, but many survivors still experience the process of asking for accountability - with community support - as empowering. It often helps people break the sense of isolation that frequently follows an experience of violence by building new networks of community support. In addition, many years later, many survivors report that they are happy that they asked for support and accountability and did not ‘suffer in silence’. Finally, TJ processes can also give birth to unexpected group actions that change the community landscape in other ways - for example, TJ support circles channelling their energy into convening community dialogues and workshops or producing interactive arts and drama that address violence.

So, if a person who has done harm does want to engage, what does accountability look like?

Most TJ processes start with the survivor and those supporting them brainstorming what accountability and change would look like. The answer, of course, is always very unique. For many survivors, the most important outcome is that they feel confident the person who harmed them understands how the behaviour was harmful and therefore agrees they will not behave in this way again. Other examples of accountability measures include: an apology, a commitment to stop drinking or using other substances, a commitment to convening public dialogue about gender violence, participation in a recovery group (for those who abuse) or in a workshop series about consent.

Below are the five common phases of (most) accountability processes, from the Creative Interventions Toolkit: 

The Five Major Phases of Accountability Processes
There are endless ways to map out phases of an accountability process, but here are the most common phases we have charted in our work and experience:

Identifying Behaviors
The first step in a process is that a person must have an awareness and understanding of the actions and behaviors for which they are being called out. This is foundational and can sometimes take longer to accomplish than you might imagine.

Accepting Harm Done
Building on the understanding of what specific behaviors led them to this accountability process, the next step is to acknowledge in what ways these behaviors were harmful - even if harm wasn’t their intention. This is the seed of one of the most frequent goals in a process: building empathy.

Looking for Patterns
Making comprehensive change to prevent future assault requires broadening the focus beyond the isolated incident(s) that precipitated this process. This means identifying and naming the person’s history of abusive/harmful actions and contextualizing these behaviors in their underlying assumptions and socialization. 

Unlearning Old Behaviors
The process of breaking habits starts with identifying harmful dynamics and then deepens beyond naming to analysis and understanding. Gaining an awareness and determining the kinds of situations that trigger or enable abusive or harmful behaviors and then having clear strategies to avoid and diffuse the potential path for harm. 

Learning New Behaviors
Building new positive/healing patterns of behavior goes hand in hand with breaking down the old harmful patterns. One of the tools in this stage is role play, where a person can rehearse their consent practices, graceful acceptance of criticism, disclosure strategies, etc. Also important is becoming familiar with their resources to support positive and new behavior [affordable therapy, sites to find jobs, a clearly defined network of supportive friends, membership to the gym, etc]. This phase is very much about understanding the ways to build new behaviors so this skill becomes sustainable and fueled by self reliance.

Written by

#UrgentExchange Stop Abuse & Exploitation in Toronto Dance

Left to right: Kate Nankervis, Tina Fushell, and Robyn Breen of the Love-In, Kristina Lemieux and Sedina Fiati of Generator, and Oriana Pagnotta of the Love-In.

In December, we partnered with the Toronto Dance Community Love-In (now a Resident Company at Generator) and Daniels Spectrum for our first ever #UrgentExchange devoted to dance. Together with the Love-In, we asked community members to vote in Twitter and Instagram polls choosing between the topics “Accessible Process Now” and “Stop Abuse and Exploitation.” The results were 50/50 on Twitter, so the deciding votes were on Instagram, where 74% told us that what was most urgent in dance was stopping abuse and exploitation: how do we dismantle harmful power structures and create safer spaces?

On December 17, we gathered at Daniels Spectrum. ASL interpretation was provided by Rogue Benjamin. After introductions from Generator and the Love-In, we invited participants to rotate through each of the following four topics, in 25-minute sessions:

• Social Location facilitated by Jiv Parasram: understanding the ways in which we ALL hold power and privilege

• Race facilitated by Rodney Diverlus: examining the race problem in dance, and what we can do about it

• Gender facilitated by Sze-Yang Ade-Lam: from understanding how gender plays a role in conversations about power, to asking everyone’s pronouns

Community Agreements, facilitated by Sedina Fiati: what they are, what goes into building them, and how to incorporate them into your process

We also had an open table available for folks who had other topics they wanted to discuss. Before we started, a participant proposed that this be a space to discuss Accessibility. Unlike many other #UrgentExchange conversations (like #MeToo One Year Later on December 9), there was no recorded or live-streamed component to this event - this was to encourage open and frank dialogue. Instead, we invited “witnesses” to observe each of the four topics, as well as the open table, and write down their thoughts and learnings. What follows are the responses of our five witnesses, along with resources we suggest for further learning. To find out more about each of the witnesses, scroll down to the bottom of the page.

→ General Resource for Talking about Power and Privilege Diversity Toolkit: A Guide to Discussing Identity, Power and Privilege

Molly Johnson responds to RACE, facilitated by Rodney Diverlus

First up, this discussion was COMPLEX - beyond a summary listing of what we got into, I don't have the means with which to fully share it. The following is one distillation of my experience and what it sparked for me - I could offer many others.

I'm a witness at the race table and as a white person talking about race, my cheeks are pretty fucking red as soon as I speak. I don't want to fuck up, you don't want to fuck up -  there are different measures of what that means at this table. Discomfort is necessary. Discomfort is something I have spent a lot of my life avoiding. Discomfort is a thing some of us get to avoid and some of us are thrust into, and that becomes real apparent real fast.

The speed dating vibes are almost useful in that there's no time to waste and we get to it as quickly as we can but it feels a little too emblematic of [my experience of] the dance community - and the white capitalist hetero-patriarchal society from which it takes its cues - AKA as a place where good intentions and conversation starters abound but very rarely result in meaningful change. The system is in full effect even in environments like this where the intention, I believe, is wholehearted.

One of the prompts Rodney gives us is to answer what is missing in the conversation on race in dance. I look around the room and think not so much about what topic is missing but about who is missing: 99% of the white men in the dance community are missing, dance artists over the age of 45 are missing, the power holders in the dance community are missing - the two previous categories and the educators, presenters, funders, and artists who are on operating are missing. These people are not in the room. These people need to be in the room. I take my sharpie marker and write this down on my little post it note. But then what? I write it here and maybe somebody reads it and feels called out but then gets over it and pays attention. Or...business as usual.

It's weird and informative and enlightening and troubling to see Rodney run the same drill for each session. All I can think about it is how many times he's had this conversation. He's civil and articulate and kind. I recognize these things and how I appreciate them and then recognize the scary mental space of appreciating racialized people conducting conversations about something that is actually pretty fucking abhorrent in a civil, articulate, kind way so that white people can feel okay inside the conversation about the thing they created and continue to perpetuate but mostly avoid discussing. None of that is exactly what it is but it's also not not that.

What is missing in the conversation on race in dance? White people are missing. Urgency on behalf of white people is missing. The point is very often missing. We are still getting confused between having enough and having privilege. We are still crying meritocracy at the same time as knowing full well that meritocracies are a fallacy when each of us begins with very different resources, very different access points, and that this dance world is still being built for a certain kind of person to thrive.

