Staging Our Future - A New Strategic Plan and Staffing Changes

by Bruce Pitkin, Executive Director

Theatre Ontario is pleased to unveil our new strategic plan that will provide direction for the next four years by establishing long range objectives for the organization. This plan will provide information for our members, funders and Ontario’s theatre community, as well as guide our staff and volunteers in creating annual business plans, initiatives and budgets. It will also allow us to measure progress in meeting our objectives of serving theatre in Ontario.

You may review Theatre Ontario’s Strategic Plan 2015-2018 here. Theatre Ontario relies on the feedback of the community and I welcome your comments.

I am also very pleased to announce two staffing changes. Brandon Moore will be taking on the role of Community Theatre and Communications Manager and Rebecca Ballarin will be assuming the role of Professional Theatre and Education Manager.

Please join me in wishing Brandon and Rebecca well in their new roles and don’t hesitate to reach out to them.

A New Look, A New Energy For a New Future

by Bruce Pitkin, Executive Director

The beginning of September marks a time of change: the end of summer, the start of a new school year, and the launch of new seasons for many theatres.

It's a time of change for us at Theatre Ontario: we are excited to be launching our new website, logo, and brand identity.

Theatre Ontario’s New Brand Identity

Theatre is our most visceral form of storytelling, a living and breathing collaborative art form.  Theatre Ontario is committed to ensuring that theatre stays strong, vibrant and sustainable in our province, an ideal for Ontarians today and in the future.

As Ontario’s champion for theatre, we advocate for growth, cultivate theatre resources, provide educational opportunities, foster collaboration within the theatre community, and build innovation into everything we do.

Theatre in Ontario needs a unified and compelling voice to grow, to keep telling our stories.  We are Theatre Ontario, and we are staging our collective future.

And this new look is evident not only in our logo and colours, but in our new website, as well. Simplified, cool to look at, easy to navigate, yet still containing all our incredible programs and resources. Take a look at it, from your smartphone, tablet or laptop, and let us know what you think.

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

Staging The Future at Theatre Ontario

Theatre Ontario is pleased to announce that we have received a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation for “Staging The Future—Advancing Leadership to Ontario’s Theatre Community.”

This project is the next step in our comprehensive strategic branding and organizational review. We have received $45,400 over one year to hire external expertise and conduct an organizational review, branding and communications strategy to more effectively serve theatre artists and organizations across Ontario.  New programs to engage youth, cultural and regional communities will be created.

“Theatre is dynamic, relevant, and constantly evolving,” said Carol Beauchamp, Executive Director of Theatre Ontario.  “With this in mind, I am pleased to announce that with the support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Theatre Ontario will be able to continue to evolve in order to meet the changing needs of our members and the theatre community.”

Ruby Lam, a member of the Board of the Directors of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, made the presentation at Theatre Ontario’s Annual Meeting on May 25.  In her presentation, she congratulated Theatre Ontario for both our community-building accomplishments and our recognition of the challenges we face.  She said that the OTF was “the producer behind the scenes” while we were “the stars out on stage, in the communities.”

Congratulations also to Theatre Ontario member organizations who received grants from the Ontario Trillium Foundation in this application round: Brant Theatre Workshops, Burl-Oak Theatre Group, Drayton Entertainment, The Greely Players, Native Earth Performing Arts, Owen Sound Little Theatre, Port Stanley Festival Theatre, Sudbury Theatre Centre, and Westben Arts Festival Theatre.

Read more about the Ontario Trillium Foundation