Abstracts
Abstract
This series of first-person reflections by emerging artists meditates on the future of theatre and performance. Written collectively by a past artistic director and recent participants of the AMY (Artist Mentoring Youth) Project, a Toronto-based arts organization providing free and accessible mentorship and creative opportunities to youth, the article offers specific visions from each contributor: how marginalized artists will disrupt systems of oppression to become part of the mainstream; that any possible future will need to draw from our past, pre-capitalism relationships to performance; and how community-centred approaches to performance will enable the professional sector to become meaningfully equitable.
Keywords:
- youth theatre,
- the AMY Project,
- futurism,
- queer arts,
- disability arts,
- community arts
Résumé
Cette série de réflexions sur l’avenir du théâtre et de la performance est constituée de textes à la première personne écrits par une ancienne directrice artistique du projet AMY (Artist Mentoring Youth), un organisme artistique basé à Toronto qui offre gratuitement aux jeunes des services de mentorat et des activités créatives, et par trois artistes émergentes ayant participé au programme récemment. Chacune s’exprime sur une série de sujets : comment les artistes marginalisés réussissent à perturber les systèmes d’oppression pour se joindre au courant dominant; le fait qu’il faudra revenir sur notre rapport à la performance d’avant l’ère du capitalisme pour aller de l’avant; et comment une approche de la performance centrée sur la communauté permettra au secteur professionnel de devenir réellement équitable.
Mots-clés :
- théâtre jeunesse,
- le projet AMY,
- futurisme,
- arts queer,
- handicap,
- arts communautaires
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Appendices
Biographical notes
Nikki Shaffeeullah is a theatre and film artist, cultural connector, facilitator, community organizer, and researcher based in Tkaronto, Dish With One Spoon Territory. Her past affiliations include serving as Artistic Director for the AMY Project; Editor-in-Chief for alt.theatre: cultural diversity and the stage; and Assistant Artistic Director of Jumblies Theatre. She has held fellowships and residencies with Canadian Stage, Why Not Theatre, the Theatre Centre, the Summerworks Festival, the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators, Training for Change, and others. Her critical writing has been published in Canadian Theatre Review, alt.theatre, Theatre Research in Canada, and the Montreal Review of Books.
nevada jane arlow got her name from a series of dreams about the mojave desert. she is a writer and performance artist with a “magical ecofeminist” praxis. she lives in toronto and longs for primordial mud.
Jenn Boulay is an emerging interdisciplinary theatre artist, musician, playwright, and scholar. She is currently finishing her B.A. at the University of Toronto, pursuing a specialist in Drama, Theatre, and Performance Studies and Critical Studies in Equity and Solidarity. Her current research interests are Canadian disability theatre, metatheatricality within aesthetic sport performance (gymnastics), and the politics of visible and non-visible identities. Jenn will be co-editing the upcoming issue of Knots: An Undergraduate Journal of Disability Studies and has a few forthcoming articles. Outside of academics, she writes music, plays, and creates films with her photography and videography.
Senjuti Aurora Sarker is an arts worker, theatre designer, arts manager, facilitator, and librarian. Her practice stretches from arts programming to librarianship with goals of centring community development and investment. She completed her undergraduate in Theatre and Film Studies at McMaster University and her graduate studies in Library and Information Science (MLIS), where her research focus remained on strategizing a greater investment in marginalized and equity-seeking communities with public services. During her masters she also investigated how arts-based public programs and services impact new and emerging communities. She is currently the public programming coordinator at the Art Gallery of Hamilton.