We cannot believe that our gritty, little hard-scrabble festival is 10 years old!

Anniversaries are times for reflection and remembrance and then celebration.  We have a lot to celebrate.  Over the past 10 years we have presented 48 New plays-in-process by 48 playwrights, nine of which have been fully produced, three touring to audiences across the Country.  We have provided contracts to more than 1000 arts/creative workers at professional industry wages. In fact, we are often the first Professional contract obtained by new graduates.

We have also instigated and assisted in the translation of three new works from French to English hiring local Franco-Ontarian artists to make that translation. We’ve hosted two conferences:  One with visiting artists from the Stratford Festival and our current Conversation on Touring in Northern ON.  We created the first Producer Unit in Northern ON mentoring young artists on how to produce new works of theatre, and have held dozens of Master Classes in Playwriting, Directing and Devised Theatre Creation.  Last year we partnered with the City of Greater Sudbury to stimulate 20 microgrants to local artists in any artistic discipline during the trauma and shut-down of Covid.

Thank you for your support and encouragement of our continued efforts to instigate, create and develop the stories of our North created by Northern Ontarians. We’re grateful and we’re proud.

Join us please as we celebrate our 10th.          ~ Lisa O’Connell, Artistic Director