Orchestras Canada/Orchestres Canada

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Performing Arts in Canada: Where Are The Audiences?

Lockdowns are behind us, mask mandates have been dropped, social distancing is no longer required, and the doors of concert halls and theatres in Canada are wide open. And yet in many venues, ticket sales are not picking up. What is going on?

On November 16, 2022, we co-presented a webinar on exactly that! We invited experts from Canada and the United States to share insights on box office data in the performing arts and provide some clarity on some of the burning questions on everyone’s mind: Where are our audiences? How do we bring them back?

Presenters

  • Eric Nelson, Client Engagement Officer, TRG Arts
  • William César Lareau, Synapse C
  • Benjamin Broucke, Project Executive, Tourism, Heritage and Culture, Government of New Brunswick
  • Facilitator, Frédéric Julien, Director of Research of Development, CAPACOA

Resources: 

???? Recording
English Recording
French Recording

???? Slide decks
• Eric Nelson, Client Engagement Officer, TRG Arts’s presentation:
English slides
French slides

• Benjamin Broucke, Project Executive, Tourism, Heritage and Culture, Government of New Brunswick’s presentation:
Bilingual slides

• William César Lareau, Synapse C’s presentation:
English slides
French slides

 

Co-presenters

Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance: 2022 Pre-Budget Consultation

Orchestra Canada horizontal Logo

As is our custom, Orchestras Canada recently submitted recommendations to the Federal Standing Committee on Finance as part of that group’s pre-budget consultation process. In our brief, we thank the government of Canada for their rapid response to our sector at the height of the pandemic; summarize the situation, contributions and needs of Canadian orchestras during this time of pandemic recovery; and make the case for  

  • The funding, rapid design and delivery of targeted 3-year supplementary investments in sector recovery, in acknowledgment that rebuilding performing arts audiences to pre-pandemic levels and beyond will be a multi-year process. 
  • The commissioning and funding of rolling benchmark research on the state of the arts and culture sector, to shape better and more responsive cultural policy and funding in future.  
  • Ensuring that the proposed modernization of the Employment Insurance program considers the interests of arts and culture organizations and self-employed artists and cultural workers in the design of the new program. 

You can read the complete brief here.

 

Innovation and Resilience in the Arts, Culture and Heritage

Many of us disconnect when the word “innovation” is uttered: we’ve pivoted repeatedly throughout the pandemic, and we’re tired! At the same time, we all know that genuine innovation – informed by experience, insight, and analysis – is key to our sector’s recovery.

Kelly Hill of Hill Strategies Research presented a webinar on Wednesday, September 28, 2:00-3:00pm ET on the findings of the Innovation and Resilience in the Arts, Culture and Heritage* project (research report here).  

If you are looking to re-connect with “innovation”, we invite you to take inspiration from the work that Kelly and colleagues have done to document and analyze arts sector breakthroughs both large and small.

???? View the slide deck here

???? View the recording in English or in French 

*For more information about the project, visit the Hill Strategies website https://hillstrategies.com/about-the-resilience-project/ 

Orchestras Canada thanks the Creative Cities Network of Canada (which commissioned the original research) and all of the partners, story-seekers, artists and organizations who took part. We are grateful for the opportunity to share the research findings with the broader community.

With generous funding from Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

Logo, Canada Council for the Arts logo

Ontario Arts council Logo

 

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) Declaration

Attendees at Orchestras Canada’s national conference in 2016 asked OC to work with Canadian orchestras and external experts to frame best practices for Canadian orchestras in shaping their work in Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (aka IDEA).  Over the 2016-17 season, volunteers from the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony worked with OC staff to draft and refine the IDEA Declaration for Canadian Orchestras.  It was approved by the OC board in May 2017, and we now present it to the Canadian orchestral community for discussion and adoption.

An Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility Declaration for Canadian Orchestras (printable pdf version)

An Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility Declaration for Canadian Orchestras (Word version – customize for your orchestra’s unique context and brand as your own)

An audio recording of this session is available here.

