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Indigenous Artist Spotlight: Bryden Gwiss Kiwenzie
Started in 2018, the Indigenous Artist Spotlight series is intended to foster greater awareness and understanding of the strength and diversity of Indigenous art available in Ontario and beyond.
This month we spoke with singer/ song-maker Bryden Gwiss Kiwenzie!
Bryden Gwiss Kiwenzie is a Pow-Wow singer/song-maker and Men's Traditional Dancer. His solo album Round Dance & Beats, which blends traditional Pow Wow songs and hip-hop/electronic beats, was nominated for the 2017 Indigenous Album JUNO. He has also been nominated for Best Hand Drum Album and Best New Artist at the 2017 Indigenous Music Awards.
Check out the interview!
Find all of our past Spotlight interviews here!
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Meet the Artist: Kevin Matthew Wong
The Meet The Artist series highlights amazing and talented performing arts professionals from diverse backgrounds.
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Funding Updates:
On February 1st, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, announced the launch of the Canada Performing Arts Workers Resilience Fund. This new temporary funding program will provide $60 million to help workers in the live performance sector. It will finance initiatives led and delivered by organizations in the sector to directly support independent and self-employed workers (gig workers) in the live performance sector.
The Canada Performing Arts Workers Resilience Fund will fund initiatives that:
- provide short-term financial assistance to those experiencing economic hardship and requiring emergency support; and/or
- provide workers with guidance, information, and professional development opportunities in areas such as financial management, mental health and well-being, and career transition.
This funding opportunity is available to eligible applicants such as artist unions, guilds, associations, service organizations, benevolent foundations, or Indigenous organizations that are mandated to represent the interests of cultural workers in live performance occupations, including musicians, actors, directors, choreographers, designers and technicians.
Organizations receiving funding will be responsible for designing their own initiatives, which may include enhancements to existing programs and activities, as well as new initiatives that align with the funding program’s policy objective of directly supporting individuals.
Funding eligibility requirements are available on the Canada Performing Arts Workers Resilience Fund webpage. The deadline to apply is March 4th, 2022.
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EnAbling Change: Accessibility for the Performing Arts
Orchestras Canada - in collaboration with Ontario Presents and Réseau Ontario, and in consultation with disability arts consultant Rachel Marks – is presenting six free expert-led webinars titled EnAbling Change: Accessibility for the Performing Arts. Topics will include: An introduction to accessibility legislation (specifically, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act); marketing; venues; programming (for performers, workers AND audiences); and community collaboration and partnerships.
The webinars are 2-hour long and each webinar will be augmented with an informal virtual Coffee Chat with experts. French-English simultaneous interpretation, ASL, LSQ and closed captioning in English and Audio Description will be available for the March 29 session.
Webinar Dates (Tuesdays, 1:30-3:30pm ET): February 8th & 22th, March 8th & 29th, April 19th and May 3rd, 2022. Coffee chats follow each webinar on Fridays, 10:30-11:30am ET.
This project has been generously funded by the Government of Ontario.
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Provincial Updates
On January 31st, 2022, Ontario moved into the first step of its most recent reopening plan. Along with the previously announced measures which you can find here:
- Food and drink services will be permitted at indoor sporting events, concert venues, theatres and cinemas, bingo halls and other gaming establishments, horse racing tracks, car racing tracks, and other similar venues, as long as individuals remain seated.
- The capacity for concert venues and theatres is 500 or 50% whichever is less.
- Businesses will no longer have to collect patron information for contact tracing. However, businesses will still be required to actively screen patrons prior to entry into the establishment.
- Ontarians will no longer be legally required to work from home. Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health recommends individuals who are able to work from home continue to do so.
- Previous restrictions on hours of operations or on the sale/service of liquor have been lifted for restaurants, bars, meetings and event spaces, strip clubs, casinos, bingo halls, gaming establishments, and other applicable businesses.
- Physical distancing is not required where proof of vaccination is required.
- Shows are seated only at this time.
- Dancing is not permitted at this stage.
To view the full list of regulations, please visit here.
Additionally, for out-of-province visitors who are entering businesses that require proof of vaccination, vaccine receipts/certificates from their home country or province/state, along with their passport, are permitted to be used as proof to enter. The Verify Ontario app can also scan QR codes from select jurisdictions outside of Canada.
While the use of the vaccine certificate is mandatory for Ontarians in settings where proof of vaccination is required, nine First Nations communities are exempt from this requirement. Members of these communities are still permitted to show their vaccine receipt and a form of ID.
Minister MacLeod also announced that the Ontario Tourism Recovery Program (OTRP) recipients will be announced this week.
The team at OP will provide further updates when more details become available. We want to especially thank Erin and the team at CLMA for these updates and for advocating on behalf of our sector.
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ShiftChange Conference
ShiftChange: Festival Perspectives from Atlantic Canada and Beyond, presented by the Atlantic Presenters Association will bring together arts presenters for festival and event-focused professional development and networking!
ShiftChange 2022 will now take place online! APA is pleased to offer a virtual format for this year's conference. They are planning four sessions, about 90 minutes each, spread out over two weeks, on topics such as google ad grants, risk mitigation, and insurance.
One registration fee enables everyone in your organization to attend. The cost is $35 for APA Members and $50 for non-members plus tax. If you cannot afford registration they'll make it possible for you to attend through the generosity of your peers through their Pay It Forward program. You can contact the team at lisa@atlanticpresenters.ca for more options.
Register here or click this link to view the online schedule and content.
February 23rd to March 3rd from 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
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Save the Date: OSAC Showcase 2022
 The OSAC Staff & Board are hopeful that they can welcome everyone back to their first conference in 2 years! Plans are starting to shape up for the 2022 Showcase in Saskatoon, SK from October 14th -16th at the Saskatoon Inn & Broadway Theatre.
Performing Arts Applications to Showcase will open February 2022 through IWanttoShowcase.com.
Additional details on Showcase coming soon.
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Arts Response Tracking Survey Tracks COVID Recovery Challenges
Business/Arts' ARTS tracker survey highlights the most recent trends and recoveries in the arts sector as organizations continue to deal with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Findings from the most recent survey include:
- 27% of respondents have returned to indoor events
- 34% have returned to museums
- 43% say going to an indoor arts/culture event is as safe as dining at a sit-down restaurant
- 47% say going to an indoor arts/culture event is safer than going to an indoor sporting event
- 28.4% of Prairie respondents have already returned to indoor arts and culture events and performances
- 37.8% have already returned to outdoor events.
Click below to read more.
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Ontario Presents is a performing arts community of presenters, artists, agents, and producers. Our mission is to foster effective working relationships among artists, agents, producers, and presenters in their mutual endeavours to stage great performing arts experiences that open citizen’s minds and hearts to the world and the peoples around them.
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