Beautifulcity.ca‘s tax on billboards to fund art is finally coming to a vote at City Council. This proposed new sign by-law may offer the single greatest opportunity to increase municipal arts funding in the next decade.
The premise of the campaign is that billboard advertising, unlike all other forms of advertising, provides no content to the public in exchange for taking up public space (editorial to advertising ratios for TV is 75/25, for print is usually 50/50 but for billboards is 0 to 100).
The sign by-law going before city council on November 30/December 1 recommends regulating billboards in Toronto, removing illegal billboards as well as taxing and properly regulating the remainder.
The tax will help to create ‘editorial’ by increasing the city’s arts funding and ensuring greater public access to art in exchange for use of public space.
“Advertising is increasingly infringing on our public spaces, and the privilege of leveraging public space for commercial ends should come with a responsibility to keep them healthy. The billboard tax is a fair and just means for private advertisers to take responsibility for their impact on the city.”
It’s been almost a 1/2 year since we made big changes at praxistheatre.com with a new format that blended some of our best content from our blogspot blog with our company website. Inspired by a new commitment to integrate our creative process with our web presence, our goal has been to continue to be hub for discussion and analysis of independent theatre while increasing awareness of Praxis Theatre and the original theatrical works we are creating.
There has been mostly positive feedback about this switch, especially in terms of the high functionality of the new website and the potential inherent in an “open source” creative model. This tune-up addresses some consistent critiques from a number of readers regarding readability and organization and is reflected in three changes:
Asingle sidebar column that runs down the right margin of the site amalgamates the two smaller columns that preceded it. The text size of these links have been increased.
The Upcoming Shows page will contain the “open source” elements of our Section 98 creative process. This page will contain the “source code” of our production: information, discussions, examples, scripts and research we are engaged in. This page will be maintained by Aislinn Rose, Section 98 Open Source Project Leader.
Thanks for participating. We hope you continue to use this is site as a resource and a place for dialogue about indie theatre in Toronto and around the world.
Fuse Magazine, one of Canada’s foremost periodicals on art and culture, is expanding editorial coverage to include more reviews on books, film and video, and theatre. The magazine is recruiting three section editors who specialize in one of these areas for two year terms.
Each section editor will be responsible for floating potential reviews to the editor and editing three short reviews per issue for their section. Editors should be in touch with a network of writers and are required to attend bi-monthly editorial meetings to discuss ideas, themes, progress, etc.
Editors should be based in Toronto and able to work from home. A modest per issue honorarium is available for each position. Interested applicants should submit their resume, a cover letter describing editing experience and examples of review topics, along with a writing sample by December 1, 2009.
Please submit materials to: izida@fusemagazine.org
If you’ve ever applied to The Toronto Fringe before, you probably recall how Fringe applications are due in January with a draw sometime later in January at The Tranzac….
THIS IS NO LONGER TRUE. YOUR APPLICATION IS DUE TODAY!
To apply to the Toronto Fringe 2010 lottery, log on to fringetoronto.com and find the information under ‘For Artists’. Artists may apply online or download a hard-copy application form and drop it of by end of the business day.
Participating companies are provided with a venue, production & publicity support, and 100% of the ticket revenue generated by their show. The Festival will run from June 30 –July 11, 2010.
For more info: www.fringetoronto.com, 416-966-1062.
Arguably the most horrifying piece of music you will ever hear: Penderecki’s “Threnody”. The first few unmistakable seconds make an appearance in TALKING MASKS:
(Moving) Image:
Fussing over baby Oedipus — from Pasolini’s take on the myth:
Left to right - Josette Bushell-Mingo, Ross Manson, and Liesl Tommy are each involved in separate presentations in Toronto this weekend.
Trilogy directors invade Toronto this weekend
Through sheer coincidence, all three directors of The Africa Trilogy are mixing it up in the T-dot this week:
Josette Bushell-Mingo, director, Glo
After directing the RSC/NAC original production to widespread critical acclaim, Bushell-Mingo has been mentoring directors working on Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad as part of Nightwood Theatre’s Directors Summit.
The public presentation of this work occurs November 15 at 3pm and 6:30pm, Dancemakers Studio Theatre.
Ross Manson, director, Shine Your Eye
Having toured Rwanda with Volcano’s Edinburgh Fringe-winning production of Goodness, Manson presents a retrospective of the experience at University of Toronto.
November 15th at 7pm, the George Ignatieff Theatre, U of T campus.
Liesl Tommy, director, Peggy Pickett Sees the Face of God
The Director’s Toolkit, Master Class: November 16 and 17, 10-1pm;The Agony and Ecstasy of Staging New Work, Panel: Monday November 16th @ 6:30pm; Staging Africa, Panel: Tuesday November 17th at 6:30pm.
For full details on price and location of Nightwood Theatre events visit their webpage.
Toronto Fringe Festival Executive Director Gideon Arthurs announces major changes to the Toronto Fringe at a press conference held on Monday November 9th.
Long story short:
The Randolph Centre for The Arts, which houses multiple theatrical spaces will now be a Fringe venue and the administrative and box office hub for The Fringe during the festival.
Up Bathurst Street:
The Fringe Club and social hub for the festival will no longer be the Tranzac. It moves to the much more massive area behind Honest Eds. It will have a heck of a big patio as well as food service and they’re going to use the famous lightbulb filled sign on Bloor to invite the public in to this new Fringe theatre corridor in dramatic fashion.
The big question:
Does this mean last call at the Toronto Fringe will no longer be 11pm? No promises on this front yet – but it appears possible as it is not adjacent to a residential area. Even if you don’t drink, the fact that you have to go home or onto a sweaty dance floor at 10:45pm has plagued Toronto Fringe organizers and participants for years.
Praxis Theatre presents Section 98: an open-source, interactive, original theatrical creation.
Section 98 dramatizes historical and current events while incorporating modern technology to explore individual and civil rights in Canada. This stage of the creation process will be developed in the context of The Progressive Arts Club, The FLQ, and the present day. The production invites the audience to participate in this experiment through their cellphone, PDA, on their computer before and after the performance, in person, or to simply observe and not interact at all!
The suspension of rights has been a contentious issue throughout Canadian history. Section 98 uses theatre and technology to enable everyone to debate and discuss these issues in 2010. A single presentation of this work-in-progress presentation of this work will occur on will take place at Harbourfront’s Studio Theatre on March 13th 2010 at 8pm.
As an “open source” theatrical project we aim to keep our artistic process open, available and interesting through the use of this website. This production is a collective collaborative creation with all members of the creative team contributing to the process. That being said, we all have specific roles:
Director: Michael Wheeler Assistant Director: Laura Nordin Online/Script Coordinator: Aislinn Rose Dramaturg: Alex Fallis Sound and Lighting Design: Verne Good Stage Management: Brittney Filek-Gibson Performers: Margaret Evans, Jody Hewston, Melissa Hood, Greta Papageorgiu and Ben Sanders.
Sun Nov 8 @ 8pm. Theatre Centre. Queen and Dovercourt. Toronto. PWYC.
Wrecking Balls are going on across the country this November. Not in Toronto? Check the website for the Wrecking Ball in Canada nearest you.
Following on the heels of the National Wrecking Ball 7 during the 08 federal election it’s pretty clear this has morphed into a national political theatre phenomenon.
“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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