Barring a major backlash or unforeseen circumstances, this means Toronto culture will stay funded at $19/per capita. Arts grants will not be sliced and diced like many important social programs as the current budget suggests, although it is worth noting Toronto will remain dead last in cultural funding amongst major Canadian cities.
Councillor Michael Thompson addresses a standing-room only public consultation held at City Hall by the Creative Capital Initiative
Arts and culture is going to dodge a bullet; unlike fair wages for janitorial staff, shelters for homeless elderly people, swimming pools, a wide variety of community housing initiatives, day care programs, services for recent immigrants, and other essential programs Toronto invests in to promote an equitable and prosperous city.
We have arrived at this state of affairs because of a false crisis created by Mayor Rob Ford by reducing revenue through eliminating the Vehicle Registration Tax while promising gravy, but finding none.
Viewed in this context, restoring funding for arts and some libraries is a bit of a gut check for culture supporters.
Do we advocate only for ourselves, or are our efforts more broadly focused?
Do we want the arts to be funded because we like art and books (and some of us a paycheque), or is there a grander vision for an ecology in which culture is one important piece of a prosperous, reasonable and just society?
Nightwood Theatre's production of Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad opened the same day arts cuts came off the table.
From @margaretatwood to The Creative Capital Initiative, and everything in between, it seems our cumulative disparate voices in support of culture have achieved a resonance that is impossible to ignore at City Hall.
Cultural activism in Toronto has been robust and intelligent over the last few years, with contributions from a wide variety of sectors and art forms. It is possible to view this reprieve as an admission of sorts that we are frigging crazy and can cause problems that are difficult to manage.
A clear and strident message from artists could crystallize the city-wide discontent with The Ford Approach to governance. Likewise, a submissive and satisfied arts sector that is grateful it has been spared the rod (this year), is just what this administration needs to push through a series of cuts that will impact our most vulnerable citizens.
With arts cuts off the table we have a unique opportunity to advocate not out of fear, but from the deep-seeded belief that a society should be set up to defend its least fortunate members. Time to get off the ferris wheel and finish re-writing this budget.
There is a village
which sits on my shoulders
like a vulture …
Despite this
O my village
I uninvited relate with you
as you fly
within and outside of me
like a vulture
Modern Love written by and starring Jessica Moss was one of 6 sold out shows on Saturday, but the only one to include a rickroll
The fifth edition of the Toronto Fringe-run festival, designed to take companies and shows that have emerged through the Fringe circuit to The Next Stage (get it?) is having a banner year for box office sales.
The first three days of tickets sales each set records. By the fourth day of the festival, six of the ten shows were sold out, including a raucous crowd that packed the Factory Theatre Mainspace to see Montreal’s Uncalled For and their Just For Laughs Comedy Award winning Hypnogogic Logic, based very loosely on the dream logic that exists while falling asleep. Oh btw. hope you have your tickets to see legendary Fringe clowns Moro And Jasp, as their entire run at the festival is sold out already
Just as important as the sheer number of theatregoers, is the much younger demographics attending The Next Stage than your average theatre production. One imagines this will be interesting to any Artistic Director or GM contemplating their non-subscription based ticket sales over the past few years of declining box office in Toronto theatre, as this type of success demonstrates a demand for theatre from a cohort that has sorely been missing.
As this is the Fringe’s last Next Stage Festival with Executive Director Gideon Arthurs at the helm, hats of to him and his team for engineering this success-in-progress, and hats off to The Tarragon Theatre for snagging a GM familiar with a future audience for new Canadian theatre.
We have been around since 2004 making ten original plays and blogging since 2006. We have no government operating funding or corporate sponsorships. Everything we make or communicate is supported by A) The occasional project grant, B) Box office revenue C) Labour donated by Praxis artist/producers, D) Cash donations from people like you.
Right now – for the next 2 days – in pursuit of bolstering option D – you have the option to donate to Praxis Theatre and support the work we do online and on the stage and receive a charitable receipt.
In the past week, we have been selected by NOW Magazine and Torontoist as a company to watch in 2012. It’s an exciting time for us and it feels like our potential will be in large part determined by our resources. Which is where you come in – with a $25 donation – to support relevant, engaged communication and performance.
Thanks! We’ll use it wisely.
Team Praxis
Click here to donate via the Theatre Passe Muraille Canada Helps page, and be sure to select Praxis Theatre in the fund/designation drop-down box.
Soup Can Theatre‘s critically acclaimed show Love is a Poverty You Can Sell is returning to the stage as part of the 2012 Next Stage Festival.
The show pays tribute to the timeless music and musical influence of German composer Kurt Weill with a production that marries the bold and naked theatrical style he and writer/director Bertolt Brecht pioneered with the bravado of traditional musical theatre – all with the ambiance of a 1920’s Berlin cabaret program.
