ALL IN Alberta – an equity and diversity training program for
established theatre companies
Theatre Alberta is proud to partner with the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT), Stage Left Productions, and the Ad Hoc Assembly (AHA) to deliver a theatre-specific equity and diversity training program—ALL IN—to incite radical inclusive change in theatre companies across the province.
What is ALL IN?
PACT launched ALL IN in September 2016, and is partnering with organizations in each province to facilitate the program regionally. After the program was officially announced in the fall of 2016, PACT provided introductory training activities at its 2017 conference in Charlottetown for 150 members in attendance. These sessions were led by Michele Decottignies of Stage Left Productions, and Cole Alvis of the Ad Hoc Assembly. Since then, ALL IN has launched in Toronto, in Ontario more broadly, and in British Columbia.
ALL IN is offered by PACT and its partners to both PACT members and other companies. Theatre Alberta is extending the scope of the program to include theatre companies and artists that are not members of PACT, as Theatre Alberta’s membership includes community and independent companies and artists, as well as theatre educators. Additionally, we are making a purposeful effort to support equity-seeking artists across Alberta to both inform and participate in the program (or not!).
The primary activities of the program will occur in Edmonton and Calgary, beginning with two-day foundational training sessions in April 2018 for a selected cohort of up to 30 participants in each city. ALL IN is an 18-month program that is responsive to the needs of the two cohorts, so that the changes the theatre companies and artists choose to undergo are holistic and meaningful.
The foundational training will be facilitated by Michele Decottignies, a celebrated advocate for equity & diversity in the arts, founder & Artistic Director of Stage Left Productions, the Deaf, Disability, and Mad Arts Alliance of Canada, and the Calgary Collective for Equity and Diversity in the Arts. Decottignies’s practice as a theatre artist, administrator, educator, and activist is rooted in social justice and the development of new artistic and cultural practices that nurture rather than negate diversity.
For more information or to register please click here.
