Amanda Lin (Toronto, ON)
The Leadership Residency is built to respond to the needs of the Canadian theatre ecology. Every year a theme or topic will be chosen to be examined and for each residency a cohort will be assembled to explore that topic. The residency has evolved over the years, but it has always been about supporting future, new and established leaders.
The NTS Artistic Leadership Residencies are made possible thanks to the generous support of Power Corporation of Canada and the Birks Family Foundation.
In the fall of 2025, the National Theatre School’s Artistic Leadership Residency will explore the theme of Environmental Sustainability through the lens of Technical Directors and Directors of Production.
Theatre companies are being asked to work in a more sustainable way, to build a process and productions that keep in mind the environmental impact of theatre. Much of this responsibility falls upon the heads of production of organizations, but they don’t always have the tools to accomplish what they want and need.
This residency is seeking a cohort of working heads of production that will gather in Montreal for two days of workshops led by Montreal’s ÉcoSceno.
ÉcoSceno is a social economy enterprise (NPO) whose mission is to support the cultural sector in its socio-ecological transition by equipping and advising on the adoption of sustainable production methods. To date, ÉcoSceno has trained over 1,000 professionals, offering more than 94 courses and 60 eco-design coaching sessions in the performing arts and museology sectors.
For this residency, they will offer an in-depth course, specifically designed for the cohort, on ecodesign covering the vocabulary, tools, certifications,eco-friendly materials and mechanical assemblies. Its aim is to enable participants to start applying ecodesign in their professional activities immediately after completing the course.
The Specifics
A national cohort of working professional Heads of production (Technical Directors, Directors of Production, Production Managers) will spend two days in Montreal at NTS discussing topics and learning practical sustainable practices. Director of the Production Design and Technical Arts program, Andrea Lundy, and the Director of the Set and Costume Design program, Stéphane Longpré, will join the cohort in the discussions.
We want to help build a group that will not only benefit their own practice and company but that will also share the knowledge in their communities.
This Residency will be held in person in Montreal on September 22nd and 23rd, 2025 . Participants will travel the day before the residency begins and can travel home on the 23rd in the evening or on the 24th.
Ideal Candidates
The candidates we are looking for have the following qualities:
- An openness to collaborate;
- A desire to learn more and ask questions;
- A willingness to share what they learn in their community.
What we offer to the Resident
What we will provide if you are chosen to be part of the cohort as a Artistic Leadership Resident:
- Travel, accommodation and a small per diem;
- Space at the National Theatre School to house the conversations and sessions;
- Workshop/session leaders from ÉcoSceno. For more information on ÉcoSceno, please visit their website at https://ecosceno.org/en/
How to apply?
If you are interested in being part of this residency, please send us:
- A bio helping us to get to know who you are;
- A letter speaking to how this experience would feed a need in your practice;
- A resumé.
Please send your application before June 6th to Dean Fleming at deanfleming@ent-nts.ca with ‘Artistic Leadership Residency‘ in the subject line of your e-mail.
The chosen participants will be contacted by the end of June.
Dave Deveau, Artistic Leadership Resident (Leadership in Time of Crisis, 2024)
”What I may or may not know.
I was fortunate enough to be part of NTS’ Leadership in Crisis Cohort, a pairing of 12 emerging leaders and 12 seasoned mentors from all across the country, coming together to dissect and posit what leadership is, and how we make it work through challenging times.”
Read the complete testimony
Audrey Kwan, Artistic Leadership Resident (Leadership in Time of Crisis, 2024)
”As I left for the NTS Leadership Residency in Montréal, I forced myself to have no expectations for the week. I had hopes (which included eating as much poutine as possible) but I sought to arrive with an open mind to embrace the process to the best of my ability. I’m an Excel-itinerary-for-vacations type of person so this was also a personal challenge for me.”
Read the complete testimonyVideo
2024 Resident Artists | Leadership in Time of Crisis
Adjani Poirier (Montreal, QC)
Audrey Kwan (Toronto, ON)
Dave Deveau (Vancouver, BC)
Rebecca Gibian (Montreal, QC)
Kathryn Smith (Calgary, AB)
Mallory Clarke (Trinity, N.L.)
Norah Paton (Whitehorse, YT)
Philip Geller (Winnipeg, MB)
Yulissa Campos (Saskatoon, SK)
Rinchen Dolma (Toronto, Ontario)
Cameron Fraser-Monroe (Vernon, BC)
Azal Dosanjh
” It’s great to be in a program where the end goal is to develop myself as a leader. It allows me to do things for myself like figure out how to speak publicly about art and other artists, and how to create systems, or take systems that are broken and take what is good out of it.”
Mel Hague (Artistic Leadership Residency, 2019), supported by Metcalf Foundation and Power Corporation of Canada.
“I really think that the international aspect of the residency is huge, because sometimes we can get into the silo of thinking a certain way or doing things a certain way in our own communities. Being part of perspectives outside of ours is extremely beneficial.”
Fay Nass (Artistic Leadership Residency, 2022), supported by the Birks Family Foundation and Power Corporation of Canada.
”I am compulsively curious, I live off of questions, so this environment, the tools – it’s a place for me to have those questions answered. In a safe, educational, and investing type of way. Where I’m not being graded, where there is not a metric to my success here.”
Kim Senklip Harvey (Artistic Leadership Residency, 2019), supported by Birks Foundation and Power Corporation of Canada.
“the residency allowed me to meet with leaders in a variety of global contexts, whether they were leading large institutions or companies with focused social justice mandates. these leaders took me into their confidence and brought up their own organizational strategic challenges, looking for help ‘dramaturging’ them. everyone i spoke to seemed to be making a tough decision at the intersection between their values and institutional sustainability, and hungry for an outside eye. it struck me that leadership can be isolating at times, and this residency has allowed me to build networks of values-aligned colleagues to combat that, while offering a global perspective. the greatest gift of the residency is the relationships you come out of it with.”
ted witzel (Artistic Leadership Residency, 2020), supported by Metcalf Foundation and Power Corporation of Canada.
“Delighted to have spent the past two weeks on Gadigal land, listening, learning, questioning, and being hosted by Carriageworks and Urban Theatre Projects. I am carrying with me the intention of purposeful movement, as so many communities continue to offer up generous amounts of insight and knowledge. Very grateful to NTS and the Artistic Leadership Residency for getting me here.”
Jenna Rodgers (Artistic Leadership Residency, 2020), supported by Birks Family Foundation and Power Corporation of Canada.
“Being able to fly out to work with international companies such as Punchdrunk and Chinese Arts Now in London, UK was not only an incredibly rejuvenating learning experience, but a truly validating one. To be able to converse with and work alongside some truly innovative artistic leaders (such as An-Ting Chang, Felix Barrett, and Stephen Dobbie to name a few), only to find out that many of their creative thought processes and team philosophies align with my own was a huge boost in confidence for my own leadership.”
Miquelon Rodriguez (Artistic Leadership Residency, 2022), supported by Metcalf Foundation and Power Corporation of Canada.
