Ontario Off Stage

by Brandon Moore, Communications Coordinator

Conversation Starters

• The early closure of Side Show on Broadway has Mitchell Marcus, Artistic Director of Acting Up Stage Theatre, reflecting on “the death of the ‘serious musical’” and reconciling artistic ambition with consumer preferences
• Business 2 Community encourages changing your theatre’s mindset about donor retention
• While Nonprofit With Balls poses the question: “Can we all just admit there is no such thing as non-profit sustainability?”
• "Place has the ability to pull us toward—or away from—the arts."  The James Irvine Foundation analyzed how does the use of unusual spaces increase engagement? 
• Eugene Carr writes about getting “real” about cellphone pictures during curtain calls 

Behind the Scenes at Ontario’s Theatres

• Hart House Theatre has launched the Dr. David E. Gardner Apprentice Director Program.  Like Hart House, we have been honoured to be the beneficiaries of Dr. Gardner’s support for many years, and it’s terrific to see this program bearing his name.
• Whitby This Week featured the Centennial Building—home of Whitby Courthouse Theatre—and its 150+ years of history and how it became a theatre
• The Ontario Ministry of Labour has introduced a new Working at Heights Training Program Standard for construction projects.  How does this apply to theatre?  There are times when the Construction Projects Regulation applies and when the Industrial Establish Regulation applies depending on the activity in the theatre, as outlined in the Ministry’s Safety Guideline for “Application of Industrial and Construction Regulations”
• LEANARTS is an experimental pilot program designed to support promising performing arts initiatives in Toronto by introducing them to the tools and methodologies used by technology start-ups.  They have announced the 10 performing arts teams who will participate in the program
• Hill Strategies Research has examined the number, incomes, and demographic characteristics of artists and cultural workers by municipal size

Migrations

• Theatre 20 has introduced their new leadership team: David Keeley (Artistic Director), Nora McLellan (Associate Artistic Director), and Brian Goldenberg (Executive Director)
• Susan Moffat, formerly the Interim General Manager at Tarragon Theatre, has been named as the new Managing Director

You can also receive news from Theatre Ontario every month by email.  Our archives are online and the December issue is now available.

We’ll be away for the holidays for the next two weeks—back in 2015!