Posts tagged ‘Toronto City Council’

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April 17, 2012

In Which We Present: Things Fringe

Anyone who knows me at ALL knows of my love and support for the Toronto Fringe Festival. I have attended for years, I have held my own in the tent, overseen lotteries, worked on productions,  and am Vice President of the Board of Directors. It has gone from an awesome two-weeks-in-July festival to  two-weeks-in-July/two-weeks-in-January to an organization that is brimming with art and activity year round. Its staff goes from five to five hundred in the blink of an eye. You might not know about everything happening over there.
May I present Things Fringe for today’s blog post, which will also be replicated as a PSA in the What’s On section.

Things Fringe lately:

THE LOL CAMPAIGN!

The Lots Of Little Campaign – our crowd sourced campaign to raise $5000 through bits and pieces of donations… your $5 makes a big difference, your $10 means even more.  As Lots Of Little Donors, you receive a special LOL Button to wear proudly at this summer’s festival (to get you off the hook from tipping at the door!) and will have your name listed on our website.  Donations over $10 receive a charitable tax receipt. Here’s a video to watch!  Now go check the change jar.

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THE ONE HUNDRED!

Our new Outreach Coordinator, Pip. Lemurs not guaranteed to appear.

The Toronto Fringe is Recruiting 100 Young Theatre Entrepreneurs.  Are you ready for it?
–You are between the ages of 17 and 24 and you’re ready to take the theatre world by storm
–You are ready to burst your theatre-conservatory-drama-club-summer-arts-camp-theatre bubble
–You think that it takes more than ‘just acting’ to make it as a theatre artist
–You aren’t a follower…you’re a doer, a leader, a mover and a shaker
Jump into the real world this summer and join

The 100: a 12 day immersive theatre entrepreneur bootcamp at the Fringe Festival.


Extended info here, application here, Facebook Page here. There – you`re good to go.

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Last but oh so certainly NOT least, I present:

THE CREATION LAB!
The Creation Lab is the  home of the Toronto Fringe and the indie arts community. The Lab consists of two studio spaces and the Toronto Fringe admin office, both housed on the 4th floor of the Centre for Social Innovation in the Annex. (Just steps away from Bathurst Station.) Both studios are available for anyone to rent at anytime to do whatever they want. The spaces can be rented at various levels of subsidy, on a first-come, first-serve basis. The studios are already a buzzing arts hub, bookable all hours of the day and night, where artists can focus on their craft and connect with their community without breaking the bank.  There was a great article in BlogTO a while back if you’d care to read. Now go book some space.

These are but THREE THINGS. May I humbly suggest you check out the website for more opportunities, including volunteering.

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March 18, 2012

Sunday Roundup – March 18


Protests and readings and fundraisers and social media plans and new and current clients make for a busy week.

SO!

A Double PSA Tuesday – Michael Healey‘s Proud receives its first reading as part of a fundraiser for Passe Muraille on Monday March 19th at 730 pm

Great Grandmothers and the Internet – modern words and a very brief opinion on the Kony 2012 – thing. Ugandan government has created a response video – I wonder if it will go viral too.

We Do Not Protest Enough, Methinks – about the Vancouver Playhouse.This is when I started wondering what the folks I know in Vancouver are thinking doing and wondering.

We Doth Protest and Answer Questions – some great responses in to my cultural ponderings.

Tomorrow – the full post of questions and answers and links and blog posts on the Vancouver cultural concept from the folks who live and breathe its cultural air – some optimistic, some sad, some wondering, all thoughtful. Thank you so much to those who responded and shared information.

And Sunday is the day for Op-Ed pieces – here’s one from the Star and Matthew Jocelyn, artistic and general director of Canadian Stage.

Entire performing arts industry is to blame for the demise of the Vancouver Playhouse

Along the lines of this week – a really interesting article from HowlRound – The Importance of Beginning: the Changing Relationship of Artists, Organizations, and Communities . Give it a read – it’s the Sunday after St. Patrick’s Day, and you’re probably enjoying the couch enough to stay put for a bit.

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February 26, 2012

Sunday Roundup – February 26

Sunday is here! A great week – what went on, and what’s coming up?

To Do, To Don’t, To Done, ToDay – to do list vs not to do list – what do you think?

Some of My Best Friends are Equity Members, Vol. 2 – important CAEA meeting coming up tomorrow at the Gladstone.

Today I’m off to Totsapalooza with Small Print Toronto at Revival – I can’t wait. If you’ve got smalls you should completely stop by.

