Erika Squires, Author at Playwrights' Workshop Montréal

December 16, 2021April 15, 2022

Building Your Grant Proposal with Jesse Stong

Image of Jesse Stong inside a spotlight at the end of a graphic beam of light. The Image has text which reads "Exploring Practice."

Application deadline: January 21st, 2022

If you have any questions, or need assistance with your application for Building Your Grant Proposal with Jesse Stong, please contact the program coordinator Harris at harris@playwrights.ca.

Using innovative and interactive activities, Jesse Stong (art educator, playwright and dramaturg) will support the development of your grant writing skills in this Exploring Practice workshop!

From seeding initial ideas to developing dynamic writing samples for your grant, participants will have the opportunity to elaborate and articulate project outlines with realistic timelines and budgets. By the end of these hands-on sessions each participant will leave with a completed first draft of their grant proposal and be informed on how to seek diverse sources of funding, independent fundraising strategies, and guidance on partnership-building for the future of their proposed project.

PWM is committed to creating an environment where all individuals are treated with dignity and respect. We are continuously working to make all of our programs accessible and inclusive.

PWM welcomes all applications to our programs. While recognizing that the identity of each person is fundamentally plural, multidimensional, changing and evolving, we strongly encourage applications from artists who are: Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit), Black, POC, racialized (including recent immigrants), 2SLGBTQQIPAA+, d/Deaf, neurodivergent, disabled, living with chronic illness and/or chronic pain. PWM is strongly committed to supporting a wide range of cultural identities and lived experiences, therefore we encourage applicants to self-identify in their application if they are comfortable doing so.

Schedule:

(2-part group session)

Part 1 – Tuesday, February 15th
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Part 2 – Wednesday, February 16th
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

In addition to the group sessions, individual or smaller group calls may be scheduled based on the participants’ availability.

Location:

The workshop will take place remotely via video-conferencing software.

If you have any questions, or need assistance regarding this application, please contact the program coordinator Harris at harris@playwrights.ca.

Topics Covered in Building Your Grant Proposal with Jesse Stong

General grant writing tips/cautions.
Stress and time management/infusing grant writing into your artistic practice.
Hands-On Project Proposal Building (developing treatment, describing project.)
Creative Activities (exploring innovative grant writing processes.)
Expressing authentic need and attracting support.
Group Brainstorm Sessions (exploring ideas, developing proposals further in the workshop.)
Editing and Increasing Impact (How to sharpen your grant.)
Action planning/specific measurable steps towards grant submission.
Ongoing discussions/Group Sharing of resources/Sources of funding.

Expectations for Building Your Grant Proposal with Jesse Stong

Please come to the workshop with a project/residency idea that you are genuinely interested in developing a grant proposal for (the idea can be fully developed or a seed of a new project.)
Be prepared to support the ideas of others/contribute to the group discussions.
Expect to leave with a clear plan to complete your grant application.

Application Instructions for Building Your Grant Proposal with Jesse Stong

Send applications to harris@playwrights.ca with subject line: Exploring Practice with Jesse Stong.
Please attach a bio and/or CV as well as a brief paragraph detailing your interest in the workshop.
- We also accept alternative methods of application if requested including video and audio applications.
- If you have any questions, or need assistance regarding this application, please contact the program coordinator Harris at harris@playwrights.ca.
Apply before 5 PM on January 21st, 2022.

About the Workshop Leader

Photo by Nasuna Dawn

Jesse Stong is a proud father of twins, a graduate of Playwriting from the National Theatre School of Canada, and received his Master’s in Art Education from Concordia University. He is an award-winning artist, dramaturg, and educator.

Over the years, he has supported over 100 emerging Canadian storytellers as director of our Young Creators Unit. He also leads our New Stories Project for artist with different abilities.

Jesse is an occasional content creator/editor for Moment Factory, and was recently Manager of Children’s Programming for Watchmojo.com, Associate Curator for the National Arts Centre Disability Summit, and Host of the Montreal English Theatre Awards.

Presented in collaboration with

This workshop is financially supported by

November 29, 2021November 30, 2021

Impact Creation — Our year-in-review crossword puzzle!

Graphic image of a starry night sky with colourful stars. The image has text which reads: IMPACT CREATION

A shining star in PWM’s seasonal tradition

the Impact Creation – 2021 year-in-review crossword puzzle!

