March 27 was World Theatre Day and our Artistic Executive Director Emily Dix took the opportunity to address an issue facing all Toronto artists – a lack of affordable space.
Please take a moment to watch the video above. Emily outlines the issues facing the community and discusses how The Bridge can help to fill some of those gaps. We are in a unique position to offer truly affordable access to artists, but we need the communities help. Please watch, like, share, and if you can, donate to The Bridge fund via our Canada Helps page. Every little bit helps.
As part of our mission to provide affordable, accessible space to local indie artists, Bygone has prioritized offering the lowest rental rates in the city: $10/hr plus HST. While we don’t currently have a strict definition of what “indie” is, they are meant to provide space to artists who have low/no funding for projects at a rate lower than what that artist is earning for their craft: we don’t believe anything can be called “affordable” when it has a higher rate than minimum wage, since so many artists rely on minimum wage jobs to supplement their income, or find themselves essentially living off that amount due to the nature of the gig economy.
we don’t believe anything can be called “affordable” when it has a higher rate than minimum wage
Who can access this rate and for what?
Artists of any discipline can access our IAR rates for things where they are not collecting money while being there. For example, auditions, rehearsals, or set painting are allowed – paid performances or workshops that are charging people to be there do not qualify for these rates.
Are these rates available all the time?
At the moment, no. Essentially, we can’t afford that. Right now, these rates are available when other people will already be in and using the space, but are ok with having something going on in the flex space. This way no one has to be paid to be on site as staff, and we aren’t being charged extra for use of the HVAC (something that we have in our lease). Our goal is to raise $250,000 to cover ALL expenses over the course of our lease – rent, maintenance, staffing, programming – if we succeed in doing so, then we will be able to properly subsidize the rent, and all indie artists will have access to $10/hr space for everything, all the time space is available.
Our goal is to raise $250,000 to cover ALL expenses…if we succeed…all indie artists will have access to $10/hr space for everything, all the time space is available.
I can’t even afford $10/hr, can’t you give it to us for free?
Unfortunately, no. As a charity, we can’t provide a benefit to someone/something that is outside of our purposes or isn’t a grantee. Plus, there are costs associated with just having the space, and Bygone Theatre has no operational funding. Our Executive Director, Emily Dix, is currently volunteering on a full-time basis to get things up and running, and scores of other volunteers have dedicated their time, skills and resources to help build up The Bridge. There are occasionally opportunities for energy share exchanges, where artists can volunteer their time to work on a Bygone project in exchange for free or discounted use of the space – contact us if you want to learn more.
How do I book the space at these rates?
For now, we will post specific times when these rates are available, and emails sent to rentals@379thebridge.com will be granted time on a first come, first serve basis. If we are successful with our funding a more stream-lined online system will be put in place, but for now you’ll be booking through Emily.
Join us New Years Eve and step back into the past while looking to the future, in a vintage inspired night of burlesque, fortune telling and all things mystical.
DATE: Sunday December 31, 10:00pm – January 1, 2024, 3:00am Performance starts at 11:00pm
PERFORMANCE BY: *Augusta Monet
TAROT READINGS BY: *Laura Hokstad
PLUS: Free fortune telling games throughout the space; free fortune cookies and fortune fish; and fortune-telling themed cocktails and treats for sale at the Vodkow bar.
TICKETS: -General admission $25 -Admission with Tarot Reading $30 (limited quantities) -Early Bird $20 (with code EARLYBIRD before Dec. 22, not valid for Tarot reading)
PLUS, The first 30 people to purchase tickets get a free magpie fortune bag full of little charms that will tell you what 2024 has in store!
Please note The Bridge is unfortunately not accessible. Ability to climb a set of stairs before being able to access the elevator is required. If you have accessibility concerns please contact emily@bygonetheatre.com.
The ladies behind The Yellow Wallpaper. L-R: Shreya Patel, Bria Cole, Kate McArthur, Emily Dix, Helga Packeviciute and Julia Edda Pape.
This International Women’s Day we’re taking a moment to highlight the lovely ladies who have put together our current production, a new take on Charlotte Perkin Gilman’s feminist horror classic, The Yellow Wallpaper.
