Equity in Theatre (EIT) National Launch Today!

[Rebecca Burton]

Hello Fellow CanDramers,
 
I would like to draw your attention to the national launch of a new Equity in Theatre (EIT) initiative. The press release is included below. 
 
Please note that we have an online action going on today. We are asking people to temporarily change their Facebook
cover and/or profile photos to the EIT red logo, and to share that with their
friends and networks. So, if you get a chance, please participate in our action
today. Visit us on Facebook
(Equity in Theatre - https://www.facebook.com/EquityinTheatre?ref=hl),
and/or follow us on Twitter (@EquityInTheatre). 
 
We are hoping this simple
action will go viral and help call attention to the project.
 
Many thanks in advance for your participation!
 
Best Wishes,
 
Rebecca
 
Rebecca Burton,
PGC and EIT
 
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Playwrights Guild of Canada Partners with the Theatre
Sector’s Major Players to 

Proudly Announce Equity in
Theatre (EIT)

  


For Immediate Release


(TORONTO, ON – September 19, 2014)
Playwrights Guild of Canada, in partnership with some of the arts industry’s
most vital organizations, is proud to announce the launch of Equity in Theatre (EIT). Thanks to
funding from Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, and
the Ontario Arts Council, EIT will roll-out a campaign to help redress gender
inequities in the theatre sector.


Led by Rebecca Burton, PGC’s Membership and Contracts Manager, and
Laine Zisman Newman, Dramaturgical Associate with Pat the Dog Theatre Creation,
EIT involves different components: a preparatory research study, a Symposium
held in Toronto in April 2015, a website dedicated to Canadian women
in theatre, live curated performance
events, including play readings, and more. 


EIT’s Steering Committee and stellar cast
of partners includes Artists Driving
Holistic Organizational Change, Associated Designers of Canada, Canadian
Actors’ Equity Association, Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario,
Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the
Americas (Canada), Pat the Dog Theatre Creation, and the Professional
Association of Canadian Theatres. Also joining the team is Jennie Egerdie, who
successfully garnered a Metcalf Foundation Performing Arts Internship to work
alongside Rebecca Burton on the EIT project. 


With this initiative, the EIT team hopes
to foster dialogue on an (inter)national scale, develop social actions that
will help effect change, and generate greater awareness of and exposure to
Canadian women in theatre, all the while drawing attention to the systemic
discrimination that permeates the industry still. 


Although women form the vast majority of
theatre school graduates, support workers, and audience members, when it comes
to key creative roles in the sector, their numbers diminish substantially,
dropping below 35 per cent. For example, women form 50 per cent of PGC’s
membership, but they do not account for even one quarter of the nation’s
produced playwrights (the numbers for women of colour are lower yet), and rates
of representation are regressing rather than improving over time. These
imbalances have a negative trickledown effect on the industry, making an impact
on the variety of work, employment opportunities (for women actors, designers,
and directors), and audience experience.


To learn more about EIT, email us (equityintheatre at gmail.com), like us
on Facebook, follow us
on Twitter
(@EquityInTheatre), or give us a call at PGC (#416-703-0201). Please join in our online action today!



You can also attend the Toronto
Launch of EIT on Saturday, September
27, 2014 during Culture Days. Stay tuned for more info about launch events
in Vancouver (hosted by Playwrights
Theatre Centre on October 6th, 2014) and Halifax (hosted by Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre in November
2014).


Website coming soon to www.eit.playwrightsguild.ca

      


 
  
  
  
  
   
  Media
  Contact: Rebecca Burton 
  PH:
  416-703-0201 FAX: 416-703-0059
  Email:
  equityintheatre at gmail.com
  Website
  (coming soon): www.eit.playwrightsguild.ca
  
 





 


 
 		 	   		  
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