Life in the Un-Conference Wake

Nearing the tail-end of CanStage’s Un-Conference I snuck away to start this post and (within earshot of just a few of many discussions about funding, creative structures, culture, art) had a heck of a time diving through a pile of scribbled notes from the past four hours…

The participants came here for many reasons, and I don’t want to name drop (except I really really do want to name drop, but will practice self-restraint..) — let’s just say that some of the people who’ve casually or bluntly influenced me most since landing in Toronto are here, and together they’re covering a lot of ground.

A quick background: CanStage’s Festival of Ideas and Creation (June 8th – 27th)  is nearing it’s end, and today discussion facilitation specialist, Misha Glouberman (of Trampoline Hall and the performance piece Diplomatic Immunities), has been called in to walk us through a complicated conversation. A group of 50 arts advocates and makers follow Misha through a series of discussions in the morning which ultimately lead to an afternoon of open panels.

The topic: The future(s) of Toronto Performance.

We dive into funding, and the pragmatics of finding space to work and perform. Of new media, and of the value of written work in an increasingly creation-based community and more.

And it’s great – really. Mischa’s set it up in a way that asks that we turn the scope inward; the personal is the public. A microcosm of society, the private struggle directly reflects our communities’ limits, its challenges and successes…

That’s all very philosophical, but what it comes down to is this: I sense frustration. I sense that these artists and arts advocates feel like they could and should be doing more. ‘Should’ because they’re inclined to and because they’re feeling varying degrees of dissatisfaction with the limits – and perhaps the reach – of their work.

This forum works. CanStage and Misha are onto something here; there’s a genuine sense that we can bring the strategies discussed back into our personal work and put our best into the future(s) of performance in Toronto that we hope to build.

The most refreshing feeling is that these artists are sitting on a legacy of experience, but they’re here because they won’t stand still. This is not the end of an era, but a common agreement to move forward as artists with fresh eyes and open ears.

Wheels are turning friends and let’s just go ahead and assume this is the start of a renewal (v.2.0) of performance in Toronto.