Ontario Off Stage

Behind The Scenes at Ontario’s Theatres

• Krista Jackson’s latest update on PraxisTheatre.com on her work as a Shaw Festival Intern Director
• Our Smart Marketing workshop was a hit, bringing together professional and amateur organizations from five regions, celebrating successes and acknowledging challenges

Conversations Across Borders

• “The death of subscription series might be going differently if my participating in a FULL season at your theatre paid off in some way.”  Travis Bedard reminds us that instead of constantly complaining about the problem, we need to start proposing solutions.  His first one: tent-pole seasons

From The Wire

• This past June, we heard the sad and frightening news of the stage roof collapse in Downsview Park prior to a Radiohead concert, and the death of Scott Johnson, a 33-year-old drum technician from Doncaster, England.  The Ontario Ministry of Labour Live Performance Health & Safety Advisory Committee (of which I am a member) is working on a Temporary Outdoor Performance Structures Working Group. The goal is to create a guideline for organizations that design, construct, install, operate and maintain these structures at performance and event venues.  Can you help?
• Creative Trust and Picasso PRO have just released two handbooks for producers and presenters of Audio Described and American Sign Language interpreted performances. These practical toolkits provide step by step guidance for anyone planning to open their programming to Deaf/hard of hearing or Blind/low vision attenders
• Nine organizations submitted written interest in the sale of Toronto’s performing arts theatres (St. Lawrence Centre, Toronto Centre for the Arts, and the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts.)

Migrations

• Rita Davies has left as Executive Director of Culture for the City of Toronto.  The Toronto Arts Council wrote a nice appreciation

Assembled by Brandon Moore, Communications Coordinator