Community Collaborations

Have you always wanted to make your performances and operations more accessible, but are not sure where to start? Or maybe you have already started, but looking to expand your knowledge on the subject? Are you interested in expanding the palette of artistic offerings that you bring to your community? Do you want to learn more about your organization’s legal obligations under Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA)?  

Orchestras Canada – in collaboration with Ontario Presents and Réseau Ontario, and in consultation with disability arts consultant Rachel Marks – is presenting six expert-led webinars titled EnAbling Change: Accessibility for the Performing Arts. Topics will include: An introduction to disability justice and accessibility legislation (specifically, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act); marketing; venues; programming (for performers, workers AND audiences); and community collaboration and partnerships. 

May 3 & 6, 2022: Community Collaborations (Now complete)

Community collaborations are full of potential, though there are things you’ll want to think about before you embark. In this session, learn from artists and organizations about how to work with each other in ways that are mutually enriching and fulfilling…. and that generate great art! 

Speakers:

Erin Ball – Kingston Circus Arts and LEGacy Circus

Theatre Passe Muraille

Biographies of the speakers

Resources:

Erin Ball slide deck

Theatre Passe Muraille slide deck

Note: You will notice that we have edited out the full videos that Erin Ball shared during the webinar, and only kept brief previews: This is because of copyright, as those videos are still being sold. If you are interested in learning more about those videos, please contact Erin directly at [email protected]

Funded by:

Disability Justice & Programming (part 2) – Mobility Accessibility & People Management

Have you always wanted to make your performances and operations more accessible, but are not sure where to start? Or maybe you have already started, but looking to expand your knowledge on the subject? Are you interested in expanding the palette of artistic offerings that you bring to your community? Do you want to learn more about your organization’s legal obligations under Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA)?  

Orchestras Canada – in collaboration with Ontario Presents and Réseau Ontario, and in consultation with disability arts consultant Rachel Marks – is presenting six expert-led webinars titled EnAbling Change: Accessibility for the Performing Arts. Topics will include: An introduction to disability justice and accessibility legislation (specifically, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act); marketing; venues; programming (for performers, workers AND audiences); and community collaboration and partnerships. 

April 19 & 22, 2022: Disability Justice & Programming (Part 2) – Mobility Accessibility and People Management (Now complete)

In the first portion of this session, we will revisit a Disability Justice framework for understanding accessibility. Then we will learn more about making the performing arts more welcoming to folks with mobility disabilities and dive deeper into how your organization can manage people, on and off stage, with accessibility front and center.

Speakers:

Ophira Calof – multi award winning writer and performer

Charlotte Jacob-Maguire – Universal Accessibility Coordinator at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal

Sean Lee – Director of Programming at Tangled Art + Disability

Biographies of the speakers

Resources from the Webinar:

d/Deaf or Hard of Hearing and Blind or Partially Sighted Accessibility

Have you always wanted to make your performances and operations more accessible, but are not sure where to start? Or maybe you have already started, but looking to expand your knowledge on the subject? Are you interested in expanding the palette of artistic offerings that you bring to your community? Do you want to learn more about your organization’s legal obligations under Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA)?  

Orchestras Canada – in collaboration with Ontario Presents and Réseau Ontario, and in consultation with disability arts consultant Rachel Marks – is presenting six expert-led webinars titled EnAbling Change: Accessibility for the Performing Arts. Topics will include: An introduction to disability justice and accessibility legislation (specifically, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act); marketing; venues; programming (for performers, workers AND audiences); and community collaboration and partnerships. 

March 29 & April 1, 2022: Programming (Part 1) – d/Deaf or Hard of Hearing and Blind or Partially Sighted Accessibility (Now complete)

This amazing panel of speakers will present on ways to make your programming accessible for d/Deaf or Hard of Hearing and Blind or Partially Sighted communities. You won’t want to miss it! (Audio description available at this session)

Speakers:

Natasha “Courage” Bacchus – 3 times Deaf Olympian Sprinter, actress

Kat Germain – professional Audio Describer/teacher, and actor/writer

Leah Riddell – bilingual Deaf entrepreneur, SignAble Vi5ion Inc.