This puzzle highlights how interconnected we all are, the transformative nature of our past year, and shines a light on how artistic creation impacts our world- It is also a draw!

This puzzle will test your PWM knowledge, but feel free to star-gaze through our website to search for hints – or subscribe to our newsletter to stay connected with PWM for years to come. You can also follow us on social media for the free hints which we will be dropping throughout the month of December!

Graphic image of a starry night sky with colourful stars.

Impact creation contest rules

After you complete the puzzle, submit your name before December 31, 2021 for a chance to win your choice of a published play that was developed in collaboration with PWM!

You can print the crossword above, or fill it in online. Feel free to star-gaze through our website and social media for clues! If you choose to fill the puzzle in online, press the SUBMIT button at the end for your chance to win a play that was developed in collaboration with PWM. If you choose to print the puzzle, you must enter your name manually at the link below!

Some of the amazing plays you can choose from include:

Controlled Damage by Andrea Scott
Okinum by Émilie Monnet
Some Blow Flutes by Mary Vingoe
The Law of Gravity by Olivier Sylvestre and translated by Bobby Theodore
All Things at Once by Don Druick
Andy’s Gone by Marie-Claude Verdier and translated by Alexis Diamond

This special prize is similar to the year-end gift for our monthly donors: Did you know that if you donate $15 or more to PWM, as a monthly donor for one year, you will receive an autographed play as a gift?* You can become a monthly donor here!

The draw will be held, and the winner announced, early in the new year.

*Selection may vary. In the past, monthly donors have received The Tashme Project: The Living Archives by Julie Tamiko Manning and Matt Miwa, autographed by Julie Tamiko Manning, and Jabber, autographed by playwright Marcus Youssef.

SUBMIT YOUR NAME MANUALLY

This past year, we have all continued to experience changes that were beyond our control. We moved forward together, despite feeling star-crossed at times, transforming our practice every day.

Even with all this change, we have remained constant in our commitment to centre artistic voices that have been, and continue to be, underrepresented, so their stories may be shared, and shared widely. Your donations and support are vital to this mission, and we are so grateful.

As the stars rotate around us, the nights grow longer, and the winter settles in again- we are reminded that transformation is part of life. Together, we play a part in shaping the world around us and our future.

IMPACT CREATION – DONATE TODAY

November 10, 2021December 15, 2021

Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal Welcomes New Artistic Director Fatma Sarah Elkashef

Blue banner with text which reads: PWM NEW ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, Fatma Sarah Elkashef.

After an extended leadership search, led by our board of directors and hiring committee, PWM is delighted to announce that Fatma Sarah Elkashef has been appointed as our new Artistic Director.

As a longstanding dramaturg with Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal, and an outstanding theatre artist in our community, Sarah will shape the future of our organization with passion and advance dramaturgical practice at a national level.

Sarah’s role as Artistic Director also establishes a new organizational structure for Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal, creating a co-leadership team between Fatma Sarah Elkashef as Artistic Director and Lesley Bramhill as the newly-appointed Managing Director.

Fatma Sarah Elkashef

is a dramaturg and theatre maker with a practise in new play development and interdisciplinary creation. Born and raised in the U.K. to Egyptian and Dutch parents, Sarah has been based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal since 2011. Previously she was the senior reader at Soho Theatre in London and worked in New York City for eleven years as a producer, company manager, literary associate and director. Sarah is a graduate of Warwick University in English Literature and Theatre (U.K.), has an M.A. in Theatre from Hunter College (CUNY, NYC), and a Graduate Diploma in Communications from Concordia University (Montreal, Canada). At PWM she founded the Interdisciplinary Writers’ Lab to explore non-text centered approaches to making performance and the remote Writers’ Room to foster solidarity amongst playwrights during the pandemic. Since 2012 Sarah has worked across programs at the National Theatre School of Canada as a dramaturg, creator, mentor, and teacher. Read more about Sarah.

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the legacy of PWM’s incredible work and for the time and care taken by the Board and committee during this process. I am excited to create more opportunities for thoughtful collaborative work across practises and cultures, and to welcome new voices and approaches to the organization. PWM has always encouraged my curiosity and dramaturgical exploration and I want to offer that support to emerging dramaturgs while shining a light on process in general.