The 12 hour Art Marathon is coming along nicely – an absolutely stroke of luck has slotted in Crystal Pite (dance) at 1:30 pm at the Bluma, and Monsieur Lahzar (film) at 4:30. I’m especially excited about Crystal Pite – I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find dance within the boundaries of the marathon – I was going to see Pina and combine film and dance but I’m glad it’s getting it’s own time slot. I’m booking theatre and music next, and Wednesday will be here soon!

Something for the playwrights I know: Call for Submissions: New Canadian Plays, Embassy of Canada in collaboration with Heritage Canada – NEW  CANADIAN  PLAYS  is a bi-annual project which aims to introduce and to promote new anglophone and francophone Canadian plays on the German-speaking theatre scene. A jury consisting of German theatre experts reads, evaluates and selects the best plays.

We’ve all known this for a long time, and here’s an article about it – Tapping music’s power to heal the brain

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January 13, 2012

Reading Productivity Articles Does Not Make You Productive

January comes with a slew of resolutions. Some are about getting organized and being more productive, and the inevitable batch of articles from everyone about how to be more productive. And they have stock images of harried looking people surrounded by stacks of paper. (I think my choice is much more soothing).

So you spend hours reading such articles. Not productive.

And you spend hours setting up systems and files and meetings and Gantt charts that nobody can quite get the hang of using because it is your system and way of working, not theirs and so they are rejected.  Not productive.

I don’t think productivity is about your beautifully colour coded files, or code phrases (although I read the Staples catalogue like others read the Victoria’s Secret Catalogue). I think productivity is about actually doing what you’re meant to be doing, not spending time organizing what you’re meant to be doing.

A couple of articles that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Tips For Getting More Organized – Don’t.

and

Managing Yourself With Your Smartphone.

Things I like that have made me more productive? Given that I spend most of my communication time emailing it’s mostly about email.

Gmail’s Boomerang – which allows me to tag a sent message to come back to my inbox if nobody responds in X number of days.  Now I don’t have to remember when I’ve sent it, did they respond, go through sent file, go through email files find and resend. Gmail will tell me. One less thing to worry about until I need to worry about it. It also allows me to write the email now and schedule it to send later – not sitting in drafts where I keep clicking and wondering what that is – it just deals with it so I can do other stuff.

Gmail also suggests people to add to an email chain. If I usually email Ashley, Rhett and Scarlett at the same time, and this time only email Rhett, it will suggest I add Scarlett and Ashley before I send it, saving time on the Fwd: whoops! forgot to add you! front. Which is essentially another email chain. Not productive.

And my favourite: Dear Rhett, attached please find the commendation for Ashley as a true gentleman. And I go to hit send, and Gmail pauses and asks, “you used the word attached in your email but there is no attachment. Continue?”

Brilliant.

If you would like to continue reading productivity articles, by all means do so. But I’m going to mix my suggestion metaphors here.

Kaizen – long story short (no, I’m not linking to an article, you have two articles up there to read and I will not enable your habit).  Small steps. One thing. Not hundreds of dollars of organizing tools and equipment from Staples, but one thing you can do to get organized. Thousand mile journey, single step idea.

And from The Table Comes First by Adam Gponik which is a wonderful book about food. In the chapter on recipes, he points out that most recipes by celebrity chefs are too daunting to create as a whole, by yourself, in your little four burner, one strainer kitchen.  Instead we “read a long recipe and take away from it a singly feature – a new way of reducing onions, the idea of adding the cubed potatoes to the green beans – a gesture, rather than a gestalt.“

TORONTO BUDGET: Arts Won’t Be Cut. – many thanks to  Councilor Gary Crawford, Councilor Michael Thompson  the Executive Committee,  the members of Theatre Task Force. I’d also like to add in a big thank you to everyone who wrote letters, emailed, called, went and gave deputations, blogged, facebooked, tweeted and generally rallied around the idea that cuts to the Arts are cuts to our City and our quality of life.

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January 11, 2012

Why the Arts Should be Funded (Toronto, we’re lagging – still…)

New Study:  Toronto Falls Far Behind large Canadian Cities in Municipal Arts Investment
Release from the Toronto Arts Council

Hill Strategies Research released a report today, Municipal Cultural Investment in Five Large Canadian Cities, comparing funding in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.
Investment by Toronto City Council ranks lowest by a wide margin: per capita investment in each city is, from highest to lowest:

Montreal: $55
Vancouver: $47
Calgary: $42
Ottawa: $28
Toronto: $19

“Throughout major international cultural centres, municipal arts funding is key to maintaining a thriving creative city, attractive to residents and tourists alike.  We are at the tipping point; this study clearly demonstrates that Toronto risks losing its position as Canada’s go-to city for arts and culture.” noted Claire Hopkinson, Executive Director of Toronto Arts Council.

