Peer-mentorship platform for gender diverse performers

DO TRANS PEOPLE DREAM OF NONBINARY SHEEP?

Original Artwork by Stephen Jackman-Torkoff.

Round 1 of this Peer-Mentorship took place 2021-22

Stay Tuned for Round 2

Do Trans People Dream of Nonbinary Sheep? is a new, paid peer-mentorship platform for gender diverse performance creators and performing artists from across Canada.

A play on the classic sci-fi title Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Do Trans People Dream of Nonbinary Sheep? is:

a paid opportunity to work both in a group of artists, as well as one-on-one with an artist-peer, as a resource on each other’s projects, ideas, and artistic questions
a paid opportunity for gender diverse performance creators to explore without cisgender gatekeeping, and without the pressure to create audience-ready work
a paid opportunity to participate in a skill-sharing platform, a discussion series, and a networking opportunity with other gender diverse artists

BACKGROUND

Gender diverse artists across Canada are underrepresented in Canadian performance.

Articulating the extent of the invisibility of gender diverse creators and performers in Canadian performance is a systemic issue, because gender diverse artists are encouraged to let certain aspects of themselves be erased by gendered casting calls, gendered award categories, educational and training institutions, toxic micro and macro aggressions, and the culture of sexual and gender-based harassment that exists in the Canadian performance industry.

Gender diverse artists are noticeably absent from Artistic Director positions in theatre companies with operational funding, across Canada. When initiatives aimed at supporting the development of gender diverse artists are offered by these companies, gender diverse artists still often face cisgender gatekeeping from the top down. This means that cisgender perspectives are shaping what gets developed and disseminated as gender diverse work.

Which kind of misses the point.

In fall 2019, Tender Container began consulting with arts leaders across Canada around the idea of offering a lateral, peer-mentorship platform by and for gender diverse artists, without the pressure of a public-facing outcome such as a showcase or performance. Instead, this platform is focused on creating a networking opportunity for gender diverse artists, a place for gender diverse artists to discuss art-making with each other, and a paid opportunity for gender diverse artists to explore aesthetics and to experiment with artistic questions.

What is a gender diverse aesthetic that is not creating itself as a reaction to cisgender norms?
What does gender diverse art look like when it is not explaining itself to cisgender audiences?
What is gender diverse cultural expression when it is free from being shaped by cisgender discomfort with gender diverse bodies?

These are some of the artistic questions Do Trans People Dream of Nonbinary Sheep? seeks to unearth.

In 2020, Tender Container secured funding for round 1 of this peer-mentorship platform, which took place 2021-22.

After the resounding success of round 1, Tender Container is now in the planning stages for round 2 of this peer-mentorship platform.

DETAILS

Round 1 (2021-22)

This platform took place online in September 2021, and in-person in November-December 2022 at The GRAND in Calgary.

The eight artists participating in this platform over 2021-22 were:

Playwright, theatre creator and performer Sunny Drake joined the peer artist group in September 2021, as a guest speaker.

Sunny is a trans and queer artist whose transformative and inventive performances have been translated into four languages and presented in 90 venues in over 60 cities across the world. In 2016 Sunny was invited to write an article for Canadian Theatre Review about trans theatre in Canada, which he titled “Transitioning the Theatre Industry.” He was born in Australia and has lived in Tkaronto (Toronto) since 2011.

What do we mean when we say this is open to gender diverse artists?

Gender diverse is an umbrella term used to describe anyone whose gender identity or expression is different from that which was assigned at birth or is expected of them by society. This includes (but is not exclusive to) those who identify as: trans, transgender, genderqueer, nonbinary, and other culturally-specific identities, as well as a variety of other gender labels.

Gender diverse people may or may not access services to medically transition – this is different for everyone, and there is no requirement for medical transition in order to be transgender and/or gender diverse.

What do we mean when we say performance creators, or performing artists?

Anything from spoken word to playwriting, from directing to stage combat choreography, from stand-up comedy to avant-garde performance, from music composition to set design, from dance to acting, from puppetry to burlesque – and anything else we haven’t named. We’re looking to bring a diverse set of skills, interests, and perspectives on performance to this platform.

thank you’s

Thank you to Joyce Rosario, whose industry knowledge was pivotal getting this initiative funded, as well as to C.E. Gatchalian and Makram Ayache, for their support of this initiative.

Thank you to Tony McGrath (former CEO of The GRAND) the incoming Board of The GRAND, as well as James Demers (former Executive Director at CQAS) and the current management of the Calgary Queer Arts Society, for partnering on this initiative.

This peer-mentorship platform is possible with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

This peer-mentorship platform, its methodologies, and its rationales are the intellectual property of Tender Container, and cannot be implemented in your organization without seeking and receiving consent from Tender Container. If you are interested in implementing this peer-mentorship in your own company, collective, or organization, feel free to get in touch and ask permission.

Theft of gender diverse intellectual property, and credit-stealing from gender diverse artists, is a huge issue in the Canadian performance industry.

If Tender Container’s intellectual property is used without consent, we will report the theft to the Canada Council for the Arts, and we will seek the Council’s aid in taking civil action.