– Fatma Sarah Elkashef, Artistic Director of PWM

Following the departure of Emma Tibaldo, after fourteen influential years at the helm of Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal in the position of Executive and Artistic Director, we look hopefully to the future of our organization under new leadership.

As a nationally-mandated theatre development centre, we’re thrilled to welcome such a visionary leader. It’s rare that you get the combination of a broad international background with a track record of engagement on the local and national stage. Fatma Sarah Elkashef brings that along with a breadth of experience in artistic creation, production, and management. Her passion for and breadth of knowledge in dramaturgy as well as her deep commitment to artists and the theatre community make her the ideal person to shepherd PWM into the future.

– Naïma Kristel Phillips, President of the Board of Directors at PWM

In collaboration with Arts Consulting Group, and our board of directors, Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal has shifted our organizational structure to better support our internal leadership.

In addition to the appointment of Fatma Sarah Elkashef as Artistic Director, Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal is delighted that Lesley Bramhill, our former General Manager, will be moving forward with our organization in the role of Managing Director.

The establishment of this new co-leadership team honours PWM’s spirit of collaboration and we are excited to see how Sarah and Lesley will shape the future of our organization.

Image of Lesley Bramhill sitting on a stool.

I am grateful for the attention and care our board of directors gave to PWM’s succession process that has culminated in this new leadership structure. It is a new chapter of the organization that I am proud to be a part of. Together with the board, I look forward to working with Sarah on continuing to strengthen the organization.

– Lesley Bramhill, Managing Director of PWM

Access to a downloadable PDF of this press release is available here:

PWM-Welcomes-New-Artistic-Director-Fatma-Sarah-Elkashef Download

November 5, 2021November 11, 2021

PWM+MAI Joint Support for Artists Featuring Jamila ‘Jai’ Joseph

Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal and MAI (Montréal, Arts Interculturels) are thrilled to announce that the PWM + MAI Joint Support **for Artists will feature Jamila ‘Jai’ Joseph with her work Wild Roots.**

THE ARTIST

Jamila ‘Jai’ Joseph is a Montreal based interdisciplinary artist with her primary mediums being dance performer 20+yrs/choreographer 10+yrs, self taught emerging singer 15yrs/song writer 15yrs, emerging theatre artist 3yrs.

A past recipient of Black Theatre Workshop’s Victor Phillips award in 2002 Jamila has continued performing, creating, and learning, telling her stories, and sharing her expressions throughout her work. In 2015 Jamila started JaiDanse, a dance facilitation/dance performance company and has produced and co-produced shows both for stage and theatre at local venues around the city. Mothers Say I Love you, written by Trey Anthony (Black Theatre Workshop 2019) & Nicole Brooke’s a Cappella “musical odyssey” Obeah Opera (ASAH Productions 2019) in Toronto, with her first stage role being back in 2017 where she portrayed ‘Lady in Purple’ in the Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls… (McGill University’s Tuesday Night Café Theatre) and again in 2018 as an “Encore presentation…” produced by the cast (Les 6 Productions). As we all came to stand still in the last 2 years, Jamila used the time to study her crafts, sharpen her creative tools and has added some new skills to her toolbelt. Currently, she is choreographing for theatre (tba) and is also writing script and song/working on her own Performance Theatre piece entitled Wild Roots.

THE PROJECT

Wild Roots is a theatrical fantasy that glimpses into the journey of a young Canadian Caribbean woman as she explores spiritual connection to self through a unique series of events. Held within a dream, song, dance & folkloric customs set the tone for this learning session as she confronts challenging parts of herself that she must work through. Taking a deeper look at the differences in how one may go about questioning old belief systems, cultural and societal norms.

The modality of healing becomes the landscape on which this story roots itself, using an interdisciplinary approach and perspective to narrate the story further exploring how intergenerational traditions can lend itself to self-discovery and healing.

THE PROGRAM

The PWM + MAI joint support accompanies creators on their journey to develop a project and explore their practice. It is aimed at artists encountering structural and systemic obstacles to their full participation in the arts because of their claimed identity and/or perceived identity in society.

More details about the program available here.

We are so excited to support the development of Jamila’s project, and wish her a fulfilling creation process!