→ Resources “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh, Jonathan Osler on Moving from Actor to Ally to Accomplice

Mikaela Demers responds to SOCIAL LOCATION, facilitated by Jiv Parasram

On Monday, December 17th, #UrgentExchange Stop Abuse and Exploitation in Toronto Dance was co-hosted by Generator TO and The Dance Community Love-in at Daniels Spectrum. All who attended rotated between four tables every 25 minutes, set up with stationary facilitators focused on different topics. I had the fortune to sit with Jivesh Parasram who was facilitating conversation around the topic of social location or position.

After quick introductions, Jiv led our table in a fairly common exercise:

The Power Flower, with all of its flaws, is designed to demonstrate where you fall in the societal power structure of a chosen community. The idea is, that through completing the Power Flower, as a group, conversations between table members will surface. Jiv explained the Power Flower with transparency and facilitated each group with a personalized sense of care. As a witness of three different groups of people who came to the table, it was hard not to notice the radical differences between groups as a whole during their experience of the Power Flower.

Group 1 selected a community of focus and flew through completing the Power Flower. When Jiv asked, for example, “Sexual orientation? Which group has the most power in community X?” answers from the group came with immediacy, confidence and often from multiple people. Some categories did give some group members pause, but it seemed that even lack of knowledge was admitted with certainty and in the spirit of learning. ‘Human/Non-human’ is an example of a category that resulted in an exchange between an artist who admitted to not understanding what the category meant. A fellow artist reciprocated, with care, on a perspective to consider for this category (SUCH A BEAUTIFUL MOMENT). But in general, the group went around the Power Flower and the categories were filled in with small clarifying conversations by different folks in the group.

When Group 2 was asked the same questions by Jiv, responses were more frequently returned with whole minutes of silence. Answers came as offerings; suggestions or guesses in quiet voices and a questioning tone. The group was preoccupied with the semantics of the exercise as opposed to the goals, spending the majority of their time dissecting the Power Flower as opposed to generating productive and critical discourse. By the end of the 25 minutes, a third of the Power Flower had been completed.

In reflection, there were a number of takeaways from the evening:

1. The varying responses in groups as a whole and the productivity or level of understanding surrounding the topic of social position is a reminder that it is important to recognize and call out power structures around us.

2. The Power Flower requires the active participation of its participants. Much like creating change, active conversation in a safe space provides more learning opportunities and overall productivity.  

3. Members of the Toronto Dance Community are at varying levels of understanding or comfort with conversations that focus on critical observation and reflection on the community.

Upon reflection, group 2 brought to light blind spots or areas to be considered in future conversations for the Toronto Dance Community. Seeing gaps in understanding or an inability to participate is essential to continuing conversations of this nature with goals of critical discourse and affecting change in a community as a whole.

→ Resource “Express Yourself: Crafting Social Location Maps and Identity Monologues,” The New York Times

Kallee Lins responds to COMMUNITY AGREEMENTS, facilitated by Sedina Fiati

Efficiency. Legacies of colonialism. The way things have always been done. Inequalities and hierarchies in the creative process. These were some of the responses cited as reasons why community agreements have historically not been used in the studio.

Implicit in hierarchical processes of dance creation is that the product is prioritized above the people involved. As a collaboratively built document, community agreements have the ability to flip this equation and fundamentally shift the distribution of power. Creating an agreement allows a group to explicitly – and contractually – answer the question, “How do we want to operate in this space?” Its strength comes from everyone involved agreeing to what is included and seeing their needs reflected.

During our #UrgentExchange conversation on the topic, facilitator Sedina Fiati outlined three key questions to scaffold a community agreement:

1. How do we want to be treated?

2. How will we deal with conflict?

3. What accessibility needs do we have?
 


The second question is crucial – it builds in an accountability structure. Who can performers go to if someone causes them harm, particularly if it’s the choreographer/director at fault? Should a “mediator” be named to resolve intractable conflicts? While a safer, more joyful creative space may be the goal, ensuring the rules of that environment are enforced is vital to its sustainability.
 


Participants were urged to consider accessibility in a broad way, and to ask themselves what would allow all participants to not only function, but to thrive. This approach considers physical barriers like venue accessibility, and less visible obstacles like access to childcare, knowing when performers will be paid, or the use of video and other memory aids in rehearsal.
 


Specificity in detailing how a group wants to be treated is crucial, yet what became clear in responding to question one is how rarely we’re asked to articulate our needs in a work setting. Common responses expressed a desire to be treated “with respect” and “with dignity”. The next level of conversation prompted us to describe exactly what those conditions look like. For some, it meant that “the physical and emotional health of each person is valued,” that “there’s permission to fail, slow down, and divert,” and that “my opinions will be listened to”.

While community agreements are a practical tool to create a safer work environment, perhaps their greatest strength is in providing the space to question our needs and envision what a fairer, more equitable process of creation looks like. The possibility of better creative spaces exists; we can start by rewriting the terms of engaging with one another.

→ Resource Nikki Shaffeeullah discusses Container Building at #UrgentExchange in January 2018

Nickeshia Garrick responds to GENDER, facilitated by Sze-Yang Ade-Lam

I'd like to preface this by saying that #UrgentExchange organized by Generator is a necessary start to the thoughts and conversations needed to inform change within the Dance and Arts community. If we are fighting for equity, accessibility and fair representation for those on varying spectrums (QTBIPOC, BIPOC, NB, People with Disabilities etc...) within the Toronto Arts Community, it starts with these discussions in hopes of bringing about action.

The topics being discussed for the event were Gender, Race, Social Location, Community Agreements and Accessibility, all being facilitated/witnessed on separate tables. Those attending had approximately 20-25 minutes at each table before they had to move on to the next one. I personally would have preferred us all being able to sit together and openly discuss the topics as a large group, as what was being said wasn't mutually exclusive. The set up for me resembled speed dating, being pressed to quickly get your points in before the timer went out, which can be increasingly difficult when delving into these topics, especially for individuals on varying points of the intellectual spectrum.

Being a witness for the event also allowed me access to the thoughts and suggestions of those who participated. The topics discussed were necessary, but folx were looking for more prevalent and urgent topics such as the #metoo movement, intersectionality, meritocracy, ableism etc... Other main points were, how do we get these conversations in the dominant arts institutions within Toronto? If we're fighting for institutions to update their methods of hiring, teaching/training and offering programs that are more accessible, how do we get them to change? How often will #UrgentExchange be held, and will we discuss what actions to take?

With the advent of revolutionary movements such as #BLM and #timesup, action has been made to change the mentality of corporations. The arts community in Toronto should be under the same scrutiny to change their ways as well.  

Ultimately, #UrgentExchange was a night to stir things up and get people thinking about the major issues. Hopefully these talks will continue, in hopes of reaching the dominant Arts companies in Toronto so that our thoughts and concerns do not fall on deaf ears.

→ Resources Working with Trans, GNB and GNC Artists, on ArtistProducerResource.com, “Finding Our Way in a World of Gender Fluidity” on Howlround

Fabien Maltais-Bayda on THE PROCESS & OPEN TABLE

The topic of December 17th’s #UrgentExchange was abuse in our dance communities, and more specifically, how to stop it. It’s a subject both pressing and challenging, not only because systemic abuse is a complicated matter rooted in longstanding power dynamics, but also because stopping it remains a hefty task requiring no small feat of endurance.

