Magnetic North attracts Artistic Associates from coast to coast
One great challenge of a festival like Magnetic North Theatre Festival is geography - it is impossible for us to see everything our nation's artists have to offer. That is why Magnetic North has hired two Artistic Associates residing on each of Canada's extreme coasts. Marcus Youssef of Vancouver, BC and Robert Chafe of St. John’s, NL are highly connected individuals with their fingers on the pulse of Canadian theatre within and beyond their regions, allowing Magnetic North to cast our net even further and better represent great Canadian theatre each year at the festival in June.
“What I love most about The Magnetic North Theatre Festival is the opportunity it provides for theatre artists to participate in an ongoing national conversation, not about business, not about fundraising, but about the art we make. Because of Magnetic North we are able to come together as artists from St. John's to Toronto to Edmonton to Victoria. We get to see each other's work, and the whole country is on the invite list. It is an honour to be able to play some small part in that great national conversation.”
- Marcus Youssef.
“I’m a big fan of this festival. In the eight short years it has been in existence it has allowed for an unparalleled cross pollination of Canadian theatre artists. I am deeply grateful for its existence, and extremely proud to able to join the team that makes it all possible.”
- Robert Chafe
Edmonton Focus Group
The Magnetic North Theatre Festival is continuing a year-long Strategic Planning initiative that will help shape the future of the Festival. As part of this Planning the Festival has been hosting Focus Groups in various regions across the country. The purpose of these focus groups is to receive feedback on current activities and assist the Board and Staff in planning future activities and overall direction of the Festival. Facilitated by Senior Staff members of the Festival, it is hoped that these focus groups would be attended by regional stakeholders; including artists, companies, funding agencies, media and theatre students and practitioners.
Edmonton, as the first host city in our festival's history has a special place in our festival; we would be particularly interested in hearing from the community how the festival has had an impact over the years on Edmonton's theatre scene.
We would be delighted if you could join us in shaping the future of what has been called “The closest thing this country has to a National Theatre".
The next Focus Group will be held in Edmonton
Facilitated by Artistic Director Ken Cameron
November 4 from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m.
Catalyst Theatre on 8529 Gateway Blvd.
Please RSVP to Theatre Alberta in advance so that we have an idea of whom to expect: latecomers always welcome.
Special thanks to both Theatre Alberta and Catalyst Theatre for assisting with the Edmonton Focus Group.
Ontario Arts Council Theatre Creators' Reserve
Magnetic North Theatre Festival invites proposals from Ontario-based individual artists, ad-hoc collectives or unincorporated theatre companies to submit proposals to the Artistic Director. Successful applications will be awarded seed money via the Ontario Arts Council Theatre Creator's Reserve to enable them to further explore ideas which fascinate them.
Deadline: November 1st, 2009. Applications must be received in the office by the deadline date.
