The Magnetic North Theatre Festival is the premiere festival of new Canadian theatre. Like the Magnetic North Pole itself, the festival moves around the country, treating Canadians to excellence in English theatre from across Canada. Magnetic North gives us the opportunity to share our stories, to interpret our history and our times, and to explore how we see the world.

FESTIVAL MANDATE

To produce a Canadian theatre festival with a national scope that has a strong artistic vision, that meets high artistic standards, that promotes dissemination of Canadian work through presenters to audiences and that increases the awareness of Canadian theatre amongst artists, audiences, producers and presenters, nationally and internationally.

ARTISTIC VISION

The Magnetic North Theatre Festival is dedicated to presenting the very best of Canada’s touring theatre and providing a sufficient showcase for that work to launch into the world. This means that the festival seeks to present audiences with a snapshot of current artistic practice, one that celebrates the maturity and diversity of Canadian theatre. The festival is especially interested in presenting the work of companies who have evolved an aesthetic or working style that distinguishes them and moves the art form forward.

Essential to its mandate are the twin goals of strengthening and encouraging the promotion of Canadian theatre within Canada and promoting Canadian theatre to international markets; both of these goals seek to provide new economic opportunity for theatre professionals. Providing the work with a springboard to the wider community, means that the festival focuses a major part of its efforts on attracting presenters and producers from across Canada and around the world so that the work presented in the festival can build national and international tours as a result of its efforts.

ROLE IN THE NATIONAL ECOLOGY

The Magnetic North Theatre Festival is unique in Canada, in that over the course of its life it intends to visit every corner of the nation and provide each major centre in Canada with a snapshot of the most exciting theatre available in Canada.

But Magnetic North is also unique because it provides an exciting forum to explore issues in contemporary Canadian theatre practice, develop touring opportunities for artists, and reinforce touring/presenting networks across Canada. Among artists and theatre professionals, the festival acts as an annual gathering place where long-lasting relationships are made and a catalyst to promote Canadian theatre touring throughout the country and internationally. Magnetic North Theatre Festival is one of Canada’s most significant annual cultural events.

Foremost amongst Magnetic North’s many strengths is its ambulatory nature, the only theatre festival in Canada to consistently move its operations to all corners of our wide nation. This simple structure has invited everyone in the country to think of Magnetic North as their festival.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

The passionate initiative of a dedicated group of theatre professionals, The Canadian Theatre Festival Society was incorporated in 2002 after two years of research and feasibility studies. The Magnetic North Theatre Festival (CTFS’ operating name) was created to draw Canadians in to our own magnetic and magical world of contemporary Canadian theatre in English. With far-sighted direction from the Board and the Advisory Council, the plan for a traveling festival was developed: odd years in the Nation’s capital and even years in a different city throughout Canada.

From sea to sea, theatre professionals and supporters were recruited to help realize the vision of a sustainable, engaging festival for audiences and artists to experience the best in theatre every year. The festival is now planning its ninth edition and has presented more than 80 professional presentations in four successful at-home festivals in Ottawa and four cross-country road trips to Edmonton, AB, St. John’s, NF, Vancouver, BC and Kitchener-Waterloo, ON.

To-date…
2003 Ottawa, ON
2004 Edmonton, AB
2005 Ottawa, ON
2006 St. John’s, NF
2007 Ottawa, ON
2008 Vancouver, BC
2009 Ottawa, ON
2010 Kitchener-Waterloo, ON
2011 Ottawa, ON

Upcoming…
2012 Calgary, AB

PROGRAMMING

The artistic vision of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival is one of excellence, inclusiveness and creative development. Dedicated to work on tour, the festival provides a forum for the theatre community to celebrate the quality and diversity of Canadian theatre as never before. It stimulates the independent creative vision of individual artistic directors and piques the interest of audiences from coast to coast to coast. Finally, it is the national stage from which our best theatre speaks to the world about who we are as Canadians.

Productions are selected according to criteria of excellence; to be representative of the diversity of producing organizations from coast to coast to coast; and to appeal to a wide range of audiences.