The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs: Hilarious, heartbreaking, dedicated to exposing the Means of Production in the 21st Century
by Aislinn Rose and Michael Wheeler
10
The Cult of Mac for including Mike Daisey’s play The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs in its round-up of 2011 Mac stories.
Cult of Mac reports that in February of this year, bad publicity was at an all-time high surrounding the conditions and suicides at the Chinese factory Foxconn, Apple’s largest supplier. Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak was apparently moved to tears by the story as told by Mike Daisey when he saw the show, and urged Tim Cook, Apple’s Acting CEO to see it as well, saying “I will never be the same after seeing that show.” [Full disclosure: this list was created on two Macbooks, with some side research on one iPad, after tweeting to one another via two iPhones.]
We’re not surprised by Wozniak’s reaction to Daisey’s performance. Daisey has appeared on a number of 2011 lists across North America, and for the New York Times list of Cleverest Theatrical Moments a category was created for “most remarkable storyteller who isn’t Mike Daisey”. Daisey was a definite influence on our co-production of You Should Have Stayed Home at SummerWorks this summer, and we hope he’ll come to Toronto soon.
Ouzounian didn’t have much to say in favour of Canadian Stage’s 2011 productions, noting that the only shows anyone seems to be enjoying are the “imports”. He’s quick to congratulate Theatre Passe Muraille on importing Ride the Cyclone, however, hinting that perhaps it’s not WHETHER a show is imported but WHO does the importing, if you’re looking for a measure of consistency. (For more on Ouzounian’s vendetta against large-scale theatrical risk-taking, see Globe and Mail Critic J. Kelly Nestruck’s thoughts on the matter.)
Maybe they’ll open the balcony, but if they do it just to mount Shirley Valentine again who cares?
General Assembly at Occupy Toronto
8
Torontoist for embracing complexity and contradictions by listing Occupy Toronto as both Hero and Villain in their year-end poll.
For progressive-minded Torontonians who think structural change is required to make our society more just, generous and inclusive, Occupy Toronto was equal parts inspiration and frustration.
HERO: “Nominated for: establishing a beachhead of resistance during an age of austerity… Occupy Toronto may have annoyed a lot of neighbours with its first volley of direct action, but in the long run that annoyance has forced a critically vital discussion about social justice into the mainstream.”
VILLAIN “Nominated for: squandering a rare opportunity… “Friday” made Rebecca Black famous; it did not make her talented… No matter what the alt-press told you, the robber barons never broke a sweat worrying about the park-dwellers.”
Storify is an awesome resource that reinforces the notion of Twitter as a microblogging or even news-writing tool. Earlier this year we enjoyed Jonathan Goldsbie’s use of Storify to highlight humourous tweets collected under the #matlowmurdermystery hashtag he created after Councillor Matlow tweeted about attending a murder mystery dinner.
David Hains was another great Storifyer with his use of Storify to collect the Open Letter Councillor Wong-Tam wrote to Mayor Ford via Twitter after she had been blocked from attending a City child care meeting.
Storify used its own tool to highlight the 3 most “liked” stories of 2011, with Josh Stearns topping that list after collecting stories about journalists being arrested at various Occupy protests across the U.S. Stearns had this to say about Storify: “It really paints a whole picture, rather than just being a series of links… You get to see journalists … being tackled by police, shouting that they’re press in video they took as they’re being arrested.”
Just because we missed this multimedia show about terrorism created and presented by Kitchener/Waterloo’s MT Space at Theatre Passe Muraille doesn’t mean we can’t be excited about it topping this list. Great to see a critic unafraid to give accolades a show with reduced profile, if it is in fact the best thing he saw all year.
We're all used to this image now, but take a sec to imagine what it was like the moment before doing it.
5
Huffington Post Canada for including theatre artist Brigette DePape and her STOP Harper sign in their Top News Photos of 2011.
When a lone page on Parliament Hill walked onto the floor during the Throne Speech with the STOP Harper sign she had smuggled in under her jacket, the notion that brave and unimagined theatrical interventions would be required under a Harper Majority was cemented.
It turned out that the page, Brigette DePape, is also a theatre artist who had toured the Canadian fringe circuit with a solo show she had written about the possibility of change through activism. Here’s to theatre artists taking more chances in 2012.
4
J Kelly Nestruck for The Globe and Mail’s Theatre ‘Year in Review’ which reiterates the important role Summerworks plays in the theatrical ecosystem.
For continuing to point out that The SummerWorks Festival is one of the most important places for new theatrical work to emerge and that the recent decision to remove funding by Heritage Canada smacks of political interference.
Ride The Cyclone (practically every 2011 top 10 list), If We Were Birds (2011 Governor General Award) and The Middle Place (2011 Toronto Theatre Critics’ Award), are just a few of the shows that used Summerworks as a barebones way to get these important works in front of an audience. There is no credible reason based on artistic merit for this festival to have its funding pulled.
3
NOW Magazine for their bursting-at-the-seams “Top 10” list.
