TAPA Trade Series

Facilitator: The AFC

Date: Tuesday Nov 05 & Thursday Nov 07, 2024
Time:

• Tuesday, November 5: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM ET
• Thursday, November 7: 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM ET

Registration: $125 (+tax)
Location: Online

TAPA is partnering with The AFC to introduce Mental Health First Aid training for our members. We’re beginning with Executive Directors and Senior Managers to equip them with the skills to better support their teams.

Mental health first aid (MHFA) is the crucial support provided to people navigating mental health crises or challenges. Just like a first aid/CPR course teaches us what to do in a cardiac emergency, MHFA gives us the tools and knowledge to help us identify common signs of distress and offer immediate aid until professional assistance is accessible.

The AFC is working towards a time when there is someone who is trained in mental health first aid at every set, stage, venue, and workplace in our sector. Understanding the signs and symptoms of a mental health emergency and knowing how to help can be vital in many life and work situations.

The MHFA Training Course was developed by Opening Minds/Mental Health Commission of Canada.

Course details:
– Self-guided module to be completed beforehand (2 hours approximately)
– Live classroom training:

• Tuesday, November 5: 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM ET
• Thursday, November 7: 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM ET

– Delivered on Zoom
– Fee: $125/person (less that 16 per hour)
– Registration closes October 31, 2024

** The AFC gratefully acknowledges the support of the J & W Murphy Foundation for their Mental Health First Aid Training initiatives**

In partnership with: Generator

Wednesday, November 20, 2024
4:00-6:00PM ET

Location: B-Street Arts Hub, 1100 Bathurst St.

Registration Deadline: November 18

• Gain insight into how trauma can shape our relationship with money.
• Learn key principles of trauma-informed budgeting that prioritize safety, agency, and transparency.
• Opt-in/out in practical exercises to connect your financial choices to your core values & emotional needs.

This workshop isn’t just about managing numbers—it’s about reflecting on your relationship with money and starting to develop a budgetarian strategy that works for you.

Facilitator:

BIANCA GUIMARÃES DE MANUEL is an interdisciplinary artist, balancing flow and structure (or chaos/order).

Follow the link below for more information and don’t forget to sign up as we only have a limited number of places available.

• Passionate about providing guidance to help members achieve their financial goals and make planning for the future a little easier and have a keen interest in educating people about financial literacy.

In partnership with: Creative Arts Financial

Thursday, November 28, 2024
1:00PM-3:00PM ET

Location: B-Street Arts Hub, 1100 Bathurst St.

Registration Deadline: November 26

Informational discussion for independent arts workers about effective personal budgeting, banking, savings, taxes & RRSPs. In addition, learn how fraudsters steal and use personal information, tips to keep financial and personal information safe and what to do if you’re the victim of fraud or identity theft.

Facilitator:

NICK EDDY, Branch Manager, Creative Arts Financial

• In the financial services industry for 20 years, both in Canada and abroad.
• Background in financial planning to help people with long term and short-term goals like retirement, buying a house, tax minimization and savings.
• Passionate about providing guidance to help members achieve their financial goals and make planning for the future a little easier and have a keen interest in educating people about financial literacy.

Facilitator: Ontario Arts Council & Toronto Arts Council

Monday, December 9, 2024
2:30PM-5:30PM 

Cost = FREE!
B-Street Arts Hub, 1100 Bathurst St.

Registration Deadline: December 4

In this session, we will dive into theatre grant opportunities, assessment and evaluation, and the granting cycle. We will explain project grants available for individuals and collectives/companies and how to prepare your application. Participants are encouraged to bring their laptops/hard copy applications.

Facilitator:
DANIEL CARTER, Theatre Officer, Ontario Arts Council
SARAH MILLER-GARVIN, Interim Theatre Program Manager, Toronto Arts Council

In partnership with: Generator

Wednesday, December 11, 2024
2:00-4:00PM ET

Location: B-Street Arts Hub, 1100 Bathurst St.

Registration Deadline: December 9

Led by Wayne Burns, this hands-on workshop offers artist-producers an insider’s look into what makes a grant application successful. Wayne will guide you through essential strategies for writing clear, compelling proposals that capture your project’s vision, impact, and fit with funders’ priorities.

In a unique mock-jury exercise, you’ll get to review real grant applications—some successful, some not—and score them using an authentic jury rubric. Afterward, Wayne will lead a discussion on the scoring process, providing valuable insights into what catches a jury member’s eye and what might hold an application back.

By the end of the session, you’ll leave with:

• A clear understanding of what jury members prioritize
• Practical tools to refine your own grant proposals
• A deeper awareness of common pitfalls and how to avoid them

This workshop is perfect for artist-producers looking to level up their grant-writing skills and boost their chances of securing project funding!

Important Note: By signing up for this workshop, you will receive a Google Form with the grant applications to review one week prior to the workshop. Please read through the grants and score them based on the criteria in the form before the workshop. This should take about 1 to 1.5 hours. Completing this in advance will give you a sense of what it’s like to be on the jury, and during the in-person session, we’ll dive deeper into the review process together.

Facilitator:

WAYNE BURNS

Wayne Burns is an actor, producer and host of the conversation series, Direct Address. He is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, the recipient of two Theatre Nova Scotia Awards, an ACTRA award nominee, and was chosen as a Breakthrough Theatre Artist by NOW magazine. As a grant writer he has helped artists cumulatively be awarded over $250,000.00 for their work, with his own projects receiving funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council and the National Film Board of Canada.

Follow the link below for more information and don’t forget to sign up as we only have a limited number of places available.

In partnership with: Creative Arts Financial

Thursday, February 20, 2025
11:30AM-1:30PM ET

Location: B-Street Arts Hub, 1100 Bathurst St. & Remote Online (Hybrid)

Registration Deadline: February 18

Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs); Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) & First Home Savings Accounts (FHSAs)

Undecided? Confused? Not sure who to ask for guidance? Join us for a Lunch & Learn presented by Nick Eddy – Branch Manager of Creative Arts Financial to find out about the benefits of using Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) and Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) as well as the First Home Savings Account (FHSA). Get more information and guidance on how to decide which one to invest it – maybe it’s a combination of each. We’ll cover some examples of why it’s important to save for retirement now, even if it’s decades away and how to effectively use these products, as a creative artist! If you’re looking to maximize your hard earned income and savings while planning for your future, please join us!

Facilitator:

NICK EDDY, Branch Manager, Creative Arts Financial

• In the financial services industry for 20 years, both in Canada and abroad.
• Background in financial planning to help people with long term and short-term goals like retirement, buying a house, tax minimization and savings.
• Passionate about providing guidance to help members achieve their financial goals and make planning for the future a little easier and have a keen interest in educating people about financial literacy.

In partnership with: Generator

Wednesday, February 26, 2025
3:00-5:00PM ET

Location: B-Street Arts Hub, 1100 Bathurst St. & Remote Online (Hybrid)

Registration Deadline: February 24

• Addressing intellectual property within contracts.
• Creating thoughtful commissioning agreements.
• Aligning contract terms with values and company culture
• Balancing practical “how-tos” with meaningful conversations about ethics and transparency.

Facilitator:

Donna-Michelle St. Bernard aka Belladonna the Blest is an emcee, playwright and agitator. She has advanced her leadership as a general manager, freelance producer, administrative/governance consultant, facilitator, adjudicator and advocate. DM’s main body of work is the 54ology: The First Stone, Give It Up, The Smell of Horses, Diggers, Cake, Sound of the Beast, A Man A Fish, Dark Love, Roominhouse, Salome’s Clothes and Gas Girls. She has collaborated on the creation of The Only Good Indian and They Say He Fell (Pandemic Theatre), Forbidden and Oubliette (Tapestry Opera), The House You Build (Gordon Tootoosis Nekaniwin Theatre) and 501: Toronto in Transit (Theatre Passe Muraille). For Playwrights Canada Press, she is co-editor with Yvette Nolan of Refractions: Solo and Refractions: Scenes as well as editor of Indian Act: Residential School Plays. DM also contributes to the creative ecology as a director, dramaturge and administrator

Follow the link below for more information and don’t forget to sign up as we only have a limited number of places available.

Supported by: CPAMO & The Black Pledge

Tuesday, November 26, 2024
2:30PM-5:00PM

Cost = FREE!
Location Tarragon Theatre, 30 Bridgman Ave, Toronto, ON M5R 1X3.

Registration Deadline: November 21

In the first of a series of “TAPA Talks” under the umbrella of the TAPA Trade Series in collaboration with the Social Justice Committee, our first conversation is focused with the Dance Community.

We need to expand and re-imagine the ways we move forward collectively within a social justice framework. We hope this dialogue can be the first step in mapping our learning about audiences (who? where?), and what opportunities exist within a new demographic of audiences. At this first TAPA TALKS we garner insights about existing projects like the Choreographers Network and hope to strengthen intergenerational relationships leading to collaborations. TAPA extends an invitation to meet, hear and share as we strategize new modes of practice together.

Featuring a panel of industry leaders: Denise Fujiwara, Dedra McDermott, Carmen Romero and Santee Smith.

Facilitators:
KEVIN ORMSBY – Dancer, Choreographer, Artistic Director of KasheDance and Co- Director / Curator of Programming and Engagement at Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO), Kevin A. Ormsby centers culturally responsive art, space / place making and communities in his work. He is the Theatre Centre’s Patrick Connor Award recipient (2023), Nominee (2023) and finalist (2021) for the Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize and recipient of Canada Council for the Arts’ Victor Martyn Lynch – Staunton Award (2014). He has taught at Centennial College, UWI -Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts, UWisconsin – Madison, Northwestern University, and the UTexas- Austin and Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (Jamaica). Outgoing Board member and chair of the Social Justice Committee, he delivers Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI) facilitation and training in the Arts sector. Clients have included the National Ballet of Canada, Canada’s National Ballet School, and Luminato Festival, Dusk Dances, Sampradaya Dance Creations and others.

BAGESHREE VAZE is an Indo-Canadian dance artist, musician and writer. Bageshree initially trained in Bharatha Natyam, and studied vocal music with her father, Damodar Vaze while growing up in St. John’s, NL. She went on to study with some of India’s legendary classical dance and music masters such as Kathak Guru Pt. Jai Kishan Maharaj in New Delhi, and the late renowned vocalist Veena Sahasrabuddhe. As a vocalist, Bageshree has five albums to her credit, including Tarana, an album of music for Indian dance, which was released in India by Times Music under the name Khanak. In 2004 Bageshree was named an MTV India ‘rising star’ and in 2010 she was awarded the K.M. Hunter Award in Dance. Bageshree has a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Carleton University and a Master’s in Dance from York University. In 2022 Bageshree was named Dance Collection Danse’s inaugural Artist Researcher-in-Residence. Bageshree is the 2022 co-recipient of the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Original Sound Composition in the Dance Division.

Thursday, April 17, 2025
4:00PM-6:00PM

Cost = FREE!
Location B Street Arts Hub, 1100 Bathurst Street and Remote Online

Beyond Basic Content & Environment Warnings: A Discussion of Audience Consent & Care

The creation and dissemination of content, sensory and environmental warnings can be controversial in the performing arts sector. Using content & environment warnings as a starting point, join TAPA for a conversation about audience care, consent and access to explore options of crafting patron experience addressing safety and accessibility. What does a potential patron need to know before choosing to attend a show? Can artists and producers facilitate a welcoming atmosphere without compromising the artistic integrity of a show?

The first portion of this two-hour session will include hearing from Mandy E. MacLean and Shanae Sodhi about their recent work in this realm. The second portion will open the floor to discussion and ideating on the concept.

Facilitators:

MANDY E. MacLEAN – (she/her) is a theatremaker and access & disability arts practitioner currently living in Tkarón:to with her Cocker Spaniel, Mulder. She is a proud Maritimer, a member of the Mad Community, and lives with a non-visible disability. She is currently the Artistic & Access Producer at Crossroads Theatre and just completed her role as Dramaturgy & Accessibility Associate (Metcalf Performing Arts Foundation Intern) at Theatre Passe Muraille, where she supported the producing and creation of a variety of work with a priority on access. She is passionate about challenging traditional approaches to creative meaning-making, and her recent & upcoming theatrical works include; Assistant Director for Neither Here nor There (Sick & Twisted Theatre), Associate Dramaturg & Access Support for Blind Dates (TPM), Live Line & Producing Support for The Flin Flon Cowboy (TPM), Access Dramaturg for Flux in the City (Major Matt Mason Collective), Access Coordination for Space Mosque, and is a TDSB Creates Artist in Residence. Mandy collaborates in a variety of roles and recently served as Access Coordination for the 2024 Summer in the Park with Crossroads Theatre, coordinated a year-long access-based research project with Prologue Performing Arts and the W. Ross School for the Blind, and served as Arts Activation Coordinator for Frog in Hand’s Art Shelter: a placemaking venture in Port Credit, Ontario. She is currently developing a piece of Sensory Theatre called The Concussion Play; or How I Learned to Wait, supported by the OAC, Why Not Theatre and Tangled Arts. As Mandy collaborates and interacts with structures and practices, she believes that considering access, in all forms, can lead to exciting work and experiences for everyone.

SHANAE SODHI – (he/him) is a Punjabi artist who lives in Tkaronto where he is the Marketing & Communications Manager at Theatre Passe Muraille and a freelance producer/director. He attended Studio 58 where he was an establishing member of the school’s Student Diversity Committee, a student lead group which works to give strength to marginalized groups within the theatre community by empowering students with the tools and knowledge to engage the conversations of inclusivity around them. Since graduating, Shanae has built a career on creating work that is community oriented and bridges performance with direct action activism. Recent producing credits include: associate producer on The First Stone (New Harlem Productions), producer on Catalina La O: Ahora Conmigo (winner of the 2020 Fringe New Play Prize) and Mx by Lili Robinson (winner of the 2019 Fringe New Play Prize and Cultchivating the Fringe Award). Select directing credits include: Panoptikon by Donna-Michelle St. Bernard (New Harlem Productions), Selective Memories by Todd Simmons (From the Corner Productions).