The impact of cultural investment is felt throughout Toronto’s economy, much of which is dependent upon a vibrant arts sector.  The arts and culture industry contributes $9 billion to Toronto’s local economy and supports 130,000 jobs.

In May 2011, Toronto City Council affirmed the critical importance of arts and culture funding when it unanimously endorsed the Creative Capital Gains report.  The report recommends increasing Toronto’s arts funding to $25 per capita.

In contradiction of this unanimous decision, the 2012 City Operating Budget, approved by Budget Committee yesterday, recommends a reduction in Toronto’s arts and culture grants by $2 million and additional reductions to the city’s department of Economic Development and Culture.   Given that every dollar invested by the city in grants to arts organizations in Toronto leverages an additional $17 in funding from other sources this will have the direct effect of reducing investment in Toronto by $25 million.

“It is hard to exaggerate the impact of such a cut.  Of course artists and arts organizations will be affected, but so too will every Toronto resident who benefits from access to arts programming as well as Toronto’s tourism industry, its restaurants, hotels, taxis and retail sectors” said John McKellar, Chair of Toronto Arts Council.

Toronto’s Executive Committee, chaired by the Mayor, will review the Budget Committee’s recommended budget on Thursday, January 12, following which it will go to the full City Council on January 17 for final approval.

For more information, please contact: Susan Wright, 416-392-6802 x211; susan@torontoartscouncil.org.

On that note but in the opposite way – an article from the Guardian – Why Should We Fund the Arts?

BUDGET DAY TOMORROW! Let’s see what’s happened because of or despite hundreds and thousands of people writing, calling, giving deputations in person, signing petitions, you name it.

 

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December 11, 2011

Sunday Roundup – December 11

Graduation and Deputation were the highlights of my week. Read on for what else happened…

Graduation! – some thoughts and thank yous on graduating from Entrepreneuse School

Deputation and Graduation – Talk about Hump Day – full text of my deputation at City Hall on the 7th

You’re Charging HOW much, and a call for Submissions – why handmade art costs money, and Kensington Murals.

Together Toronto has a great section on their site devoted to the arts – and a way to directly email your Councillor from the page.

Have a lovely Sunday – I have Christmas cards to do and strategy to create  – in that order.

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December 9, 2011

You’re Charging HOW much, and a Call for Submissions

Quick post today with a bit of reading to finish off the week – an excellent article I found on a friend’s FB wall about the true cost of handmade:

I recently did my first craft fair.  And at that craft fair, one woman picked up every one of my hats, tried them on, and made a sort of a noise in the back of her throat indicating disgust. Then she muttered, “I don’t really like these hats” before looking at the price tag for one of them and looking at me over her glasses: “Do you really charge this much?” Read more

Personally, I would want to hand that person a brush and a tube of paint, or a crochet hook and skein of yarn and say, “Have at it!” It’s why I don’t get to work many craft shows.

And the Kensington Market BIA has a call for submissions out: The Kensington Market BIA has allocated some funds to work with local merchants to increase the number of murals installed in the area. Read more

And finally if you didn’t have time to tune into the show of shows otherwise known as the 2012 Budget hearings, I recommend you wander over to Torontoist where they live blogged the hell out of them:

Day One           Day Two

That’s me in the red hat.

Also an excellent commentary by Hamutal Dotan on Government, Ford Style.

 

 

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December 7, 2011

Deputation and Graduation -talk about Hump Day

Today was graduation from Entrepreneuse School. I have a Certificate of Achievement.I have Achieved.

Today was the first day of Deputations at City Hall regarding potential budget cuts.

 

This is the clean edited version of my deputation today – I say clean not as in dirty words but that it’s not the version edited on-site with a lipliner. I was number 20 on the list and spoke at around 1:45 p.m.  Fun fact – there were 348 people on the  list- deputations will go 930 to 930 today and tomorrow,  with meal breaks, and anyone who doesn’t get to speak can submit in writing. I do not think they will all get to speak.

Good morning – well, my notes say good morning, but I’ll say good afternoon.

My name is Sue Edworthy. I am a resident of Toronto; a homeowner, a taxpayer, and a small business owner. I am also a member of the arts and culture sector, and I am here to speak to you today about the 10% cut on the table for arts and culture.

In May 2011 – just six months ago – City Council unanimously endorsed the Creative Capital Gains report presented to them.

Of particular importance, the report set a target of $25 per capita funding for arts and culture, from its current $18 per capita.

I know that everyone on this council and committee are working hard to arrive at a good solution for Toronto. But I worry you have lost sight of the bigger picture of what makes a city great, in anticipation of short term gains. And they are not really gains at all – a cut of 10% is in many ways more than the number it represents on a spreadsheet.  Ten percent in real life equals

Fewer arts projects in neighbourhoods across the city:  TAC currently supports 250 arts projects annually with grants totaling just over $1 million.