It was interesting to note that quite little of what I witnessed at #Urgent Exchange addressed abuse directly. This may be due to the evening’s structure, with participants rotating through sub-categorized tables: community agreements, gender, race, social location, and an open table that convened a conversation on abilities during one of the event’s multiple sessions. Significant topics in themselves, these themes tended to become the focus of discussion at the tables I observed. Yet beyond mere logistics, the event’s tendency to coalesce around topics alternate to the tagline may have had much to do with the main issue at hand. Abuse and exploitation are rarely simple questions of bad or inconsiderate behaviour. Rather, they are inherently tied to power – its imbalances and hierarchies – and are always circumscribed by factors like ability, gender, and race. To work at stopping abuse requires, almost as a prerequisite, active engagement with these social formations. It is perhaps unsurprising that, in the context of a single evening, this is about as far as things got.

Each of the conversations I observed held many important moments, but since I was tasked with witnessing the open table, it seems useful to note just a few of the ideas generated around it here. Of course, it’s important to remember just how inaccessible Toronto’s dance infrastructure is. One participant noted that engagement with the city’s contact improvisation community remains nearly impossible for many since events tend to be held at Dovercourt House – a building with many stairs and no good options for getting around them. Another significant point raised in the discussion was that accessibility is never one-size-fits-all – doorways and halls meant to provide access, for example, might be wide enough for some wheelchairs, but not others. The conversation foregrounded that accessibility requires us to consider the diverse needs of individual bodies, and asserted the importance of centering folks with lived experience.

Returning to #UrgentExchange more broadly: without a coherent plan of action generated, without the “stop” of its title put in motion, the evening and its goals might be considered unfulfilled; indeed, some of the community feedback I’ve heard suggests this. But such a feeling is also hardly surprising. Thinking back, I cannot recall even one event meant to tackle an important issue facing our community that did so comprehensively. (And this certainly includes those I’ve organized or coordinated myself.) Issues of systemic abuse, of equity, of access, are immensely complex, and a gathering of two, three, or even four hours will always be unequal to the task of making change. This isn’t to excuse or justify our many shortcomings as organizers and community members – rather, I want to re-assert the constant collective effort that tackling oppressive structures requires. If #UrgentExchange served, primarily, to begin unseaming the sturdy social fabrics of the status quo that allow abuse to continue, it succeeded in something important. Now, I think, it rests on all of us – organizers, participants, witnesses – to pull the threads further, and to build actions out from these moments of reflection.

→ Resources on Accessibility ArtistProducerResource.com: Audience Accessibility, Artist Accessibility, Writing an accessibility statement for your event or website; HowlRound.com: Article Round-Up

About the Witnesses

Molly Johnson

Born and raised on Cape Breton Island, Molly Johnson makes body-based texts and performance projects exploring alternative ways of being in a capitalist patriarchal society. A Dora Award-winning dance artist, Molly has danced for and with many brilliant humans including Nova Bhattacharya, Susie Burpee, Sabina Perry, Julia Sasso, Riley Sims, and Heidi Strauss. She has spent a decade performing in public spaces with Dusk Dances, toured internationally with Montréal’s Danièle Desnoyers/Le Carré des Lombes, and was a key collaborator with Marie France Forcier from 2007 to 2016. Her collective and individual work has been presented at PS: We Are All Here, SummerWorks, Kinetic Studio, Dancemakers, Mile Zero Dance, and the Halifax Fringe Festival. Based in Toronto, Molly is co-artistic director of hub14 art + performance works and a freelance writer in the space between. thisismollyjohnson.com
Molly was a member of Generator’s 2018 Performance Criticism Training Program.

Mikaela Demers

Mikaela Demers is an emerging artist and producer originally from Northern Ontario. She has been a member of earthdancers, Lila Ensemble, Parahumans, the Garage, and worked as a performer for Vanessa Jane Kimmons, Allen Kaeja, Love Letters Cabaret, Brian Solomon, Megan English and Fernando Troya. Demers has been a part of numerous collaborative choreographic performances including Celestial Play (2013), checkbox (2015) and most recently maelstrom (2017), a co-choreographed work that toured to Toronto and Thunder Bay. Her current independent creative process is based on the physical study of eye focus and awareness. Demers hosted her first independently produced show the pack: creature in May 2018. She is a member of Branch Collective, and the producer of Branch Intensive, a week-long dance intensive hosted in Sudbury, Ontario. Demers has hosted three rural residencies to date in Sudbury and on Manitoulin Island. Mikaela is part of Generator’s 2018/19 Artist Producer Training Program cohort.

Kallee Lins

Kallee moved to Toronto in 2012 to meld her love of the performing arts, research, and writing. After completing an MA in Theatre and Performance Studies at York University, and spending a number of years in the PhD in Dance Studies program, she worked as the Marketing and Communications Manager for the Dancer Transition Resource Centre. Today, Kallee is the Manager of Membership & Community at Imagine Canada, an organization working to build a strong, resilient future for all charities and nonprofits. She sits on the Board of Directors of Dusk Dances and Dance Umbrella of Ontario.

Nickeshia Garrick

Nickeshia Garrick was born in Toronto, Ontario and has been performing since the tender age of six. She received her dance training at the NYIDE (New York Institution of Dance and Education), National Ballet School of Canada, Toronto Dance Theatre and Simon Fraser University.  

Nickeshia holds a BFA from Simon Fraser University (Vancouver), is currently working toward the 2019 Premiere of No Woman’s Land with Roshanak Jaberi and Karen Kaeja, and has recently become a 2018 Dora Mavor Moore Award winner for Outstanding Ensemble in Pool (no water).

Fabien Maltais-Bayda

Fabien Maltais-Bayda is a writer, researcher, and arts administrator based in Toronto. He was a Dancemakers Writer-in-Residence in 2016/17, and was shortlisted for the Ontario Association of Art Galleries art writing award in 2017. He writes for Canadian Art, Canadian Theatre Review, The Dance Current, esse, and Momus, and recently published an essay on curation and the dance retrospective, co-written with Joseph P. Henry, in the Berghahn Books volume Curating Live Arts. Fabien currently works as the Administrative Director for the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists - Ontario Chapter.

#UrgentExchange #MeToo One Year Later

Last January, #UrgentExchange asked “Who is A Monster? What Makes A Monster? Am I Monster? #MeToo What Next?” - three days after the news broke about Soulpepper.

One year later, we partnered with PARADIGM productions and Daniels Spectrum to investigate how #MeToo has impacted the performance community: from triggers in the rehearsal process, to the changing role of the stage manager, to nudity and violence on stage, to the biases and blind spots that hold back change.

On December 9, 2018, we gathered at Daniels Spectrum following a performance of The Philosopher’s Wife, written by APT grad Susanna Fournier and produced by Resident Company PARADIGM productions. (Pictured: Generator’s Kristina Lemieux and PARADIGM’s Susanna Fournier and Alison Wong.)

Part One: Watch the Videos

We began with presentations exploring three perspectives across disciplines: Meghan Speakman on Stage Managing with #MeToo, Matthew Eldridge on Intimacy and Touch from the Perspective of Health Practice, and Andrea Zanin on Consent and Power: Lessons from Kink. Watch the videos below!

---

Inspired in part by this #UrgentExchange, the Toronto Star’s Karen Fricker wrote “One year after Soulpepper, what stage have we reached?” including reflections from both Meghan Speakman and Sedina Fiati. Read her article here.

