Photo by Brianna Roye
people working around a table

Microgrants and Scholarships

It has now been more than a year since Canadian Stage last welcomed artists into our home to share their craft with a live audience. As our arts community continues to navigate through this challenging time, one thing has been abundantly clear from the start: Canadian artists needed urgent and direct support to sustain them through this period. Reflective of our commitment to contribute socially, economically, and educationally to our communities, we have invested significant resources toward helping theatre and dance makers pivot their artistic practice during the pandemic, and beyond.

Through a series of Microgrants and Scholarships we have been able to fund artist-led investigations into digital technologies, paid training for technicians and designers wishing to upgrade their digital skills, the acquisition of new technology, and the commissioning of new works.

The demand for these programs exceeded our expectations, with over 550 submissions from artists across the country. At last, we are thrilled to introduce to you the creative minds that we are able to bolster, and whose thinking, work, innovation, and explorations will guide us to an exciting and vibrant future.

The Microgrant and Scholarship programs were partially funded through the generosity of our supporters who contributed through Canadian Stage’s Artist Voucher Program.

The Scholarship program is offered in partnership with Theatre Gargantua and Native Earth Performing Arts.

Meryem Alaoui
Meryem Alaoui

Research for a new dance work inspired by videos of the Ahwach and Ahidous dances of Morocco.

Cole Alvis
Cole Alvis

Research for project rooted in the reckoning of settler and Indigenous ancestry, using blood memory, land-based knowledge and the pursuit of ancestral stories in the artist's matriarchal line.

Raf Antonio
Raf Antonio

Support the development of a new, large-scale, QTBIPOC play.

Abebe Atlabchew
Abebe Atlabchew

Development of a new circus work that fuses traditional Ethiopian dance and circus arts with theatrical storytelling.

Emilie Aubin
Emilie Aubin

Tuition for certificates in Crisis Intervention and Trauma Supports (Humber) and Aboriginal Knowledges and Experiences (Ryerson).

Makram Ayache
Makram Ayache

Development of the first draft of a large-scale, multi-disciplinary work that explores the 'mythology of capitalism' and its interplay with identity politics, power, and oppression.

Natasha Bean-Smith
Natasha Bean-Smith

Support for tuition for a post-graduate certificate program in Human Resources Management.

Arnaldo Betancourt
Arnaldo Betancourt

New collaboration between an award-winning Hip Hop dancer and one of Canada's most experienced Rumba dancers.

Pip Bradford
Pip Bradford

Training in Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression to develop more equitable production practices. Supported by Theatre Gargantua.

Yulissa Campos
Yulissa Campos

Expansion of the play I, Frida for its presentation at the MI Singapore Fringe Festival.

Louise Casemore
Louise Casemore

Training in Human Resources to help theatre organizations evaluate and improve how they engage with staff, artists, and community members.

Theresa Cutknife
Theresa Cutknife

Support the collaboration between a playwright and a legal scholar in service of a new play about the Canadian legal system and its relation to treaty law and Indigenous legal traditions.

Alea de Castro
Alea de Castro

Research into the application of decolonizing approaches to Filipinx culture in alignment with Hip Hop in order to support the creation of a new work rooted in Street Dance.

Saccha Dennis
Saccha Dennis

Support the creation of Brown Eyes: a new Afro-furistic Sci-Fi musical.

Rinchen Dolma
Rinchen Dolma

Research into traditional Tibetan mask work from a contemporary exiled lens.

Waawaate Fobister
Waawaate Fobister

Research into the warrior society of the Anishinaabe to support a new choreographic work entitled Miskwiin.

John Gzowski
John Gzowski

Tuition for course in composition/orchestration. Supported by Theatre Gargantua.

Lisa Hamalainen
Lisa Hamalainen

Research for Kagawong River Stories, a community-engaged, land-based story walk on Manitoulin Island.

HAUI aka Howard J. Davis
HAUI aka Howard J. Davis

Training in digital projection software, mentorship and docolonized practices with a senior indigenous designer in that field.

Astrid Janson
Astrid Janson

Experimentation with integrating hologram and projection mapping into Videocabaret's signature expressive performance style.

Vladimir Laurore
Vladimir Laurore

Research into formalizing a choreographic and training approach to Krump.

Jani Lauzon
Jani Lauzon

Development of a new clown show by the newly formed The Buffalo Jills (Jani Lauzon and Michaela Washburn).

Pippa Mackie and Kim Senklip Harvey
Pippa Mackie and Kim Senklip Harvey

Development of The Mayor and The Chief: This is Not Reconciliation, a new comedic performance work that explores the friendship between an Indigenous and a white woman.

ahdri zhina mandiela
ahdri zhina mandiela

Research towards the development of a digital artists' networking and performance application for young africanadians carving out careers in the arts.

Alyssa Martin
Alyssa Martin

Development of a new digital dance project that centres intergenerational mentorship and communication.

Lucy M. May and Ja Britton Johnson
Lucy M. May and Ja Britton Johnson

Support for research in illustration and video, as extensions of creative processes in Krump.

Andrew Moodie
Andrew Moodie

Research for a new play about Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa.

Natasha Mumba
Natasha Mumba

Development of the first draft of a new play that explores the interpersonal and economical effects of resource extraction in developing countries.

Omari Newton
Omari Newton

Creation of a new one-person play entitled Submit All Ethnicities that draws on personal experiences of BIPOC individuals working on Hollywood film sets in Canada.

Kevin Olson
Kevin Olson

Tuition for Project Management Fundamentals course.

Laura Phillips
Laura Phillips

Training and mentorship in AO/VR/360 video and movement live integration.

Steph Raposo
Steph Raposo

Training and software in audio-visual and livestream technology, and tech-related program facilitation and education.

Luke Reece
Luke Reece

Development of Building Relationships with the World, a theatrical & poetic exploration of family stories and crafting your narrative; with initial workshop support from Theatre Passe Muraille, and further support by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Timothy Rodrigues
Timothy Rodrigues

Training in projection mapping.

Amy Rutherford
Amy Rutherford

Integration of Binaural audio technology for Rutherford's work-in-progress Reproduction.

Olivia Shortt
Olivia Shortt

Support the work with a knowledge keeper from Nipissing First Nation in cultural and traditional practices as well as mentorship in live streaming, audio and sound design from Dr. Justin Massey. Supported by Native Earth Performing Arts.

Merlin Simard and Gabe Maharjan
Merlin Simard and Gabe Maharjan

Development of Transactions, a new play that explores the economics of Transness and the means through which Two-Spirit, Trans* and Gender-Nonconforming communities work to survive within a capitalist system that consistently disfavours them.

Brian Solomon
Brian Solomon

Exploration and expansion of the performance work RED FLAG.

Meghan Swaby
Meghan Swaby

Research Jamaican rituals and traditions for the second draft of Swaby's play Breadfruit.

Elena Belyea and Tori Morrison
Tiny Bear Jaws

Research into the effective and artful application of surtitles in the new digital performance "Iod".

Pam Tzeng and Bianca Guimaraes de Manuel
Pam Tzeng and Bianca Guimaraes de Manuel

A transdisciplinary research project focused on mapping strategies for facilitating emergent processes that prioritize accountability, restoration, and practices of care.

Maria Zarrillo
Maria Zarrillo

Tuition for three university-level courses in Human Rights.

Echo Zhou
Echo Zhou

Mentorship in Virtual Reality design with a pioneer designer in that field.