Dear artists, friends and colleagues,
I’m writing to personally invite you to the Launch of Picasso PRO”s new 30 month program in collaboration with Creative Trust. All details for the Launch are at the bottom of the Press Release which is attached and also pasted below.
Please mark Sunday May 31st, 4:00 pm in your calendars! We look forward to seeing you at Tallulah’s Cabaret at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre!
RSVP’s are greatly appreciated. yours, Rose
bridging disability and the performing & media arts
for immediate release: April 27th, 2009
media enquiries: Rose Jacobson
Picasso PRO Launches New Program in Collaboration with Creative Trust
Picasso PRO, a long-term project focused on bridging disability and the performing & media arts, is delighted to announce a new 30 month program cycle in collaboration with Creative Trust made possible through a province-wide grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, an agency of the Government of Ontario.
Picasso PRO was formed to facilitate genuine opportunity for artists with disabilities and Deaf artists in the performing and media arts. It springs from the passionate conviction that Deaf and disabled artists belong on Canada‘s stages and screens and among our audiences, professional staffs, teachers and cultural leaders.
Since 1993, Picasso PRO, originally called DIS THIS!, has enjoyed five programming cycles under the management of Rose Jacobson. Picasso PRO remains highly responsive to the community’s needs through an evolving program of skills development, artist support, networking, creation, collaboration and services for the up and coming professional. All activities are grounded in a strong commitment to the artists’ creative, professional and human rights.
“Ryerson’s Disability Studies Program recognizes an urgent need for dedicated arts professionals to mentor and support the emergence of fresh new voices from the diverse and far-flung disability community. Picasso PRO serves a unique and critically important role in building artistic and cultural capacity and supporting distinct artistic practice in Toronto and Ontario.” – Catherine Frazee, co-director Ryerson RBC Institute for Disability Studies Research & Education
Creative Trust’s mandate aims to improve the financial health and sustainability of some of Toronto’s most innovative and accomplished performing arts companies. Together CT’s members represent a sizeable chunk of the professional producing, presenting and training performing arts companies in Toronto.
Access is a key point of entry for Picasso PRO’s collaboration with Creative Trust. Along with other artistic and peer-to-peer opportunities, we will research facilities and advocate for resources to improve barrier-free access to Toronto and Ontario’s arts venues.
“This collaboration is based on trust and an awareness of overall social goals which go beyond any one organization’s efforts. It is bound by personal connections; it is peer-based. It requires knowledge-sharing and mutual support in dealing with complex problems.” – Jini Stolk, Executive Director Creative Trust
Picasso PRO/CT’s upcoming workplan positions Ontario’s artists with disabilities firmly within the international Dis-Art movement and hopes to act as an agent of social change, documenting the sector while supporting professionalism and excellence in artistic practice by:
- Building new regional networks through outreach to targeted communities
- Consolidating best practices and sharing tools with communities outside Toronto
- Enhancing the careers of intermediate and senior Deaf artists and artists with disabilities
- Identifying younger artists (18-25) and introducing them to a variety of arts practice
- Challenging industry standards, non-inclusive practices, negative media depictions of disability and advocating for positive alternatives.
Over the past 15 years Picasso PRO has grown from a nucleus of eight core artists to a pool of over 70 active participants, 30 artists in teaching/mentoring roles,18 ASL Interpreters, physical facilitators and tech specialists as well as more than 40 associate organizations, groups, community activists and advocates. Our specialists have included Alex Bulmer, Fides Krucker, Caglar Kimyoncu, Michael Kennard, Kate Lynch, Viv Moore, David Skelton, Donna Michelle St-Bernard, Mark Christmann, Karin Randoja, Paula Wing and Josette Bushell-Mingo to name only a few.
Aside from the obvious power which self-determination engenders, it is producing a vital canon of work: films, stories, performances, books, plays, installations and entirely new artforms created though the prism of disability. This is the work that Picasso PRO/CT intends to nurture and support.
“Someone once told me that you need to plant your own garden instead of waiting for someone to give you flowers…so… always remember to surround yourself with gardeners! We feel that Picasso PRO is building a greenhouse… so thank you Picasso PRO!” – Kat Germain and Allen Redford, founder and artistic associate, the Mutt Theatre Company
Please join us in celebrating the official Launch of Picasso PRO/CT on Sunday May 31st, 2009 at Tallulah’s Cabaret, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
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Picasso PRO/CT Launch
Sunday May 31st, 2009, 4:00 – 6:00 pm
Tallulah’s Cabaret, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
12 Alexander Street, Toronto, via side entrance/ramp
[1 block east of Yonge Street, 2 blocks south of Wellesley]
ASL Interpreters onsite, fully wheelchair accessible
Meter-box street parking and small adjacent lot. Convenient drop-off for WheelTrans
and drivers. Nearest TTC: Wellesley Station at Yonge or College/Carlton at Yonge
The Program
Brief remarks and performance tidbits followed by informal networking
and drinks; cash bar; light snacks available. RSVP’s appreciated to Rose Jacobson: jacobsonr@sympatico.ca or 416-536-7522. Space limited.
Posted: May 14th, 2009 under May Newsletter.
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