Part Two: Read the Highlights

For the second half of the event, Generator’s APT Facilitator Sedina Fiati (pictured below) sat down with The Philosopher’s Wife team to talk about how they tackled these issues in the production. We heard from playwright, producer and actor Susanna Fournier, producer Alison Wong, and actor Chala Hunter. As a jumping-off point, we asked participants to share what they noticed about the production, and what their questions were (responses pictured below). You can watch the whole conversation on Periscope, or read some highlights below:

“It took me a long time to become the proud feminist killjoy that I now am.” -Susanna

On the Relationship with the Audience

Susanna “I think in terms of getting to a point in my practice as a playwright where I am now starting to really meet and develop audiences, for me I think the theatre contract is a stand in for a kind of social contract. So, I've invited you all to come into a space, and I’ve made something and brought other people in and I’m going to offer something, but I need you to come, and so, now we are in relationship with each other. I’ve asked you to come into relationship with me. And so I need to be aware of what my desire is, why have I asked you here, what do I think I have to offer you, what do I hope you might receive, and what am I hoping you might bring to this relationship that now we are in together.”

Alison “Introducing this work to an audience involved setting the stage, so to speak, for conversation. And really working with the intention that these plays are not meant to be let loose into the world and have them, necessarily, speak for themselves; the intention that we want to work in a way that allows the audience to come back to us, whether it is through conversation on the internet, whether it is through events like #UrgentExchange. Even the fact that it’s a trilogy, so knowing that we are building a relationship; the idea is that we want to build a relationship with our audience so that these ideas and the themes that are in the play continue to evolve and we continue to contemplate them each time we meet each other.  And trying to, as much as we can with the resources we have available, to create avenues for that.”

On Theatre and Trauma

Susanna “I deal with a lot of difficult topics in my work, and I know that I am looking to create a kind of ritualized space; that potentially we can come together and grapple with some of these traumas in a way that creates even just a moment with which we can feel through them. Because I think if we are not willing to feel through them, they won’t pass through us. And so that is a really delicate thing, to go: I know I am purposely asking folks to come experience a wound, and I think if we can experience that together there is a possibility for changing a narrative around it, or allowing it to maybe leave our bodies, work through our body. I think theatre is a place for and of the body and I feel that I live in a very disembodied culture. And even sometimes in the act of theoretical talking about, of analysis around trauma, analysis around power, it’s like yes: in my head, and my body is not included. And what I find in theatre is when I am moved it’s because I am allowed to feel my way through the things I experience, not just intellectually, but in my heart, and my gut, and I guess that is the power of catharsis.”

On Power in Process

Susanna “I am learning a lot as a playwright and a producer. There is a huge amount of power you have as a playwright, in that I’m choosing content and I’m choosing whose story we are looking at and where should we look in a story in the same way the director can tell us where and who to look at. As a producer I feel that it is the most crucial realm of putting a different kind of politic in action, because I wield our culture’s powerful symbol, which is where does the money go. And you can create a process that reflects where you want to put that money. But you also choose who is on the team, how the team is going to gather, what are we going to talk about, what are we going to prioritize.”

Above: production photos from The Philosopher’s Wife. Cast: Chala Hunter, Aviva Armour-Ostroff, Susanna Fournier and Danny Ghantous. Photography: Haley Garnett and Bernie Fournier.

Chala “A question I have been asking myself in many rooms, as a performer, certainly, but just as a person on the street, or in my home, or in any community or room that I happen to be in, is about how I can embody a kind of equality or community or togetherness or how I can embody the way that I hope or wish power could function in our communities, in our society. And that’s a question; I don’t have the answer to that, but I’m asking it of myself in many different circumstances, and as I ask it, trying to catch myself when I am behaving in ways that I feel I have been conditioned to, out of fear, or learned power structures, or all sorts of things. And so I would say that within the rehearsal hall, especially having been a fairly involved part of the conversation around #MeToo or Not in Our Space, or many of these conversations around harassment and consent in the performing arts and in the world, I’ve been looking to embody in rooms, to be an ally. To show in my behaviour that I will ask questions, ask for consent, be respectful, but also kind of demand it for myself. And that means doing things that make me uncomfortable, like saying no, like asking questions when I don’t understand something but feel embarrassed to ask the question. Even standing next to someone that I feel might be vulnerable in a moment, and that’s an assumption, certainly sometimes, but I’m trying to trust my intuition in those moments and err on the side of being caring and hopeful, rather than this kind of silent ‘I’m going to stay away from a situation or moment that seems like it might be dangerous, or someone might be feeling a bit vulnerable, or they maybe they need some help. And I don’t mean that specifically in this process: I’m talking about in the last year of my life, and I operate in the same way in grocery stores now as well, which I find is necessary sometimes; crazy things happen everywhere.”

Sedina “Now I’m asking myself what kinds of spaces I want to create, and who do we need to be in the space for it to be affirmative and joyful, what do we need to say. …We really have to cultivate character in ourselves, as theatre artists, black performance artists. We are always like ‘In the room, in the room’ but if you are not that outside of the room, how will you be it, how will you suddenly summon up the courage, how will you suddenly summon up knowledge that you don’t have? It behooves us to keep having conversations like these.”

On Safety in Process

Susanna “We do need to always be taking the temperature in the room and go: How are we doing? Is this enthusiastically working? Or are we all like ‘Oh, knives in the air, elephants all over the place?’ And if that happens let’s talk then, before one of the elephants pierces another elephant. If we feel the temperature rising, we can always go ‘Are we ok? Is there something we need to discuss? Has something happened?’ Cause that might have happened two days ago. People’s reactions to things - I was chronically: something bad happens and three days later I’m upset. But I’ve learned to just kind of deal with it. We can’t expect everyone in the moment to react like, ‘Hi, I have the language and tools with which to do this.’ They may react three days later by having a small meltdown in a corner. I think it’s another reason why having producers in the room - or having outside eyes who are watching the process, just there for feedback - is really important. Because I’m still learning, and I still miss moments. There are still moments where I go, ‘I should have said something.’”

Chala “Asking questions is so important, just checking in with people, like kind of maybe more than seems reasonable, is important… There is so much talking that has to go down to make people feel safe.”

Photos: Speakers Meghan Speakman (left) and Andrea Zanin (right); PARADIGM productions in conversation with Sedina.

On Yes and No

Chala “I had an experience of realizing that I think of no as a rejection, or as like, ultimately negative; as a creative rejection, as a personal rejection, when really what I discovered through this process was that yes and no are both just pieces of information towards greater understanding and more complicity, and that is very fundamental for me.”

Sedina “Our theatre training has trained us out of ‘no.’ Yes and… but the spirit behind yes and is let’s collaborate - it isn’t do what you want. It isn’t yes to anything. It means a spirit of collaboration and that’s what we should be entering into. ‘No’ means, close this door but open a different door. Because that means we have to be creative in the way we do things…‘No’ can be so generous because you are helping the other person navigate, instead of letting them walk into a minefield.

A Guide to Preparing Your Taxes After Receiving a Grant

Receiving a grant is usually considered a great event; an occasion to break out the champagne and reward yourself, a moment to reflect that a group of your peers deemed you worthy and part of the community. Grants keep art afloat in Canada, and should be a cause for celebration. Until it’s time to do your taxes, and then the world seems to fall apart and you curse the day you received that $7,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts.

