by Jini Stolk
A few timely reminders:
Audiences complete the circle. This heartfelt thank you to audiences from veteran box office employee Christine Quintana, reminds us of our responsibility to understand and honour the wisdom, diversity and caring of the people who come to see our shows.
Your audience will change over time. Lessons from the world of professional wrestling, via Mission Paradox, that nothing lasts forever and that successful evolution requires planned and considered change. “The audience that built your dance company probably isn’t the one that will sustain it.â€
There is always a “new normal.†Responding to the changing environment in audience behavior requires curiosity, an open mind, and a willingness to experiment – from tweaking curtain times to “random acts of culture†to attract new audiences. Meanwhile in the U.S. as in Canada, new structural models are emerging in response to tensions around funding and the sustainability of traditional arts organizations. “May you live in interesting times?†Perhaps this is not so much a curse as an invitation to bold and creative thinking … (Thanks to Eileen Cunniffe and the Americans for the Arts Artsblog.)
A few more practical reminders:
If you’re hosting foreign artists on tour in Canada, you’re likely going to have to secure each a new Electronic Travel Authorization. According to CAPACOA, the application process is fairly simple; the fee per person is $7 CAD, the processing time is normally under 10 minutes, and applications are trackable via an online status portal. (NOTE that U.S. citizens are exempt from this requirement.)
We’ve talked before about the confusion and uncertainty around police record checks: a time-consuming fact of life for many theatre for young audiences and other arts presenters. There’s good news from the ONN. New provincial legislation has been introduced, setting a standard practice for the kinds of information required within employee and volunteer record checks, and to be released by police services