Fewer individual artists will receive support: TAC currently supports 200 individual artists including writers, composers, visual and media artists with grants totaling just over $1 million.

Arts and culture are essential to Toronto’s economy, generating $9 billion every year –that figure is from 2006 or 07 I believe.  The city achieves this economic return on a relatively small arts investment.

I am fairly certain that members of the current City Council decided to run for office because they had a vision for a better city, that they would work with their colleagues and constituents to make Toronto better if not great. Arts and culture are part of what makes our city great. I have faith in you to realize the importance of the request I am making.

I know you’ve read and heard these numbers before – you’ve endorsed the report, you’ve heard and read numerous deputations and requests on this topic.  This indicates to me that you saw the value in in arts and culture and endorsed moving ahead. By cutting 10 percent now you are contradicting your own endorsement.

I’ll leave you with a fable from over 2000 years ago, with the hope that it still resonates to members of this committee, and City Council at large.

A man and his wife owned a very special goose. Every day the goose would lay a golden egg, which made the couple very rich.  ”Just think,” said the man’s wife, “If we could have all the golden eggs that are inside the goose, we could be richer much faster.” “You’re right,” said her husband, “We wouldn’t have to wait for the goose to lay her egg every day.” So, the couple killed the goose and cut her open, only to find that she was just like every other goose. She had no golden eggs inside of her at all, and they had no more golden eggs

Thank you.

…Actually – I realize that I have 20 more seconds left. I’d like to answer Councillor del Grande’s earlier comment about everyone saying no to cuts, but but nobody is saying where the money will come from. SO -

-        I would not have repealed the vehicle registration tax;

-        I would not have instituted a property tax freeze for last year;

-        I would have raised property taxes this year and I say as a homeowner good, I expect that to live here;

-        I would be looking into road tolls and

-        I would be looking into a hotel/tourism fee as so many other cities do.

Thank you.

People clapped, I don’t know what that means, Gord Perks seemed to agree saying “look there are golden eggs!” and Sarah Doucette said thank you for coming. So did Janet Davis. Piece spoken, we shall see.

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December 6, 2011

Graduation!

Entrepreneuse School ends tomorrow – ten weeks, two days a week of business boot camp and I am leaving with a fifty page document (11 pt Arial font, single spaced) that is the official blueprint of Sue Edworthy Arts Planning.  From Company Profile to fighting with Excel for financials, I have enjoyed every exhausting minute of it. It was worth it – combining this type of course – in class, weekly milestones, research, planning planning and more planning along with working with  clients and my regularly scheduled programming already in progress is a definite challenge. Many thanks to those I had to disappear on due to unfinished homework, meetings scheduled around class time, who smiled at my ever-present notebook and helped in oh, so many ways. It’s not many who have such a great support network, and I’m glad I do.

I am very proud of myself and my amazing classmates, all of whom took the road less travelled, proud of our efforts and our courage – which of course leads to:

“Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” -JFK

We now have all four.

Congratulations, TBDC Group 123! We did it!

PS – No, there is no rest for the wicked or weary  – tomorrow is not only Graduation, but Deputation at City Hall. More on that later.

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December 4, 2011

Sunday Roundup – December 4

It’s DECEMBER. Weird.

Last week of Entrepreneuse School this week, the end of one chapter  is hurtling towards us with the beginning of a new one of the very next page.

This week was art nd politics and art and politics and trying to figure out the best way to explain to some the important of the former to the latter. How did we do?

a tale as old as time, a 30′s style salon and our national anthem – the 1164 Cabaret was born at Pentimento Gallery and needs to become a regular thing in my opinion.

Cool contest with Angelwalk Theatre – it is. Break out the FlipCam and off you go.

A Message From Friends of the Arts Re: 2012 Toronto City Budget Recommendations – ten percent cuts across the board  – culture division, the majors, grants you name it – nothing is sacred. If you read no other post here today, read this one and its companion piece.

About Red – playing at the Bluma, courtesy Canadian Stage. Go and see it.Pieces like Red are part of he reason the posts above and below it are so important.

How To Make a Deputation: A Message from the Toronto Arts Foundation – part two. If the post about the cuts worked you up enough to go and say something, here’s a handy primer from the TAF on how to say it well.

In other quick news – Saw VideoCab’s The Life and Times of Mackenzie King yesterday afternoon – they are the perfect part of an awesome Saturday. Go and see it, if for no other reason that to try to figure out who RB Bennett reminds you of.

Have a good Sunday – those clouds look suspiciously determined so I’ll sit tight here and finish my deputation and business plan.

 

 

 

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