There are many theories on how to deal with your grant when it comes to tax time, not all of which are helpful. The most important thing to remember is that grants awarded to individual artists are taxable income to the recipient. A T4A is issued to the recipient and reported to the Canada Revenue agency (CRA), who will expect that income to be reported.

Government Grants and Their Tax Treatments: A Guide to Preparing Your Taxes After Receiving a Grant was created by Tova Epp, with graphic design by Kinnon Elliott.

#UrgentExchange Precarity and Mental Health + New Faces of Criticism

With the new POSTSCRIPT patio  Generator, Toronto Fringe and The TENT Program brought a new round of #UrgentExchange. The twitter crowdsourced topic was Precarity + Mental Health = :( and the topic Generator, Toronto Fringe and The TENT Program sourced was The New Faces of Criticism.

On July 10, 2018 we held our crowdsourced Precarity + Mental Health = :( #UrgentExchange. Representatives from Artist Health Alliance, Artist Health Centre, Dancer Transition Resource Centre, Workman Arts, and AFC met with artists to talk about to the precarity of our sector and how most artists are left with negative impact on their mental health. With a solid turn out of 30+ people on a Tuesday evening, we began brainstorming as if we were on the playground.

Afterwards we gathered in one large group and discussed what came up in the brainstorming session. We discussed how we can take better care of ourselves, such as making our rehearsal spaces safer and breaking down these impractical normalities we have in our sector such as being busy is good and to suffer is to make great art. Money, uncertainty, and success were the most common topics being discussed regarding the mental health of artists.  

At the end, all representatives from the organizations present went over some of the resources they provide. All of those will be compiled at ArtistProducerResource.com next month.

On July 13, 2018 The New Faces of Criticism #UrgentExchange was held at POSTSCRIPT. This event was ASL interpreted. Generator’s Performance Criticism Training Program and U of T Criticism Course both coordinated and facilitated by Toronto Star’s  Karen Fricker and Carly Maga, the city has been gaining some new emerging voices in the performance criticism scene.

The #UrgentExchange began with break out groups where participants led by facilitators began brainstorming a future criticism. Karen Fricker led a breakout group discussing “Embedded Criticism” which is a “behind the scenes” way of approaching criticism that isn’t about analyzing/judging a piece of performance but more about following  creative process. The notes from that discussion are here. Carly Maga facilitated a breakout group discussing the current landscape of performance criticism in Toronto, touching on some of its strengths and weakness, and what an ideal landscape would look like in the future. The notes from that discussion are here. Shay Erlich, who completed Generator’s Performance Criticism Training Program, facilitated the discussion of criticism is Disability Art. A fourth group which included graduates of our Performance Criticism Training Program, discussed the future of criticism.

At the end, the whole group came together to discuss what needs to change in the the criticism landscape right now to make a better future for artists and critics. A point that was touched on was doing research as a critic, to make sure facts and details are correct to accurately write with nuanced critique. Good questions came up such as:

• Can we use theatre criticism to work against an existing system/use writing to challenge a system?

  1. How should accessibility play into theatre criticism? How do we deconstruct "able body" as "neutral body?"

  2. Are actors comfortable with a critic in rehearsal?

  3. How can we move past land acknowledgements and integrate our lived colonial experience into theatre reviews, which are usually cis male dominant spaces?

  4. Do you have to be a critic to have influence? Or can you build up your own following? How can we make criticism accessible?

  5. How has the rise in online journalism affected arts coverage and criticism?

Both #UrgentExchanges at 2018 Toronto Fringe ran for 1 hour and 30 minutes, which was not enough time for either topics to be discussed but both events were a great jumping off educate ourselves and make change for the future.

Trailer Project by UnSpun Theatre and Ahuri Theatre

As indie theatre companies and creators, both UnSpun Theatre and Ahuri Theatre have made trailers for our own work in the past – whether for potential audiences or for potential producing partners. We also watch a lot of trailers, or scroll by them as they pop up on our social media feeds. We wondered: is there any magical formula that makes trailers effective? How much do audiences rely on trailers to determine what they’re going to see? What about potential partners?

We decided to watch a ton of trailers from different performance practices (theatre, live art, dance, performance art) to see if we could come up with ‘rules’ for what works and what doesn’t. We then chose a number of trailers that employed a variety of techniques and held a screening night at the Generator offices. We then put out an online survey to garner feedback on a few trailers that had sparked interesting conversations from our screening night. We also spoke to some producers and producing companies about what they look for in a trailer or short video. We compiled the responses and looked for patterns. We’ve included the emergent patterns below.

Media moves quickly and these responses reflect a moment in time, and particular dominant styles of making trailers. Many respondents noted that we need to keep up with filmmaking trends if we’re going to use film as a marketing tool, and not rely on aesthetics or approaches that have worked so far.

Trailers for General Audiences

About our respondents:

100% of respondents attend live performance (generally at least 4x/year)

70% of respondents are art-practitioners

35% of respondents have made trailers in the past (mostly for the general public, some for potential partners)

Thoughts about making trailers:

“It’s our most effective marketing tool”

“It’s challenging to translate stage acting to film”

“The lack of resources is daunting”

A number of respondents noted that a show trailer they made helped secure a partner:

“Trailers raise the perceived value of a show and increase social media discussion”

Many respondents also noted the challenge in the timing of making a trailer: if you make a trailer early enough to share with potential audiences, you likely won’t have your design elements in place to film. But if you wait for the elements, you’ll miss the window of sharing the video with potential audiences.

68% of respondents watch trailers to determine if they will see a particular show (although, by the end of the survey, many later realized that they rely on trailers more than they had thought)

“I’m more influenced by graphic design and marketing”

“I’ll watch them if they happen to come up on social media”

“Trailers help me learn more about a company more than about a particular show”

67% of respondents said that a particular trailer had prompted them to see a show.

“If a trailer is everywhere I may get sucked in”

57% of respondents said that a particular trailer had made them avoid a show.

Respondents were turned off by: aesthetic, lack of diversity, preciousness, and quality of video

Creating for specific platforms:

Respondents noted that they often watch trailers differently across different platforms. Many do not watch Facebook videos with sound, so using sound as a main source of information or mood is not always useful on Facebook or other social media.

Respondents will usually seek out information about a company or show on their website or YouTube/Vimeo page. They expressed a willingness to watch longer videos on these sites, as opposed to social media sites.

There is a real line between sharing a trailer enough to illicit ‘buzz’ and overexposure.

We divided the trailers into two categories: Representational Trailers and Essence Trailers.

Representational trailers usually use footage and/or audio from the show and give a sense of what the show might be about. The features of Representational Trailers that respondents liked were that they get a sense of what the performance will actually look like and a sense of the aesthetic of the piece. It was agreed that these trailers have more of a chance to be done with poor quality footage and audio and often don’t translate well to film.

Example: UnSpun Theatre, All The Things I've Lost

Essence trailers might use footage that is completely separate from the show itself, and in some cases might be just a series of images and sound. They express a mood or try to pique curiosity. Respondents liked that these trailers don’t give too much away, communicate a feeling, and can be intriguing. These trailers can also alienate audience members or come off as dull, opaque or pretentious.

