Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Today Generator launches ArtistProducerResource.com, a brand new online resource for independent producers of live performance. A wiki-textbook-YouTube hybrid, ArtistProducerResource.com is a one-stop-shop for indie producers to freely and remotely access the collective resources, knowledge, templates and tools the arts sector has available - whenever and wherever they need it 24/7.
While producing resources do currently exist, not all of them are relevant to the unique challenges faced by independent project-based producers and there is no comprehensive, centralized location or databank that encompasses all of them. Rather, they are spread out among many different companies, organizations, handbooks, courses and websites - some of which are only available to paying members. With project support from Toronto Arts Council Strategic Funding and a project grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, Generator’s ArtistProducerResource.com aims to bring them all together along with tips, tricks and best practices for producing live performance - from Accessibility to Volunteers - in one place.
“The crowd-sourced nature of a wiki makes it an ideal format for this type of resource,” says Executive Director Kristina Lemieux. “As there is no one way to produce or one model that fits every production, there shouldn’t be one voice dictating how these resources are written and presented. Generator has a lot of resources to offer and the collective knowledge and experience of the community will significantly enhance what we can provide. Collaboration and lateral learning are tenants of our philosophy. We hope artists and producers with expertise from across different live performance disciplines as well as a diversity of practices and project models will come forward to share their own know-how to help grow ArtistProducerResource.com. In this way it’ll be curated by Generator, but crowdsourced by the community. What we are launching today is not a finalized product, but a tool to continue building together.”
As an online platform, ArtistProducerResource.com can be easily adapted, updated and expanded. Like Generator’s model, it’s designed to be fluid and responsive to the immediate needs and challenges of the artists it serves. Being online also allows access for knowledge-sharing with people who are geographically or financially restricted from resources and training only available in downtown Toronto. While currently Toronto-centric, Generator hopes the content will expand to better support artistic practices from coast-to-coast in Canada. The YouTube channel will further support this as a future platform for artists to showcase their work. Ideally this will give people - audiences, venues, presenters, etc. - a better understanding for the quality and scope of productions being made at the indie level, and a place to start conversations between indie companies and venues.
“We are artists ourselves,” says Katie Leamen, Director of Coordination and Communications at Generator. “Everyone working at our organization, the instructors we hire to teach and people who’ve written and contributed content to this resource are working in the field, so we’ve been there: We know the frustration of knowing resources are out there, but that we can’t access them when we need them, if at all. Up until yesterday, there was no easy Google search for ‘How to produce live theatre’ (in Canada). With ArtistProducerResource.com, that’s a whole lot easier which means less time researching how to make something, and more time and creative effort into the actual making of it.”
Founding contributors for ArtistProducerResource.com include: Michael Wheeler, Camila Diaz-Varela, Katie Leamen, Kristina Lemieux, Alison Wong, Kevin Matthew Wong, Isaac Campbell and Alison Bowie of Techne, Kinnon Elliott, Dhulfiqar (Dolf) Gshayyish, Ryan Weatherby, Brian Postalian, Ruthie Luff, Pip Bradford, Monique Renaud, Sabrina A. Bandali, Aaron Willis, Rose Hopkins, and Emma Westray.
Generator is a mentoring, teaching, and innovation incubator that empowers independent artists, producers and leaders. From intensive programs to workshops, Generator is transforming the role of the artist producer one artist at a time. Generator is supported by Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Government of Canada and Business for the Arts.
2017-11-13
Toronto: Generator launches ArtistProducerResource.com for independent producers