life with more cowbell

Hey kids! No big surprise, funding is always an issue for theatre, especially for small, indie theatre and emerging artists. But wait! There’s good news…

A short time ago, I gave the thumbs down to Canadian Heritage (aka Heritage Canada) for cutting its funding from SummerWorks. The good news is, SummerWorks has had a lot of support to help make up its 2011 budget shortfall, with donations coming in from across the country. Coming up this Friday (July 15), a PWYC staged reading of Catherine Frid’s play Homegrown, produced in SummerWorks 2010, at the Berkeley Street Theatre @ 8 p.m. Yay, donors and Homegrown reading!

In more good news, those of you who’ve been out at the Toronto Fringe will know that former Toronto mayor David Miller pledged to match every patron donation dollar (up to $10,000) towards funding for the Fringe’s upcoming Creation Lab. And a few days ago, he made good on that promise and donated $10,000 – the largest private donation in the Toronto Fringe’s history. Yay, donors and David Miller!

So all you theatre-lovers out there, show some love to the Toronto Fringe http://fringetix.ca/scripts/max/2000/maxweb.exe?ACTION=ORDER and SummerWorks http://www.summerworks.ca/2011/donate.php  festivals. Even if it’s just a buck or two, every little bit helps. Yay, you!