EMILY DIX: DIRECTOR, WRITER, PRODUCER, DESIGNER
Emily is thrilled to be working on Bygone’s 10th season. She founded Bygone Theatre in late 2012 and has been running it as Artistic Executive Director ever since, directing, producing, and designing the majority of their productions. Recently she wrote and directed a new stage version of The Birds, a “masterful homage” to the classic Hitchcock film, performed at Hart House Theatre. Prior to that, she wrote and directed The Rear Window, an “engaging and unexpected take” on another Hitchcock classic, winning the Broadway World Toronto Award for Best Direction of an Equity play. She has worked as a theatre freelancer in Toronto for more than a decade, including as a producer with companies like Tarragon Theatre and Crow’s Theatre. She also dabbles in film and tv, most recently working as a researcher for a Cineflix true crime documentary. Her next production is a return to comedy with Wayne & Shuster at Hart House, May 2023. Emily is grateful for the chance to have worked with such a stellar team of multi-talented women on a project that, while very different in style from her usual work, surrounds themes she is passionate about. Learn more at emilydix.com.
KATE MCARTHUR: WRITER, ACTOR
Kate McArthur is a Mad (Bipolar 1 Disorder)/ Queer actor/theatre artist and is a Co-Artistic Leader of Skipping Stones Theatre, a Toronto based company whose mandate is to tell stories through the lens of mental health or stories that centre around it. She received a Prix Rideau Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Performance for her performance as Nurse/Mercutio/Prince in a Company of Fools’ production of Romeo and Juliet. She constantly seeks to grow as an artist and is dedicated to the creation of important work in supportive spaces with professional standards. Selected credits: The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, As You Like It with a Company of Fools; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Gorboduc, The Changeling with Shakespeare BASH’d; Hamlet(s), Laughing Wild, 4.48 Psychosis with Skipping Stones Theatre; The Rear Window with Bygone Theatre.
BRIA COLE: MEDIA PRODUCER, PROJECTION DESIGNER
Bria Cole is a junior architect and documentary filmmaker. She has worked in the nonfiction film industry and with cultural organizations in Toronto and New York including People Design Cooperative, Philip Beesley Architects, Downtown Community Television, Girls Write Now, Tribeca Film Festival and Mongrel Media. She explores outdoor projection, media infrastructure in border regions, and collective solutions within the design and build community.
Bria is continuously working at the intersection of media arts, architectural design and narrative. The arts always have been and will be vital to her. It’s been a joy to work in this immersive theatre project and she will be on the lookout for more hybrid, public works.
Website: briacole.com
JULIA EDDA PAPE: ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Julia Edda Pape is a current student at the University of Toronto and (hopefully) a future director, writer and actress. She is thrilled to return to Bygone Theatre as Assistant Director for The Yellow Wallpaper after working as Apprentice Director on The Birds last Fall. She is currently directing “Maggie Chun’s First Love & Last Wedding” by Helen Ho which will be debuting at the Toronto Fringe Festival this summer (check it out on Instagram @maggiechun.fringeto)! She is grateful to her friends, family and Bygone for the on-going support, encouragement and opportunities.
SHREYA PATEL: ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Shreya Patel is a multifaceted individual, who has made a significant impact in the worlds of entertainment, activism, and mental health advocacy. Model-turned-actress, filmmaker and mental health advocate, Patel is the honoree of Top 100 Most Powerful Women of Canada, Forbes 30 Under 30, Women’s Achiever Award, Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award and Emerging Leader Under 35. Patel has been acknowledged for her efforts in advancing equity in her community, with an honorable mention from the City of Toronto. She was also listed among DissDash’s “Top 50 Coolest South Asians of 2021” alongside notable figures such as Priyanka Chopra, Kamala Harris, and Hasan Minaj. She has also graced the pages of fashion magazines like Vogue and Grazia. As an actress, she has brought raw emotion and depth to her roles in films like Strangers In A Room, Vivid, and The Intersection, which explore themes of mental health. Patel’s debut documentary, ‘Girl Up’, is an unflinching look at the reality of domestic human trafficking and was partnered with the Toronto International Film Festival and the Civic Action Summit. Her music video directorial debut, Freedom Dance, which featured famous personalities from 7 countries, has over 1.2 million views on YouTube. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, she rallied 66 countries to come together for Unity- #LOVESPREADS Faster Than Virus, a documentary that showcases the plight of the human spirit, which was the closing film at the Munich Film Festival. As one of the faces of the Canadian Screen Award-winning national mental health awareness campaign “Bell Let’s Talk”, Patel is committed to raising visibility and breaking the silence around mental illness and support. Currently, she is working on a comedy series, Layla is Relevant and writing a film about trafficking while also producing various projects under her company, Window Dreams Productions.
