Magnetic North Theatre Festival Pitch Sessions – Call for Submissions
Call for Submissions: Pitch Sessions, Magnetic North
March 8, 2010 — TAPA
Magnetic North Industry Series 2010
Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario
Magnetic North Theatre Festival – June 9 – 19, 2010
The Magnetic North Theatre Festival is the premiere festival of contemporary Canadian theatre in English. Moving between Ottawa and another Canadian city in alternating years, we will celebrate our 8th festival in Kitchener-Waterloo. We will host 9 professional productions from across the country, a student show from Toronto, and myriad ancillary events to enrich your experience. The productions range tremendously in scale and address an array of subjects, in many different styles. What they share is the ability and desire to tour, a notion that is at the very core of Magnetic North.
Pitch Session - Wednesday, June 16, 1pm – 3pm
The Pitch Session is an ideal opportunity for artists to take their project to the next level, find new collaborators and extend touring opportunities, by presenting their shows, or their ideas in development, to producers, artistic directors, festival curators, presenters and other cultural industry representatives. The pitches take place in a theatrical setting, this year at the Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts. We encourage theatricality in your presentation, though it is not mandatory. The rehearsal the day before the actual event will allow for feedback and revisions if you so require.
For a list of Pitch Selection Criteria and Submission Guidelines, see Call for Submissions: Pitch Sessions.
The deadline to submit your completed application is March 29, 2010.
Successful applicants will be notified by April 5, 2010.
For more information, contact Naomi at 416 703 5491 or naomic@interlog.com.
Manitoba artists to be seen in Ottawa with Prairie Scene
Mia Hudson
Winnipeg Free Press
OTTAWA — When Mother Courage and Her Children opens tonight at the Manitoba Theatre Centre it will bring a piece of the National Arts Centre to Winnipeg.
Next year, the National Arts Centre will bring pieces of Manitoba’s arts scene to Ottawa.
From April 26 to May 7, 2011, the NAC will stage Prairie Scene, a festival of more than 500 artists from Manitoba and Saskatchewan across every medium, from dancers and painters to musicians and writers.
It’s meant to keep the ‘national’ in the National Arts Centre.
“The NAC doesn’t want to be known just as great big building on the side of the Rideau Canal,” said Rosemary Thompson, NAC’s director of communications.
The National Arts Centre was created in 1966 to mark Canada’s 100th birthday. Its mandate is to develop performing arts in both the capital region and across the country.
Mother Courage is a co-production between the NAC and MTC, and is the second play this year performed by the newly revived NAC English Theatre Company.
Prairie Scene is the fifth in a series of scene festivals planned by the NAC on two-year intervals. The most recent version was B.C. Scene, held in the spring of 2009. It saw 600 artists from British Columbia visit Ottawa for 90 different events over 13 days. The Atlantic region, Alberta, and Quebec have also had their scenes in the sun, while Ontario and the Arctic are still to come.
Thompson, who joined the NAC recently after more than a decade as a CTV national reporter, said one of the things that drew her to the job was the opportunity to participate in events like Prairie Scene.
“Part of the fun of working here is it does have a national reach,” she said.
Thompson, who got her start in journalism as a cub reporter with CBC television in Winnipeg, even thinks her prairie connections may have helped her land the job.
“(The scenes) really are a chance to get to know the country through its artists,” said Heather Moore, executive director of Prairie Scene.
No artists have yet been confirmed. Moore said about one third of the programming will be decided by next fall.
To read the full article, click here.