Not content to mention a mere ten favourites from 2011, Jon Kaplan and Glenn Sumi of NOW Magazine had to include a selection of “other standout shows” and “riveting revivals” along with their “top 10”. This is probably a reflection of the amount of shows this duo sees in a year, and a reflection of their commitment to covering a wide range of indie theatre.
Among their favourites and honourable mentions were several shows by indie companies big and small, including Obsidian Theatre, Studio 180, Litmus Theatre, and Convergence Theatre. (And no 2011 list is complete without mention of Atomic Vaudeville’s Ride the Cyclone from Victoria.) NOW Magazine seems to get how this new theatre ecology works.
This producer, consultant and pundit used his website to compile, summarize and link to most of the major theatre-related top 10 lists for cities across North America. the English-speaking world. Tip-o-the-hat Sir. Well played.
Way to go Ombudsman Marin – you are the praxistheatre.com top of the top 10s for 2011.
First off – flat out mad props to any provincial ombudsman who takes some of his or her time between Christmas and New Year’s to publish a Top 10 list of things their office investigated that year and promote it on their personal Twitter account.
Secondly, although he rates it #8 on his list, we think his report ‘Caught in The Act’ which widely condemns policing actions actions at The G20 Toronto Summit as“the most massive compromise of civil liberties in Canadian history” is historically and fundamentally a categorically important document for all Canadians concerned with preservation of civil rights.
Dear friends, readers and patrons of Praxis Theatre:
We have only until January 7th 2012 to fundraise with a charitable receipt for supporting Jesus Chrysler.
If you are ever going to donate to Praxis Theatre – Now is the time.
Click here to donate & receive a charitable receipt*
This is an exciting time for Praxis Theatre. Jesus Chryslerwas our first production as part of the season of an established Toronto theatre, and the first time we have employed our artists under the Canadian Theatre Agreement.
All of this costs money and we couldn’t do it without the support of our donors. We are so close to reaching our goal, but we need your help to get us there… so we’re calling on our friends across Canada to help this indie company out. We are seeking $25 donations from far and wide from anyone who can contribute to supporting Praxis Theatre.
If you have enjoyed any of the three different works we presented at three stages of development this year, or simply just enjoy reading the blog – a $25 donation from many of you would go a long way toward ensuring there will be more of the same in the future.
Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you in theatre and on the internet in 2012.
Sincerely,
Michael and Aislinn
*If you choose to donate online through Canada Helps and Theatre Passe Muraille – select “Praxis Theatre – Jesus Chrysler” in the Fund/Designation drop down box.
Vaclav Havel, the Czech dissident playwright who was jailed repeatedly, having his work banned by hardline Communist authorities before becoming the first post-1989 President of Czechslovakia, has died at age 75.
A personification of the potential for praxis between art, activism, and politics, his legacy is nothing less than a transformed country, continent and understanding of what art can achieve.
Central to Havel’s role as a dissident was his role as a signatory and vocal promoter of Charter 77, which led to his imprisonment, and continues to be influential as a political manifesto that advocates for human rights in a global context:
Charter 77 is not an organization. It has not statutes, no permanant organs and no organized membership. Everyone who agrees with ideas behind it participates in its work and supports its members.
Charter 77 is not a base for opposition political activity. It wants to serve the general interest like many similar examples of civic initiatives in various countries – West and East. It does not lay down its own programs of political or social reforms or changes but to engage in the spheres of its activity in a constructive dialogue with the political and state power, especially by calling attention to various concrete instances of the violation of human and civil rights, to prepare documentation on them, propose solutions, submit various general proposals aimed at deepening these rights and guaranteeing them”
Previously denied accreditation by The Harper Government to attend the recent climate talks in Durban, NDP Environment Critic Megan Leslie had risen in Parliament to question Environment Minister Peter Kent about the government’s decision to unilaterally withdraw from Kyoto. When the Minister’s response began with”if she had been in Durban”, deliberately turning the knife on the fact that he had stopped her from going, it was a moment of cataclysmic duplicity sparking outrage from the opposition, culminating in Trudeau calling Minister Kent a “Piece of Shit” (47 secs).
Next Media Animation
Two years ago we blogged about Taipei based NMA as also “possibly a version of internet theatre” just as it was gaining notoriety. At the time, part of our interest stemmed from a contest they were running to have your own avatar become part of the news. They seemed to have stopped that promotion now, but in this case it doesn’t really matter as Canadians are in fact the news.
Rick Mercer
Rick Mercer has been on top of what Canada’s reluctance to accept is global responsibilities by using misleading language like “intensity based targets” for some time. Although some of the responsibility for not implementing Kyoto lies with previous Liberal federal governments, Canada’s global commitments were probably permanently DOA in 2006 when The Harper Government abandoned any pretense of environmental responsibility and this video was made for The Mercer Report.
“After the years and years of weaker and waterier imitations, we now find ourselves rejecting the very notion of a holy stage. It is not the fault of the holy that it has become a middle-class weapon to keep the children good.”
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