Audiences use these trailers in different ways: they go to representational trailers to get more details about a show, its style, the company, etc. They go to essence trailers to get excited about a show when they might have already heard about it.

Trailers for Presenters and Partners

We had just as much variety in the responses from presenters as we did from general audience viewers. Overall, it seems that presenters would really rather just watch your work live, but they mostly agreed that trailers can be a very good way for them to learn more about artists and companies whose work they don’t know well. They might also serve to get a presenter interested in work that they can then see live or learn more about from an archival video.

We spoke to presenters who produce touring work on large and small scales, as well as presenters who produce large national festivals.

Here is some of the range of responses we received:

One presenter said, “They’re useless.” They prefer to find new work “on the advice of a very trusted colleague who has seen the production and will vouch for it, by seeing the FULL live performance themselves, if not the full LIVE performance then a full length archival video.” They felt that “trailers are a possible marketing tool for public but they are not what presenters use at all.”

Another felt differently, responding “theatre trailers are very useful for presenters. When done well they provide compelling visuals, context and (hopefully) a few good reviews. (The) problem with trailers and all video is that if they aren't good, they could kill interest in the work (which may indeed be very good). Not all video production is created equal.”

One presenter and curator admitted that they hated having to watch trailers, but that it was a part of their work, and useful for learning about new companies to keep on their radar. They added that the trailer really has to accurately represent the piece if they aren’t able to see the actual show. The presenter said that they often use trailers when putting a season or festival together, as a way or presenting the work to the larger team and as a way of getting a sense of how different work might feel together.

One agent responded “I would say 120% you need a good 2-3 minute video, to sell your show to presenters (who then in turn use it to sell to their audiences) and to get pitch and showcase spots at conferences. I’m ALL for a good (and relatively short) sizzle reel!!”

The results – What to (maybe) do and what to (maybe) not do.

One caveat: there was no trailer that every respondent loved. Responses were extremely divergent. There was more of a consensus during the screening night and we suspect that the group dynamic and conversation helped shape responses. Some respondents loved trailers filled with artsy shots of fields and animals; others thought they were dull and hollow. As with anything, know your audience.

• Keep it short. Especially if you’re sharing it on social media. And especially if your content is at all repetitive – in this case, most people won’t watch past 20 seconds of material that features repetitive content.

• Tell a story (if you can). It doesn’t have to be a full narrative, and in fact, you’ll do best to focus on one or two elements of your show. It can also be an abstract narrative. But build to some sort of emotional peak.

• Interviews must have content. Audiences are leery of interview snippets that feature artists talking about how good or important a show is. They are interested in hearing an interview if there is an interesting story, process, concept about the show.

• Consider watching habits. Don’t rely on sound or music if you’re primarily sharing this content on Facebook. It needs to be compelling without sound. Consider subtitles.

• High quality footage and audio is everything. You can have a great trailer, but poor quality footage turns people off and it results in your audience assuming that the lack of expertise they’ve seen might translate to the stage. If the sound is bad, they often think the sound in the show will be bad. Consider using mics for an archival run-through to get better sound. If there’s an audience not audibly laughing at a joke, it seems like the jokes aren’t hitting. On the other hand, audiences are forgiving when they see a dull trailer with really high production values.

• The same goes for editing. Bad cuts can really stand out in a 45-second trailer.

• Give us something, but don’t give everything away. Most viewers like to get some information about a show: Is this a dance piece or a theatre piece? What is the company making this piece? If your trailer is more abstract, audiences don’t mind as long as they’re not left feeling completely confused by the material. Give them something to hold on to.

• Define yourself. Audiences responded to new, intriguing terms to define your work. Describing work as “a live film” or “an art party” piqued our respondents’ interests. Don’t be afraid to prominently feature your logo or a strong tagline.

• Be graphic. Really cool graphic design elements wowed audiences.

• Start strong. If your opening isn’t effective, much of your audience won’t keep watching.

• Use choice pull quotes if you have them. Most respondents liked pull quotes and were influenced by them, as long as they came from a variety of sources. Trailers using quotes that came only from Twitter, for example, were frowned upon. Many people noticed this and responded negatively to it. It seemed like it was better to not include quotes than to only include quotes from social media.

• Learn about film. Live performance generally doesn’t translate well to film, and the trailers that garnered the most positive feedback recognized this and used the features of film to their advantage. Some chose a representational style, but shot the performers at an interesting location or using close ups. Some were very clever about editing and sound, or using different camera angles.

“ Stage picture and screen picture are different – so just using stage blocking is not the best option.”

“Theatre is experienced live in one long “wide shot.” And I think what’s exciting to me about trailers is it’s a chance for us to get up close and intimate.”

• Don’t make me feel like I’m watching a commercial. Even though you’re using this trailer to sell an experience, allow the trailer to stand on its own as a creative storytelling tool.

• Do something different. Viewers were almost always interested in unusual approaches to sharing performance on film. Strange short films intrigued audiences and even though these films weren’t as connected to the performances themselves, respondents said they were interested in learning more about an artist or company based on the inventiveness of the material.

Examples

These are examples of trailers provided by UnSpun Theatre and Ahuri Theatre. Enjoy!

#UrgentExchange #WhoIsAMonster Video playlist

This #UrgentExchange was planned weeks before Kristin Booth, Trish Fagan, Diana Bentley and Hannah Miller came forward. When they did, it became an opportunity for the Toronto theatre community to come together, reel, and start talking about some concrete things we can do to create concrete change. A special thank you to Donna-Michelle St. Bernard and Jivesh Parasram, who moderated a community convening before the #UrgentExchange began. 

On Saturday, January 6th, seven groups of presenters (pictured) spoke about models for change, followed by on opportunity for audience members to learn more in break-out sessions. We are so glad to be able to share these presentations with you in video form (shot and edited by Ryan Weatherby) and we hope they will serve to educate, inspire, and bring change. 

On Twitter: What people were saying
On Periscope: Watch the recording
On Youtube: Watch the whole playlist, or click individual links below

Nikki Shaffeeullah - Container-Building: Facilitating Accountable Creative Spaces
Thalia Kane - Sharing the power, sharing the freedom.
Pippa Feinstein BA (Hons), JD. - Conflict resolution processes and strategies for healthy work environments
The JONNO team (Paul Van Dyck, Mirka Loiselle & Erica Anderson) - Violence in Theatre: Staging Triggering Material
Brook Thorndycraft - How to learn better ways of relating before the big damage happens
Sedina Fiati - Bystander Intervention 

#UrgentExchange #DesiringDiversity - a summary

Left to Right: Kristina Lemieux, Michael Maranda, Jivesh Parasram, Donna-Michelle St. Bernard

On Thursday January 4, 2018, in conjunction with Toronto Fringe, we held an #UrgentExchange entitled "DESIRING DIVERSITY, but who can afford to work for free?" The desire to do work with more diversity, inclusivity and accessibility is strong in Toronto’s independent performance community but can our communities be truly inclusive if financial obligations keep many artists out of our rehearsal halls? Who has the ability to ride the financial risk of a career in the arts? What can creators with financial privilege do to shift the systemic classism in the arts?