HELGA PACKEVICIUTE: PRODUCTION DESIGN ASSISTANT
Helga Packeviciute is an Ontario based sculptural artist and architectural designer, and is thrilled to be able to assist Bygone Theatre. After finishing her Master of Architecture, focusing on the relationship between ornamentation, transgression, and fabrication methods within architecture, she is delighted to use her expertise to help support production design for “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Helga is currently producing sculptural works in Hamilton and is happily embracing its industrial heritage and welcoming arts community. The central theme of her work is a playful subversion of one’s expectations of materiality in its representation and use. This is reflective of her experience as a woman within architecture, where investigation of craft and materials has long been associated with male dominated architectural practice. In her spare time, Helga can be found on hiking trails, cross-country ski paths, or wherever there is nature to explore.
Bygone Theatre Seeks Diverse Artists For New Financial Literacy Program
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: TORONTO, ON (Thursday January 19, 2023), Thanks to the support of IGM Financial, Bygone Theatre is initiating an 6-month pilot project focused on providing priority arts groups (including young, emerging, senior, and racialized groups) with comprehensive financial literacy training through a workshop and webinar series. The goal of this program is to ensure that artists and arts workers are equipped to enter their field on equal footing to their peers.
We are seeking individuals from these priority groups to participate in a series of three roundtable discussions with the view of understanding what real artists want and need so we can provide programming that provides maximum impact and is focused on the needs of the community and, in particular, marginalized individuals. We are primarily focused on the performing arts but are offering discussions and programming to anyone in the arts.
Roundtables will be 60 minutes and participants will receive a $100 honourarium for their time. These will be held digitally with closed captioning. We have space for a total of 15 participants and will be looking for diverse representation and each of these roundtables will seek to represent our community and provide appropriate accommodations and accessibility to ensure equity. Within our priority groups, we will be ensuring there is representation from LGBTQ2+, BIPOC, and mad/disabled artists.
Roundtables will be hosted by Conor Fitzgerald (Bygone’s board chair; Bachelor of Commerce – Marketing, Juris Doctor, Master of Business Administration – Arts, Media & Entertainment Management) and will be a conversational, safe atmosphere with a view of mutuality and reciprocity.
These roundtables will inform the information that will be presented in a webinar series catered around the specific financial challenges of artists and arts workers. This series may focus on areas such as introduction to financial literacy (bank accounts, savings, money transfers, investments); managing irregular income; tax planning and taxation in the arts; retirement planning in the arts; estate planning for artists; business structures for independent artists and arts professionals; royalties and copyright; budgeting; careers in the arts; and business operations (financial statements, accounting, strategic planning).
If you are interested in participating, please fill out this form no later than Friday February 2, 2023: https://forms.gle/eZiXaMsgTjAGrUy6A
Please contact Conor Fitzgerald (conor@bygonetheatre.com; 647-454-3797) with questions or concerns.
EDIT: We did it! Thank you to all who donated. Together, we sent $500 to the ProEnglish Theatre in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Recently we received an email from Alex Borovenskiy, the Artistic Director of ProEnglish Theatre in Kyiv, Ukraine.
While it would have been completely understandable to be reaching out for money, he was actually asking for something even easier to give: support from fellow artists in helping to share the word about what is happening in Ukraine, and about the show they are producing from inside a bomb shelter. One that they are also being forced to live in while the city continues to be ruthlessly attacked by Russia.
Bygone Theatre is hoping to raise a total of $500 CAD to send directly to the ProEnglish Theatre, for them to use as they see fit. We are starting a matching campaign and can contribute up to $250. That means, that for every dollar you donate, Bygone Theatre will donate a dollar as well, up to a total of $250 (making for a $500 donation overall). Our Artistic Director and Chair have committed to covering any associated fees, so 100% of your donation will go directly to ProEnglish Theatre.
Every little bit helps. A donation of $1 is still $1 that will go towards helping artists, cats (they are sheltering them in the bomb shelter as well) and civilians living in Kyiv, Ukraine. Please consider making a contribution, and share this with friends, family, co-workers – whoever you can think of.
