National Ballet of Canada Announces Expansion of Emerging Arts Critics Programme

The National Ballet of Canada today announced the Emerging Arts Critics (EAC) programme will expand in the 2019/20 season to include Soulpepper Theatre Company along with returning collaborators The National Ballet of Canada, Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) and the Canadian Opera Company(COC).

Originally launched by the National Ballet in 2014 as Emerging Dance Critics, the programme expanded for the 2017/18 season to include the TSO, becoming Emerging Arts Critics, with the COC joining the following season in 2018/19. The programme features publishing partners The Dance Current, The WholeNote and Opera Canada. This season Intermission Magazine joins to publish Soulpepper reviews.

The EAC programme provides a forum for aspiring arts writers and assists them in developing the tools required to authoritatively write about and review ballet, classical music, opera and now, theatre. Applications from Toronto-based aspiring arts reviewers between the ages of 19 to 29 are now being accepted. Applicants should send an email to media@national.ballet.ca explaining why they would like to take part in the programme, along with a non-academic writing sample. Applications will be accepted until September 6, 2019. The EAC programme is committed to inclusiveness and encourages applicants from all backgrounds and abilities to apply.

Retired arts critic John Coulbourn, music journalist and broadcaster Robert Harris, performing arts writer Catherine Kustanczy and theatre critic Robert Cushman will mentor this season's participants. The Dance Current Executive Editor Emma Doran, The WholeNote Publisher and Editor in Chief David Perlman with Digital Media Editor Sara Constant, Opera Canada Editorial Director Gianmarco Segatoand Intermission Magazine Publisher and Co-Founder Philip Riccio will coach the writers in a one-on-one editorial process through to online publication.

Selected participants will attend National Ballet, TSO, COC and Soulpepper performances over the 2019/20 season from September 2019 to June 2020 and will work with the mentors to have their reviews published. In addition, participants will also attend critical writing and research skills workshops hosted by the National Ballet, TSO, COC and Soulpepper as part of the programme.

Last season, a group of eight emerging arts writers were selected through an open call resulting in 24 reviews of the National Ballet, TSO and COC.

2019/20 performance schedule

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

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.

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.

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 by Karolina Kuras

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