Our Executive Director, Kristina Lemieux was joined by speakers: Donna-Michelle St. Bernard, Jivesh Parasram, Michael Maranda, as well as a video instigation by Shaista Latif.

You can watch the Periscope Live Stream of the event here.
Keep reading for the Things We’re Still Talking About A Week Later, compiled by Generator Staff Kristina Lemieux, Deanna Galati and Annie MacKay.

Basic or Universal Income

This was a big one. If artists didn’t have to devote time and energy to figuring out where their rent money was going to come from (or to concealing that struggle), how much richer would their creative output be? If theatre-goers didn’t have to think about seeing a show as a financial risk (what if the show is terrible?) they would see more theatre - period.

Learn more about Basic or Universal Income here:

• Wikipedia: Basic Income

• BasicIncome.org

• Ontario Pilot

• A case against

Adjacent Jobs

Our most liked and retweeted comment of the night was from Donna-Michelle: “Why are we not encouraging people to find adjacent careers in ways that support art, and not stigmatizing them as failed artists?” Jiv said something that’s helped him find balance has been finding the right “day job” (throwback to our July #UrgentExchange on work/work balance) For many artists, that is working in a production or arts management role, but the stigma that you can’t both be an artist AND and an administrator is REAL. And we need to change that.

Peer Assessment

"The idea that my work is adjudicated by someone who doesn't share my values is abhorrent to me," Donna-Michelle said. She encouraged all eligible theatre professionals to sit on peer juries and to consider this a public service, one that we all need to do for our community.

Here’s how to sign up!

• Toronto Art Council (contact your program manager)

• Ontario Arts Council

• Canada Council for the Arts

Privileged Artists: Step Up & Step Back

In her video instigation, Shaista Latif called out privileged white artists who seek out POC artists as “consultants” without making them integral parts of their projects (and she told POC artists to just SAY NO, even if it’s hard to turn down the money). So, privileged white artists, if you’re looking for a takeaway, that’s one. More takeaways: Jiv says if you are lucky enough to have leisure time, spend it advocating for change. Donna-Michelle says DO NOT push into spaces that aren’t for you, just because you are used to being welcome.

Looking for ways to use your privilege? Watch this video on Bystander Intervention with Sedina Fiati at #UrgentExchange #WhoisaMonster.

Pay Structures

There’s a balance between knowing your worth and being paid accordingly, and working within the financial constraints of the indie community. Leah-Simone Bowen, the Theatre Officer at the Toronto Arts Council, spoke from the audience and said what we need is for people to be more honest with each other. She has seen people walk away from projects because they demanded more money, but the organization simply had nothing left to give. Jiv said that we need to look beyond the Equity agreements for insight into how to pay artists properly. Also: when you are posting a job, DISCLOSE THE SALARY. Every time. Don’t waste people’s time. (This awesome article has sparked conversation across North American on pay disclosure.)

BONUS! What we’re putting up on our wall: “Patterns make systems. So break the pattern. And of course, break the system.” (Donna-Michelle)

Here’s a place to start breaking the pattern: Nikki Shaffeeullah’s video on Container Building at #UrgentExchange #WhoisaMonster

Some Specifics of Site Specific Theatre: A Generator Resident Company Community Project

Some Specifics of Site-Specific Theatre is a Video Series featuring case studies from Litmus Theatre, Outside the March and Shakespeare in the Ruff. This is a Community Project made collaboratively by Resident Companies during their 1st year at Generator.

About this series: Organized into 5 videos to represent a different phase of the creative production process, each company reflects on how they create theatre outside of traditional theatre venues, sharing their inspiration right through to lessons learned. 

Part 1: INSPIRATION
Part 2: LOGISTICS
Part 3: THE SHOW
Part 4: AFTERMATH
Part 5: LESSONS LEARNED

Generator and ArtistProducerResource.com are supported by Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Government of Canada and Business for the Arts. Videos edited by Dhulfiqar Gshayyish.

Part 1: INSPIRATION

Part 2: LOGISTICS

Part 3: THE SHOW

Part 4: AFTERMATH

Part 5: LESSONS LEARNED

Talking to Annemieke Wade of Roseneath Theatre about touring to schools

#UrgentExchange The White Guy Shuffle: Changing Hiring Practices in Canadian Theatre

On January 15, 2017, Generator and the Toronto Fringe Festival hosted an #UrgentExchange on the topic of:

THE WHITE GUY SHUFFLE: Changing Hiring Practices in Canadian Theatre

What is an Urgent Exchange?

Urgent Exchange is an opportunity for the community to nominate topics that they think are both important and timely conversations that we need to be having as a collective. During the Next Stage Theatre Festival, we hosted two discussions: one topic is crowdsourced on Twitter with the active hashtag #UrgentExchange, and the other we pick based on conversations we keep hearing in our offices and among our peers. (More about #UrgentExchange).

Why did we pick this as an urgent topic needing a platform?

In 2016, over half a dozen Artistic Director jobs were up for grabs across Canada. While many were excited at the chance to finally diversify the leadership of some of our country's most recognizable institutions, all of the positions were filled by white men.* How can we influence boards and hiring committees to change homogenous hiring practices? We invited the community to examine the mechanics of how these decisions are made and strategize how the community can be of influence. (Links to background reading provided at the bottom of this post)  

*Since the Urgent Exchange in January, more AD roles have been announced and happily we are seeing more diverse voices filling artistic leadership roles.

#UrgentExchange in action at Theatre Passe Muraille

Why isn’t this on Twitter?

Unlike previous #UrgentExchange dialogues that were live-streamed in their entirety and live-tweeted using the hashtag, this session was partially closed to protect participants who may have wanted to share personal or sensitive experiences during the group breakouts.

As this exchange brought the often closed-door activity of hiring practices to a public discussion, we felt it was important to ensure that some part of the experience is still open to people who weren’t able to be in the room. Therefore, we asked a few people for their thoughts:

ALISON WONG

“In the Canadian Theatre business, we seem to believe that a certain type of person is supposed to run things. There’s a pervasive ideology that rewards non-risk-takers and seekers of institutional status when it comes to Artistic Leadership in Canada. A mold that “successful” and “enduring” companies are supposed to fit into; a perfect formula of art-making and balanced business. Our boards are made up of the most amazing members of our community, but they are tasked with hiring in a field in which, often, they do not have professional experience. In a well-meaning desire to build the legacy of an organization, they can be led to disproportionately consider how well a candidate can model existing “best practices” (which by the way aren’t working for a lot of companies as it is, but that’s for another #urgentexchange), rather than investing in a candidate’s ability to innovate practices for their organization specifically, and their art, specifically.

A barrier that artists from equity seeking groups face is that they are not expected to fit into this certain type. There is not enough precedent for how the stories we want to tell, the perspectives we hold, marry into these assumed best practices. I like to imagine a future where equity seeking artists are mentored to lead by flexing their muscles in exploring and developing the ways they want to connect to community, to build resources, to give the work the support it requires; where governing bodies require existing leadership to create apprenticeships that reward creating new solutions for art-makers, rather than modelling old ones; where funding bodies measure sustainability by looking at an organization’s ability to adapt and change to its ever evolving community of artists and audience.”

