Staging Our Future at Our Annual Meeting and Celebration

Join us on the evening of Monday, May 5 at 7pm at the Urbanspace Gallery at 401 Richmond Street West in Toronto as we celebrate theatre in Ontario.  We’re honouring outstanding contributions, bringing together youth from across the province for an interactive and creative dialogue, and launching our new website and brand—all part of Theatre Ontario’s work in #StagingOurFuture.

The celebration kicks off at 7pm with our Annual Meeting, sharing updates on our activities from the past year.  We’ll be electing our Board of Directors for the coming year, and approving our new by-law, in accordance with the new Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act.

At 8pm, we are hosting “Face to Face: Meeting the Theatre of Tomorrow”, an interactive and creative dialogue led by our Youth Advisory Committee, with support from Maureen McKenna of Innovation Works.  The Youth Advisory Committee is a new youth-led, run, and facilitated committee of Theatre Ontario, concerned with fostering the next generation of theatre artists, practitioners, professionals, and patrons across the province.  For several months the Committee has been reaching out to the theatre community across the GTA and the province in order to identify service gaps and barriers to access to youth engagement in theatre.  At “Face to Face”, you will have the opportunity to engage in a collaborative discussion with youth from across the province and contribute your ideas and imaginings on what youth involvement in theatre in Ontario looks like now and in the future.

Following the dialogue, a who’s who of the provincial theatre community will provide a glimpse of what theatre means to them in our new “Why Theatre” video.  We are also launching both a splashy new logo and our new website, featuring improved navigation, expanded sponsorship opportunities, and a searchable database of our Talent Bank of theatre instructors.

Gary Hall

The climax of the evening is our 2014 awards honours.  Our first award presentation is to Gary Hall, who is receiving the Sandra Tulloch Award for Innovation in Arts and Culture, in recognition of thirty-four years of leadership on behalf of artist-run culture, and practical initiatives that include Gallery TPW, Artist-Run Centres and Collectives of Ontario, the CARFAC Copyright Collective, and ArtsBuild Ontario.

Our second and final presentation is to Vrenia Ivonoffski, who is receiving the Maggie Bassett Award for her significant and sustained contribution to theatre in Ontario.  Vrenia is the founding artistic director of ACT II STUDIO (now the Estelle Craig ACT II STUDIO), a theatre program and creative drama centre under the Programs for 50+, Chang School of Continuing Education at Ryerson University. Since 1991, the Studio has offered older adults a home to learn, experiment, hone skills and create a unique kind of theatre informed by a long-life perspective. The Studio provides programs in acting, directing and playwriting led by cutting-edge theatre professionals.

Vrenia Ivonoffski

As part of our celebration, our inaugural Silent Auction Fundraiser is underway.  We’ve got Jacuzzi room hotel passes.  We’ve got theatre tickets.  We’ve got packages to pamper you, entertain you, educate you, and more—hop on your phone and bid online!  Additional products, services and experiences are continuously being added onto the list.  We’ll also have additional items available for exclusive in-person bidding.  We think you will find something bid-ably suitable for everyone’s tastes and budgets!  Refreshments will also be available throughout the evening.

We look forward to seeing you on May 5 – as we work together to continue Staging Our Future.  Join us at our Annual Meeting and Celebration