tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4146056913190816228.post3916413010140385806..comments2023-06-08T09:09:26.663-04:00Comments on THE CHARLEBOIS POST - MONTREAL: Theatre For Thought, March 24, 2012Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4146056913190816228.post-13274421675908561792012-03-27T07:48:47.201-04:002012-03-27T07:48:47.201-04:00I’ve been out of the loop of Montreal theatre for ...I’ve been out of the loop of Montreal theatre for several years but I just read your blog post, Joel.<br /><br />If/when you come around to Toronto, try and have a talk with Jon Kaplan from NOW Magazine. He reviews independent theatre in Toronto and as far as I understand it, he makes it his personal policy to not publish negative or non-constructive reviews (I don’t want to speak for him or put words into his mouth, hence the reason why I suggest speaking to him directly). It’s not a “Toronto thing”, it’s Jon’s commitment to making theatre and theatre artists thrive in the city.<br /><br />Now let me jump onto something entirely different as I offer you a “copy and paste” from the Canada Council’s website:<br /><br />“The Canada Council defines a professional artist as someone who:<br /><br />- has specialized training in the artistic field (not necessarily in academic institutions)<br />- is recognized as a professional by his or her peers (artists working in the same artistic tradition), and<br />- is committed to devoting more time to his or her artistic activity, if possible financially, and<br />- has a history of public presentation.”<br /><br />There are few things that professional theatre artists (and even critics) can much agree on in this country, but one thing I’d venture to say we all agree upon is the definition cited above of what constitutes a professional theatre artist (or group of artists). And as we all know: as soon as you go pro, your output is “open game” to the paying public, and this is regardless of what outlook an arts editor has or some random artist walking by in a park spews out.<br /><br />If someone invested with editorial powers thinks that they have to protect their region’s arts scene by censoring the critical reception of an entire segment of their professional artists’ output (in this case, independent theatre), I’d call it arrogance at worst and provincial at best.Donald Woonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4146056913190816228.post-56440157803663044092012-03-24T09:48:34.802-04:002012-03-24T09:48:34.802-04:00A comment has been removed because moderators beli...A comment has been removed because moderators believed it to be spam.THE CHARLEBOIS POSThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08217129925286207040noreply@blogger.com