Meher Pavri as the Opera Singer, with Neil D'Souza as Krishna and Anaka Maharaj-Sandhu as Arjuna in Why Not Theatre’s Mahabharata (Shaw Festival, 2023). Photo: David Cooper
Performing Arts
2024 Booster Fund
2025

Artists and arts workers continue to be challenged by precarity in the sector — especially in today’s turbulent economic climate. The Booster Fund was created to help offset these difficult conditions by amplifying remuneration and access for artists and arts workers in existing creation, programming, training, outreach, or education activities and projects offered by performing arts organizations in Toronto. Supporting viable and fulfilling careers in arts and culture is central to our work. 

We are pleased to share the 20 organizations that have collectively received over $340,000 in funding through the 2024 Booster Fund.  

 

adelheid dance projects

adelheid is a dance company that focuses on human contact, interaction and the environment.  

Funds will boost a new dance work featuring a group of performers taking an audience on a performance experience outdoors through public space.  

Aluna Theatre

Aluna is a theatre company that embraces the multiplicity of voices, cultures, and stories of the Latinx community in Toronto and beyond. 

Funds will support artists/collectives participating in the CAMINOS Residencies through learning exchanges, mentorships, and a post-producing session on “where to go from here.”  

The Association for Opera in Canada

The Association for Opera in Canada is a membership-based association for opera companies, opera artists, businesses, teaching institutions, and individuals.  

Funds will support more opera artists to be able to access free or reduced cost membership in AOC through their Relief for Opera Artists Members (ROAM) Program.  

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is Toronto’s leading destination for artistically rigorous alternative theatre and a world leader in developing queer voices and stories for the stage. 

Funds will boost artist and production fees for the 46th edition of the Rhubarb Festival, Canada’s longest-running festival of new work. 

Canada’s National Ballet School

Canada’s National Ballet School is the country’s leading classical ballet training institute, founded in 1958.  

Funds will support the NBS Aspects of Creativity program by expanding artist engagement opportunities by NBS emerging artists at the prestigious International Junior Ballet Encounters in Cannes, France. 

Canadian Dance Assembly

Canadian Dance Assembly is an arts service organization that cultivates a strong national voice for Canadian professional dance and supports the development of resources for the dance community. 

Funds will increase support for a week of skills development and relationship building for IBPoC Artist-Curators in Toronto. 

Canadian Stage

Canadian Stage is one of Canada’s leading nonprofit contemporary performance companies, producing and showcasing new, innovative art forms from Canada and around the world. 

Funds will support the creative team of The Festival of New Theatre by extending the creation process.  

Citadel + Compagnie

Citadel + Compagnie is a Canadian professional dance organization focused on the creative, cultivation, and curation of contemporary dance.  

Funds will increase fees for artists presented through the Citadel LIVE series as well as travel support for visiting Montreal artists and expansion of dramaturgical initiatives.  

Continuum Contemporary Music 

Continuum is an ensemble that supports groundbreaking and innovative ideas in contemporary chamber music. 

Funds will support increased access to the Mentorship in Artistic Production program. 

Dance Collection Danse

Dance Collection Danse is a national arts organization that safeguards Canada’s dance archives and artifacts and disseminates this history through its varied programs.  

Funds will boost renumeration for project collaborators and exhibition sound and lighting for their HIV/AIDS and Dance exhibition.

dance Immersion

dance Immersion produces, promotes, and supports dancers of the African diaspora.  

Funds will support The Legacy Summit, a professional development program connecting local and international artists, by increasing accessibility for participants and engaging additional music facilitators

DanceWorks

DanceWorks is a community-focused, artist-centered choreographic presentation platform that curates vigorous and intentional choreographic performances.  

Funds will increase artist renumeration and engagement in the DanceWorks Signature Series 2025.  

Fall for Dance North

Fall for Dance North is Toronto’s premier professional international dance festival that celebrates, nurtures, and amplifies established and emerging Canadian dance artists.  

Funds will boost an original commission by dancemaker Esie Mensah by doubling the cast and expanding the creation period.  

Mammalian Diving Reflex

Mammalian Diving Reflex is a performing arts group that creates site and social-specific performance, theatre productions, participatory gallery installation, and more to foster dialogue and dismantle barriers between individuals of all backgrounds.  

Funds will increase remuneration for artists in Enter the Gorshey, a youth-led performance that highlights Tibetan culture. 

Nia Centre for the Arts

Nia Centre for the Arts supports, showcases, and promotes an appreciation of arts from across the African Diaspora.  

Funds will boost Nia’s Artist in Residence (AIR) program, increasing renumeration and access for materials, professional development opportunities, and costs associated with artist showcases.  

Outside the March

Outside the March is one of Canada’s leading immersive theatre companies creating immersive encounters that redefine the theatre experience for a new generation of audiences.  

Funds will support the world premiere of Rainbow on Mars by Devon Healey by adding additional performers and creative team renumeration.  

Soundstreams Canada

Soundstreams is committed to showcasing the work of living Canadian and global composers and musicians through innovative, carefully curated, and immersive musical experiences.  

Funds will increase fees for artists involved in their mainstage and professional development series. 

The Theatre Centre

The Theatre Centre is a nationally recognized live-arts incubator and community hub.  

Funds will boost artist fees and expand access to two early-phase creation programs, Explorations and The Night Shif

Théâtre français de Toronto

Théâtre français de Toronto is a French-language theatre company performing repertoire and new work for Francophones and Francophiles.  

Funds will increase renumeration of Assistant Directors enrolled in its Mentoring Program.  

Why Not Theatre

Why Not Theatre is an independent theatre company reinventing how stories are told to inspire new ways of thinking about creativity and civic engagement.  

Funds will increase artist fees for its 2025 run of MAHABHARATA, a two-part retelling of the ancient Indian epic.