The Theatre Centre’s Residency Program is at the very heart of what we do: a structured two-year program (sometimes longer!) provides groups/artists with the necessary space, funding and mentorship to craft ideas still in their infancy into finished works that are provocative, innovative, and ambitious. Residency facilitates a highly collaborative artistic process that supports new work led by directors, designers, composers, choreographers, architects, visual artists, or even neurologists. We are looking for good ideas.

Residency has its roots in the R&D (Research & Development) program, established by The Theatre Centre in 1983.

Some things to note: 
• We are committed to Indigenous artists leading artistic projects at The Theatre Centre, and strongly encourage applications from First Nations, Inuit, and Métis artists.
• Earlier this fall we announced our commitment to supporting the recognition of comedy as an art form via Comedy is Art. In this round of Residency submissions, we will specifically be offering a space to an artist/artists working in comedy.
• We are also encouraging applications from composers and/or choreographers, though we are excited to receive applications from any range of artistic practices.

Residency encourages artists to create a new work from scratch, or to re-imagine an old idea – an idea that will form the basis of a potentially important work of art.

Residency is not a program designed for emerging artists. We certainly welcome applications from a range of experience, but we have found that Residency is of particular benefit to artists with an established practice of creation. On the other hand, we’re always breaking the rules around here, so if you’ve got a big idea you’re looking to explore, and you need a space in which to explore it, this may be the program for you.

Depending on the needs of the project, a minimum 2-year commitment is made in order to support long-term development and artistic growth. We emphasize the investigation of the artistic process and encourage artists to take creative risks, enabling them to create not only new works of art, but also new modes of creation for themselves.

Residency provides artists with access to a fully equipped theatre space with a technician, funding, and artistic support.

Time Commitment: 
Focused Residency work periods occur in June/July, August/September and December. Residency artists are required to work during these times and publicly share the results of – and questions arising from – their process. There is also an opportunity to access one another as resources to further the growth and development of each other’s work. Cross pollination is one of the most exciting elements of Residency at The Theatre Centre.

For artists working in comedy this might be different for you. We’re going to be asking what you need from a Residency Program.

Proposals should be no more than 3 pages in length and should include:

▪ Brief history of you or your company

▪ What is your idea?

▪ Why does your idea/process require the support of The Theatre Centre Residency? (Think specifically of our resource of space: why this program, and not a playwright-in-residence grant?)

▪ How does this idea sit within your overall body of work?

▪ Links to support material, ie. video, sound files, photos, etc.

Please email your application as one PDF (no google doc links please), and support materials should be links within this document and not provided as attachments.

Deadline: January 8, 2020 by 5pm EST.

Only successful applicants will be contacted for an interview in February. We have room for between 2 to 4 new Residency projects (depending on the scale of projects selected) beginning in the summer of 2020.

The Theatre Centre is committed to equity practices. We encourage applications from queer, transgender and two-spirited people, First Nations, Inuit & Métis, people of colour, and people with disabilities.

We are committed to providing accommodations for people with disabilities in all parts of the hiring process. If you require an accommodation, please let us know and we will work with you to meet your needs.

Our preliminary assessment panel* includes:
Aislinn Rose: Theatre Centre Artistic Director
Liza Paul: Theatre Centre Café/Bar Curator & Manager
Ian Kamau: Current Residency Artist at The Theatre Centre

*This list is subject to change, but we thought you’d like to have a sense of your audience while putting your applications together.

Aislinn will be holding “open office” hours in The Theatre Centre Café/Bar from 10am to 6pm on Wednesday, December 11, 2019. This is not a time to pitch your project, but to ask questions.

To download a PDF of the application click here.