Brooke Woboditsch – President and owner of Closed Caption Services (CCS)

Biographies of the speakers

Resources:

Brooke Woboditsch slide deck

Leah Riddel slide deck

Venue Accessibility and Venue Guides

Have you always wanted to make your performances and operations more accessible, but are not sure where to start? Or maybe you have already started, but looking to expand your knowledge on the subject? Are you interested in expanding the palette of artistic offerings that you bring to your community? Do you want to learn more about your organization’s legal obligations under Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA)?  

Orchestras Canada – in collaboration with Ontario Presents and Réseau Ontario, and in consultation with disability arts consultant Rachel Marks – is presenting six expert-led webinars titled EnAbling Change: Accessibility for the Performing Arts. Topics will include: An introduction to disability justice and accessibility legislation (specifically, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act); marketing; venues; programming (for performers, workers AND audiences); and community collaboration and partnerships. 

March 8 & 11, 2022: Venue Accessibility and Venue Guides (Now complete)

Whether you own your venue or rent it, there are ways to ensure your space is more accessible. Hear from experts on how to assess, communicate, and put venue accessibility into practice. 

Speakers:

Alex Glass – ArtsBuild Ontario

Rachel Marks – Relaxed Performance Consultant and Disability Advocate

Biographies of the speakers

Resources:

Venue Accessibility (Alex Glass)

Venue Guides (Rachel Marks)

ArtsBuild Ontario Toolkit

The National Ballet of Canada Relaxed Performance

Toronto Symphony Orchestra Relaxed Performances

 

Funding provided by:

 

 

Marketing and Accessibility

Have you always wanted to make your performances and operations more accessible, but are not sure where to start? Or maybe you have already started, but looking to expand your knowledge on the subject? Are you interested in expanding the palette of artistic offerings that you bring to your community? Do you want to learn more about your organization’s legal obligations under Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA)?  

Orchestras Canada – in collaboration with Ontario Presents and Réseau Ontario, and in consultation with disability arts consultant Rachel Marks – is presenting six expert-led webinars titled EnAbling Change: Accessibility for the Performing Arts. Topics will include: An introduction to disability justice and accessibility legislation (specifically, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act); marketing; venues; programming (for performers, workers AND audiences); and community collaboration and partnerships. 

February 22 & 25: Marketing and Accessibility (Now complete)

Marketing is essential to getting the word out about what we do, but are our messages accessible to all? These sessions will touch on important considerations and best practices for accessible marketing in the performing arts. 

Speaker:

Kristina McMullin – Tangled Art + Disability, Cripping Masculinity

Biography of the presenter

Resources: 

Kristina McMullin’s slide deck

Resources from Kristina

Resource on Plain Language — by Government of Canada (English)

The Noun Project — icon service

Glossary- Cripping Masculinity

Cripping the Arts Access Guide – by Tangled Arts + Disability (English)

More information about Crip Times podcast

 

          

 

Funding provided by:

Why Accessibility? An Introduction to the AODA and Disability Justice

Have you always wanted to make your performances and operations more accessible, but are not sure where to start? Or maybe you have already started, but looking to expand your knowledge on the subject? Are you interested in expanding the palette of artistic offerings that you bring to your community? Do you want to learn more about your organization’s legal obligations under Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA)?  

Orchestras Canada – in collaboration with Ontario Presents and Réseau Ontario, and in consultation with disability arts consultant Rachel Marks – is presenting six expert-led webinars titled EnAbling Change: Accessibility for the Performing Arts. Topics will include: An introduction to disability justice and accessibility legislation (specifically, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act); marketing; venues; programming (for performers, workers AND audiences); and community collaboration and partnerships. 

February 8 & 11, 2022: Why Accessibility? An Introduction to the AODA and Disability Justice (Now complete)

In this introductory session, we’ll walk through the accessibility standards and requirements set out in the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) — often considered the “gold standard” in Canadian accessibility legislation. Furthermore, you’ll learn about a Disability Justice framework for understanding accessibility.

Speakers:

Constance Exley – Accessibility Services Canada

Biographies of the presenters

Resources: 

Constance Exley’s slide deck

Business of Accessibility Handbook

Accessibility Services Canada AODA Resources

Video: Hidden Mobility Disabilities webinar from Accessibility Services Canada

Funding provided by: