04/16/2020
Alberta Artists,
We know things are tough. The news of losing the Fringe is a rough pill to swallow, however necessary the decision was. And many are looking for avenues and outlets for all of the creative energy that would have otherwise found a home during this pandemic and even beyond given the uncertainty of when we can resume our communal experiences.
We don’t know what the future holds. We don’t yet know if it’s wise to plan for a 2020/2021 season, and as such, we are looking for new ways to provide artistic and entertaining opportunities for our audiences and beyond, while simultaneously trying to modestly put some of you (us) back to work.
We are looking to develop a series of acts/exhibits/things of an artistic nature, that can be produced and presented from a distance. How we will ultimately curate this will depend on the interest we receive from you. We have ideas about how we’d like to see it function and be presented, but want to first engage with interested parties who have something to offer and then further engage in the ways we see fit to help you produce this work and release it to the masses via our own online platform, the infrastructure of which is currently being discussed, developed and established.
We are looking for actors, filmmakers, musicians, singers, dancers, models, photographers, writers (of all kinds), visual artists, podcasters, comedians - we’re looking for anyone who needs a stage, but one that can thrive in our new normal.
Here’s what we want/need from you: an email ([email protected]) that provides us with either a resume and/or a reasonably detailed introduction to you and your work. If you have a specific project, even if you don’t know how it could work in an online format, tell us about it and provide as much detail as possible. If you don’t have a project, tell us what how you might be interested in getting involved.
We are first and foremost looking for artists that have been impacted by the lockdowns or expect to be - that doesn’t have to mean your show was shut down or some equivalent of such, it can mean you lost your joe job and don’t know how you’ll afford to get back to work creatively when this is all over without a little extra work on the side. We want to help AND create something really special; something “Alberta Strong” as they say - but we need YOU to do it.
Call this Phase 1. We are trying to compile a roster of artists with and without existing projects. From there, our team will look at ways to ensure a diversified line up, both in terms of creators and their mediums. From there, we will contact you (hopefully we can reach out to everyone, but if we get flooded, we may have to restrict it to those we’ve identified as options for our project (project is a variable term; project might me project, it might mean festival, it might mean season, it might mean more and it might mean something in between).
PLEASE SHARE. This is for you. For all of us. We’ve always found a way to ensure the show will go on and not even a global pandemic will slow us down. Not now, not ever.
For now, this information is only available on Facebook, but we will make it formally available on our website (www.ignitiontheatre.ca) later today and across our other social media platforms. We hope so also send out an email blast so that we reach as many as possible, but you sharing this will accomplish that better than anything else.
We might not have all the answers you seek available at our fingertips, so please refrain from asking too many questions that we may simply be unable to answer at this time. We really won’t know what the path forward looks like until we know where the path begins.
We so look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Matt Grue
Ignition Theatre
