Monthly Archives: May 2011

In a previous article we wrote about the fantastic project that Canadian Children’s Dance Theatre has undertaken to bring a solar farm to the roof of their building in Cabbagetown.  This week on a particularly beautiful Wednesday I took a field trip to get a tour from Co-Artistic Director Michael deConinck Smith.  After a harrowing (for […]

Toronto’s Green Theatres program, our initiative to start a movement towards energy efficient, low carbon footprint theatre facilities, has begun with the first of seven energy audits of Toronto theatres!  With the support of the City of Toronto, and after much research and discussion with our environmental colleagues here at the Centre for Social Innovation, […]

And who doesn’t? Well, for one, households where respondents have a disability spend relatively little on the performing arts. Education ranks high as a factor in arts spending according to Patterns in Performing Arts Spending in Canada in 2008, a report in the Statistical Insights on the Arts series from Hill Strategies Research*. The percentage […]

I remember Colleen Blake saying, at a CCCO workshop some years ago, that she read the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business to learn about staff management and human resources at the Shaw Festival. Smart manager. The CCCO (Cultural Careers Council Ontario) website is, of course, home to the indispensable Work in Culture job listings, […]

Creative Trust and PAONE, with Hill Strategies Research Inc., are putting the final touches on our groundbreaking survey of the arts education programs and activities of performing arts companies in Toronto and the G.T.A. During our research, our understanding and thinking about the role and importance of arts education benefitted from exceptional studies from around […]

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one delighted by the prominence given to Toronto’s cultural space needs in our new, updated Culture Plan. “Ensuring a supply of affordable, sustainable cultural space” is the first of six overarching recommendations put forward by Co-Chairs Robert J. Foster, Karen Kain and Jim Prentice in Creative Capital Gains – […]

Last week a small group of us dance folk gathered around my lap top to take part in a webinar from Center for Arts Management and Technology Carnegie Mellon University called Inspiring Online Audiences: Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive. At the end of March Jacob’s Pillow launched Dance Interactive – the latest offering of their “Virtual […]

We’ve been writing a lot about greening lately and recently announced our Toronto’s Green Theatres project, an initiative to start a movement towards energy efficient, low carbon footprint theatre facilities.  In my spare time I’m a passionate supporter of local food and contribute to a food blog which focuses on issues of food security.  While […]

The trouble with boards is that, far too often, there are troubles with boards. What should be a supportive relationship of respect and shared artistic passion can unravel into conflict, lack of trust, and confusion about roles and responsibilities. The company everyone’s there to serve invariably suffers: no organization can thrive when racked by internal […]