bridging disability and the performing arts

Storytelling Workshop for Deaf Performers, "The Tell-Tale Heart" Left to Right: Instructor Viv Moore, Interpreters Carolyn Lesonsky, Marcia Adolphe

Positive Action Apprenticeships

Two artists/arts practitioners each year will be selected to partake in apprenticeships based on the model of Positive Action Training developed in the UK. 

Each artist/arts professional will be partnered with one or more mentors in a tailor-made program leading to artistic, professional or vocational advancement. 

The apprenticeships have several goals. One is to enable an artist or practitioner in one area to make a lateral shift to another area. For example, a playwright may wish to apprentice as a dramaturg or an actor may choose to explore writing or design. Or an apprentice may choose a program that enhances skills and opportunities in his or her existing area of expertise. 

In all cases the apprenticeships are aimed at building leadership from within and enabling individuals to acquire recognition, experience and positions of responsibility in the professional community. 

Apprentices will be selected through a process based on artistic merit, existing experience, practical and professional need, availability, commitment and compatibility with the overall goals of the project.

The first Apprenticeship cycle will be launched in January 2006. Expressions of interest should be forwarded to Rose Jacobson, Project Manager c/o picassopro@equityshowcase.ca or tel: 416 533.6100 x 24.

Positive Action Training

Positive Action Training was first instituted by the London Arts Board in response to its own organizational workforce which was not representative of the population with regards to disability. A training model was developed to give disabled people the opportunity to train in-house in order to qualify and compete for jobs at all levels. Recruitment is based on work-related or artistic criteria while access issues are tackled separately. [see Terms of Reference, Picasso Project Report].

Picasso PRO’s recruitment process is the same. Our overall program has been adapted from the UK model adhering to the basic principles of opportunity and advancement. 

Picasso PRO apprenticeships will be offered in a series of stages which begin with the partnering process, conscripting mentors who may or may not be affiliated with a producing company. The apprentice and mentors will build a program of one-on-one sessions, internal and external training, on-the-job or on-site experience, shadowing and assisting roles. The apprentice may or may not debut an artistic result of her own at the end of the process. The apprentice is supported by a key worker called the Host- in this case Picasso PRO’s Project Manager - and one or more associates with a disability. At the conclusion a measurable achievement of some kind should occur, be it presentation of a work at some stage of development, a short-term gig, residency, contract, or position within a company. 

Picasso PRO and Equity Showcase Theatre gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation