Though the theatres are closed right now, we haven’t stopped working on supporting artists and strengthening our community. This spring, Why Not is thrilled to launch our national leadership program, the ThisGen 2020 Fellowship.

ThisGen 2020 Fellowship supports exceptional artists to get to the next level of their career by pairing each participant with both a national, and international mentor who are working at the highest levels of their craft. 

Fellows will have the opportunity to:

• Have regular meetings with their mentors for support, skill building opportunities, and access to new networks
• Participate in peer-to-peer calls
• Explore the industry from different perspectives in a series of Masterclasses
• Engage in self-directed online learning

We’ve assembled a group of groundbreaking artists to mentor our 2020 Fellows. These artistic innovators are creating some of the most exciting work in the world, helping to change the sector in the process.

Selected from across Canada, the ThisGen 2020 Fellows are:

Intisar Awisse - Dramaturgy (Waterloo, ON)
Tai A Grauman - Writing (Edmonton, AB)
Bianca Guimarães de Manuel - Set Design (Calgary, AB)
Crystal Lee -  Production Management (Toronto, ON)
Nikki Shaffeeullah - Directing (Toronto,ON)
Olivia Shortt -  Sound Design (Toronto, ON)
Echo Zhou - Set Design (Toronto, ON )

ThisGen Fellowship supports exceptional artists to get to the next level of their career by pairing each participant with both a national and international mentor who are working at the highest levels of their craft.

Meet the full ThisGen 2020 Team.