EMERGING ARTS CRITICS (EAC)

Emerging Arts Critics (EAC) Programme is a forum to foster the next generation of arts critics and writers and to assist them in developing the tools required to authoritatively write about and review ballet, classical music and opera. Originally launched by the National Ballet of Canada in 2014 as Emerging Dance Critics, in partnership with Canada's dance magazine The Dance Current, the program has since expanded to Emerging Arts Critics to include music and opera.

A collaboration with the Canadian Opera Company, The National Ballet of Canada, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Soulpepper Theatre Company, participants in the program will be selected through an open call. Writers will each attend and review one performance by each organization in the 2019/2020 season from September 2019 to June 2020 and have their reviews published through Opera Canada, The Dance Current, The WholeNote, and Intermission Magazine.

Participants will have the invaluable opportunity to receive one-on-one editorial mentorship from retired arts critic John Coulbourn, longtime music journalist and broadcaster Robert Harris, performing arts writer Catherine Kustanczy, and theatre critic Robert Cushman. Opera Canada Editorial Director Gianmarco Segato, The Dance Current Executive Editor Emma Doran, The WholeNote Publisher and Editor in Chief David Perlman and Digital Media Editor Sara Constant, and Intermission Magazine Publisher and Co-Founder Philip Riccio will coach the writers in a one-on-one editorial process through to online publication.

In addition, participants will also be invited to attend critical writing and journalistic research skills workshops hosted by the COC, National Ballet of Canada, TSO, and Soulpepper as part of the program.

Applications from Toronto-based aspiring arts reviewers between the ages of 19 to 29 are now being accepted. To apply, email [email protected] explaining why you would like to take part in the program, along with a non-academic writing sample. Deadline is September 6, 2019. The EAC Programme is committed to inclusiveness and encourages applicants from all backgrounds and abilities to apply.

2019/2020 SEASON DATES

Soulpepper Theatre Company, The Young Centre for Performing Arts
A Streetcar Named Desire, September 29, 2019
Almighty Voice and His Wife, October 17, 2019

The National Ballet of Canada, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Giselle, November 6, 2019
Orpheus Alive & Chaconne, November 15, 2019

Canadian Opera Company, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
The Barber of Seville, January 19, 2020

Soulpepper Theatre Company, The Young Centre for Performing Arts
To be announced, January 30, 2020

Canadian Opera Company, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Hansel & Gretel, February 6, 2020

The National Ballet of Canada, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
New Crystal Pite & Chroma & Marguerite and Armand, February 29, 2020
Romeo and Juliet, March 11, 2020

Soulpepper Theatre Company, The Young Centre for Performing Arts
To be announced, April 2, 2020

Canadian Opera Company, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Aida, April 18, 2020
The Flying Dutchman, May 1, 2020

Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Roy Thomson Hall
Angela Hewitt Returns, May 13, 2020
Beethoven 5, May 22, 2020
Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, June 4, 2020
Davis Conducts & Plays Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony, June 17, 2020

Opera Canada offers a comprehensive review of opera in Canada through high quality professional arts journalism via quarterly magazines an online website. Opera Canada covers in-depth interviews with opera creators, artists and decision-makers, as well as features and reviews about productions from across the nation and internationally.

The Dance Current is Canada’s dance magazine – in print and online – covering the performances, people and perspectives. Published by Dance Media Group, The Dance Current is inclusive of genre and aims to cultivate dance literacy, foster discourse and provide the broadest possible public with access points into dance art and culture.

The WholeNote is a magazine specializing in classical, new, early and world music, jazz, opera and musical theatre, in Toronto and beyond. Dedicated to the promotion of live music in a multiplicity of venues, The WholeNote contains extensive listings, reviews, columns and feature stories, published in print across southern Ontario as well as online.

Intermission Magazine is an online theatre magazine based in Toronto, created by The Company Theatre. Intermission helps break down the fourth wall that exists between artists and audiences by providing a platform for artists to talk about the ideas they’re grappling with both onstage and off through personal essays from artists about their work, in-depth articles about all aspects of the industry, revealing interviews with top names in Canadian theatre and creative editorial pieces.

Photo credit: A scene from The Barber of Seville (COC, 2015), photo: Michael Cooper