Alison Wong is a director, performer, and producer. Her work in opera and theatre has taken her to the United States, Italy, the Netherlands, and India. Currently wrapping up her 5th season as Artistic Producer with b current, other Toronto-based companies she’s worked with includes MYOpera, Canadian Opera Company, Factory Theatre, and Small Wooden Shoe.

JIVESH PARASRAM

“Despite a majority representation of women in this conversation, it was demonstrated that white women were occupying the most discursive space. Perhaps proportionately enough due to who was there by demographics, but within that space, the same micro-aggressive tendencies (interruptions, authoritative reinterpretations, etc.) that have come to be reductively associated with “White Guys” were quite present as well.

The concept of whiteness was not addressed, nor was the colonial ideology at play in the structures of boards actively questioned. (But there was an implied invitation to do so when the concept of the board was introduced.)

Finally, the implication that the absence of White Male ADs in attendance was equivalent to a lack of representation of leadership felt a bit off. Disrespectful to two ADs who were in attendance, both of whom are female POC artists; and who lead operationally funded organizations, and who have also (as a bonus!) actively advanced inclusion throughout their careers.

For many people this was the first time engaging with this topic in such a public forum. And that this event gave an opportunity to do so is excellent. 

Moving forward, I would just highlight that what can happen in spaces such as these – open democratic-ish spaces – and indeed did happen - was the replication of systems of oppression that can prevent the advancement of discourse.

Democracy is not equitable –and there is no universal experience. We just have to remind ourselves of that and ensure that we are always striving to actively listen more.”

Jivesh Parasram is a cultural worker of Indo-Caribbean descent. He is Artistic Producer at Pandemic Theatre, and the Associate Artistic Producer at Theatre Passe Muraille.

KATIE LEAMEN

“As an emerging artist myself, I had no idea what the board of directors did or the decisions they made until I started taking the meeting minutes at Generator’s board meetings. I have witnessed the important advocacy and education that comes from having multiple artists on our board to help encourage artistic risk-taking in board members more accustomed to making decisions based on safe, traditional business practices.

While there are many steps to be taken to encourage better inclusion in Canadian hiring practices for artistic leadership positions, I personally think that the first step - which is manageable without any increase in budget or resources - is to challenge every board of directors of arts organizations to recruit at least one (preferably more) artist to join their ranks. This will enable artists to advocate from the inside and empower them to make decisions that affect their peers, while giving wider perspective to board discussions, and support to the Executive Director or Artistic Director. Artists are trained to make strong choices, and we need to encourage them (and ourselves) to be in the positions to make them.”

Katie Leamen, Director of Coordination and Communications at Generator, and Artistic Producer of No Porpoise Productions. Also testing her hand at playwrighting with some success.

KRISTINA LEMIEUX

“Four thoughts:

1. I regularly wonder about what more I can be doing with my privileges while still fighting against the systematic barriers that hold me back, often at the expense of others held back by those barriers in different ways. I often feel unclear on what “battles” I can enter into and which ones I have the chance of “winning.”

2. The White Man Shuffle asked the question of what barriers hold you back from accessing leadership jobs in the arts. These institutions and structures are settler, Eurocentric structures designed to uphold capitalism and hierarchical means of organizing. These events are generally attended by those excluded from those structures, who are equity seeking, but generally with little power to enact the changes they want to see.

3. What if the folks who are identified as equity seeking or historically disenfranchised just don’t give a fuck about these organizations? I have zero interest in working for The Citadel, Touchstone Theatre, Western Stage or any of these other institutions that just reinforced white supremacy with these hires and these institutions, in theory, are designed to speak to me.

4. Seeing yet another white man hired in an artistic leadership job leaves me feeling harmed, with less hope and more tired. I want to work in spaces where leadership is about ideas and capacity to connect to people. Knowing how to fundraise, write grants, read financials statements or advocate for policy change are important skills, but they are not the skills I find inspiring. “

Kristina Lemieux, Executive Director of Generator, is a recent transplant to Toronto from Vancouver where she was a producer, facilitator and manager of live arts.

MAMITO KUKWIKILA

“My career in theatre is relatively new and young as I started out in film (and still continue to work in film) and I think one of the challenges or barriers that I felt when I first journeyed into theatre in Toronto was this sense of not belonging due to my sense of not "knowing". I did not think I had a leg to stand on with regards to having an opinion on a show or engaging in a piece of theatre as an actor as my "knowledge" on theatre was not up to a certain "standard". But who's standard, right? For someone like me - a woman, black, new to the country, new to the city, theatre in Toronto can be intimidating to navigate because what one sees is an ecology that is lead and driven by predominately white male voices making artistic choices for the majority and what that suggests to a someone like me is that my experiences and voices can only be filtered through a predominately white patriarchal framework. This, of course, is not unique to Toronto. Creating art is an amazing privilege but that privilege should not be reserved for the few. I would like us to move to a place in which there is room for arts organizations and theatre companies to take more risks in terms of artistic leadership and move away from what can sometimes feel like a top down model but towards a model that fosters mentorship and collaboration.”

Mamito Kukwikila is an actor, writer, producer and programming coordinator for b current Performing Arts Theatre Company. Mamito now resides in Toronto.

KAREN FRICKER (Toronto Star) 

Karen attended both Urgent Exchange discussions this year and followed up on the topic in her article, "World Stage returns, female theatre heads retreat: A season of reflection and greatest hits for Harbourfront festival while Next Stage panel considers ‘white guy shuffle’. (Jan 25, 2017)

New:

"White Guy Shuffle" is becoming a national meme it seems as it is picked up in this article by Jessica Werb from The Georgia Strait on the West Coast. "Arts Club Theatre's search for new leadership prompts debate"  (May 24, 2017)

Thank you to everyone who came out to listen and share their thoughts!

Background reading (links in the article title):

·        White Fragility in the Hour of Chaos by Michael Wheeler (SpiderWebShow)

·        Briefing Notes for Hiring Committees by Christine Quintana (SpiderWebShow)

·        Basing pay on salary history is a harmful, borderline-unethical practice that we need to abolish by Vu Le (Nonprofit with Balls)

·        Our hiring practices are inequitable and need to change by Vu Le (Nonprofit with Balls)

·        Palm Springs film festival ex-interim director was offered half the salary of her male predecessor, lawsuit claims by Brett Kelman and Bruce Fessier (The Desert Sun)

·        New Study Investigates Why Few Women Hold Leadership Positions in Theatres by Olivia Clement (Playbill)

Michael and Kristina Talk Indie Survival

Back in August, Michael and Kristina sat down to talk Indie Survival, and our mutual interests in shared platform models. This December, we announced Kristina as our new Executive Director of Generator.

"Imagining the Future" - Pecha Kucha at SummerWorks 2016

Full recording of the curated event featuring artists, thinkers, makers, doers, activators, and leaders from Toronto and beyond. Following the fast-paced Pecha Kucha format, speakers had seven minutes each to give mini-presentations focusing on the question “How do you imagine arts and culture 20 years from now?”

FEATURING (alphabetically): Dr. Mary Fogarty, Alex Johnson, Jane Kirby, Andy Moro, Christine Quintana, Joseph Recinos, Katie Sly, Donna Michelle St. Bernard, and Joshua Vittivelu.

Presented by SummerWorks, Koffler Centre of the Arts and Generator.

From the mouths of Fringe-ers: what's the best thing about producing?