Young, Gifted and Black is a “live” music showcase and summit that focuses on multi-genre musical expression from African-Canadian youth. Event participants, performers and attendees will have the chance to: gain leadership skills in the Canadian music sector; connect with established African-Canadian music executives; provide meaningful networking opportunities for youth talents; all while enjoying a positively Afro-Diasporic multi-genre (i.e. rap, reggae, R&B/soul, gospel, electronic, African) music concert. 

The Battle of the Bands-styled “live” showcase component will support a select number of black youth musical talents, across music genres, by encouraging self-esteem development and “discovery”.

The “Passing the Torch” Summit component of the event will provide select musicians a tangible opportunity to connect directly with experienced African-Canadian music industry executives through an interactive speed-dating styled activity. They will get 10-15 minutes one-on-one with a high level Songwriter, DJ, Manager, Agent, Producer, Publisher, A&R, or Music Festival Producer. 

Date: February 27, 2015 at 9 pm

Location: The Rivoli 334 Queen St. W. Toronto ON

Involving the industry’s major stakeholders, Equity In Theatre (EIT) is a new and inclusive initiative designed to help redress gender inequities in the theatre industry. Although women form the vast majority of theatre school graduates, support workers, amateur practitioners, and audience members, when it comes to key creative roles in the sector (e.g. AD, director, and playwright), their numbers diminish substantially, dropping below the 35% marker. With funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Trillium Foundation, EIT will work for change: fostering dialogue, generating greater awareness of and exposure to Canadian women practitioners, and developing community actions to help rectify industry imbalances. This will be achieved via a multifaceted and multi-partnered response involving the national community as a whole. To learn more about the EIT project, click here, “like” us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.

The Equity in Theatre website (www.eit.playwrightsguild.ca) will be up and running by April 2015. It will serve as an informational hub, and it will also house a myriad of items, such as a calendar of events, an equity tool kit, a resources listing, and more, including a database of women theatre practitioners (that way, when ADs and producers say they don’t know of any women playwrights or directors, there’s a website they can visit to get to know some). If you identify as a woman theatre practitioner, make sure that you are included in EIT’s database of Canadian women theatre artists, which will provide a resource for the larger community. To do so, click here: https://playwrightsguildcanada.wufoo.com/forms/z11j6i4t1p0ogz7/

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Rebecca Burton (rebecca@playwrightsguild.ca) or Jennie Egerdie (admin@playwrightsguild.ca) at PGC by email or phone (#416-703-0201).

On Sunday, March 8, 2015 help celebrate International Women’s Day by hacking the internet! Increase women’s visibility in the arts by adding pages and sites on women in Canadian theatre to online Wiki pages. You can participate from the comfort of your own home, or attend one of the host locations set-up across the country. For more information, and to register for this event, visit the EIT Hackathon website: https://equityhack.wordpress.com

Breach is an upcoming independent, online journal of arts writing. A platform for the examination of contemporary art practice as it pertains to current social issues, Breach seeks to interrogate the intersections between the political and the cultural in a critical and self-reflexive manner.

Breach is currently accepting submissions for its launch, on the theme of decolonial aesthetics. We are not only interested in writing that employs a decolonial framework, but also that which is critical of decolonial views as they are commonly held in both activist circles and contemporary art practice.
Writers are free to consider the following suggestions, though this list is by no means exhaustive:

-The political implications and social ramifications of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, possibly in relation to pubic art commissioned by the TRC, or in relation to works/practices that are critical of the TRC.
-The ways in which works by First Nations artists are framed and discussed in contemporary art practice, either upholding the colonial discourse or disrupting it.
-Contemporary art practices in relation to social movements (grassroots, radical, or NGO) that address Indigenous sovereignty, land-based struggles, or environmental issues.
-The relevancy of the arts to issues of decolonization. What is the role of the artist, and do they have a responsibility to draw attention to or provide solutions to these issues?

Based in Canada, Breach is interested primarily in content pertaining to current social issues and political debates within the Canadian context. However, we do not intend to limit our content based on the colonial construction of the borders, and therefore are also interested in writing that pertains to issues that extend beyond the national level.

Breach welcomes submissions from both established and emerging writers, artists, curators, activists, academics, and students. We prioritize art criticism, essays, and reviews, but are also interested other forms that do not easily fit into conventional genres. Send your previously unpublished work, along with a word count and short biography (no more than 100 words). Or, send a query along with an estimated word count, a short biography, and two writing samples. We endeavor to respond to all submissions within two weeks of the deadline.

Direct your submissions, queries, and questions to INFO@BREACHMAGAZINE.CA by March 30 2015.
See www.breachmagazine.ca for more information.