Join us in showing that as artists, Canadians, and human beings, we support the people of Ukraine and hope for a quick, peaceful end to what has so far been over a month of horror for thousands of innocent people.
To donate, simply click the link at the top of this post.
Help support our friends ProEnglish Theatre in Ukraine.
Supporting our fellow artists as they continue to create and support their community during the war in Ukraine.
Recently we received an email from Alex Borovenskiy, the Artistic Director of ProEnglish Theatre in Kyiv, Ukraine. While it would have been completely understandable to be reaching out for money, he was actually asking for something even easier to give: support from fellow artists in helping to share the word about what is happening in Ukraine, and about the show they are producing from inside a bomb shelter. One that they are also being forced to live in while the city continues to be ruthlessly attacked by Russia.
This is a message direct from ProEnglish Theatre:
Hello, we’re ProEnglish Theatre, an independent theatre in English from Kyiv, Ukraine. We’re creating theatre performances in English, introducing Ukrainians to the Art in English on one hand and introducing Theatre created in Ukraine to world community – on the other.
Right now we are the Art Shelter in Kyiv, theatre turned into the bomb shelter housing local elderly people, parents with kids and 8 cats) We also share our personal experiences in different languages with the world. Our experience of Ukraine being attacked by russian invaders and Kyiv being shelled. Art will stand. Ukraine will stand. Stand with Ukraine
Their show, The Book of Sirens, is a new performance by ProEnglish Theatre of Ukraine, staged and performed from the bomb shelter//theatre in Kyiv: directed by Alex Borovenskiy and performed by Anabell Ramirez.
It has already premiered on Facebook, and can be watched at any time via this link. If you would like to help support the artists and their work, both as creators and as Ukrainians who are helping deliver medicine to their fellow citizens, you can do so by visiting their Patreon. We are currently looking into the best way to collect/direct one-time donations for those who cannot currently commit to a recurring donation.
If you cannot make a donation at this time, we still encourage you to watch the show, and share the link via your channels. Plenty of incredible art has come about because of tragic or horrific circumstances, but often it is done after the fact and cannot directly help those whose suffering was the inspiration or catalyst for its creation. This is a chance to help those who need it, now.
Please join us in showing that as artists, Canadians, and human beings, we support the people of Ukraine and hope for a quick, peaceful end to what has so far been over a month of horror for thousands of innocent people.
Interested in working in the arts, but don’t know where to start? This unique workshop will provide students with a realistic view into the arts world, guiding them through a host of career paths and the steps to follow to get there.
Interested in working in the arts, but don’t know where to start? This unique workshop will provide students with a realistic view into the arts world, guiding them through a host of career paths and the steps to follow to get there.
Bygone Artistic Executive Director Emily Dix will cover topics such as; – Post-secondary programs here and abroad – Skill building without formal education – Unconventional arts related careers – How to network in the arts – How to build a resume or portfolio, and more.
Aimed at secondary students, this webinar is open to all, and is being subsidized through anonymous support so we can offer it FREE to all who are interested.
While you do not have to be from a specific geographic area to participate, it will be focused primarily on opportunities and practises from South Western Ontario, specifically the GTA.
No experience necessary, just an interest in learning about arts related careers, particularly those related to theatre and film.
ACCESSIBILITY: The webinar is being delivered in English, with visual aids and automatically generated captions. If you require specific accommodation, please email us in advance and we will do our best to provide you the full experience.
INTERACTION: We encourage participants to turn on their cameras, at least for the discussion section at the end, but this is not required. Questions can be asked via your mic, the chat, or sent by private message if you’d like to ask anonymously.
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION: This webinar is being hosted by our Artistic Executive Director Emily Dix, a white woman with an invisible disability. She will share her personal experiences working in the arts and will provide info for programs and opportunities that exist for marginalized people as well as those open to all.
If you have any questions prior to the webinar, or to request accommodation, please email emily@bygonetheatre.com.
Learn how to do a simple 1940s makeup routine and evening skincare regime with these handy videos.
With a bit of time off for the holiday season, I decided to make a couple video tutorials inspired by the 1940s – a simple day makeup routine and a nighttime routine inspired by classic Hollywood.
What ones should we try next? 1920s, 30s, 50s or 60s? We can also get Conor to do a proper shave and show what the men went through back in the day! Let us know in the comments.
Bygone Theatre 