Performing Arts
Meet the Latest Performing Arts Internship Cohort
2023

The Metcalf Foundation’s Performing Arts Internships help organizations create productive entry points into the sector, realize opportunities to foster leadership, and respond to skill shortages in critical areas. The internships provide individuals with more knowledge, better skills, broader work experience, and useful contacts in order to gain meaningful and sustainable employment while making a strong professional contribution to the performing arts.

We are pleased to announce the recipients of the latest round of Metcalf Performing Arts Internships. Meet these promising arts leaders and learn more about their internships below.

 
Karen Ancheta

Artistic Direction, Theatre Aquarius

Karen Ancheta is a Hamiltonian Filipina Canadian multidisciplinary artist and Artistic Director/co-founder of Porch Light Theatre Hamilton (Company-in-Residence at Theatre Aquarius 2022) and The House Key Project, as well as the co-founder of The Garden Project/Party, an initiative celebrating IBPOC artists through mentorship in Hamilton. She is an original member of the Hamilton 7, and has worked with Kwentong Bayan, Filipinas Of Hamont, Open Heart, Young People’s Theatre, Carousel Players, Red Betty, Sulong, Carlos Bulosan Theatre, fu-GEN Theatre Company, Stratford Festival, Factory Theatre, Cahoots/b current, and Lighthouse Festival. Karen is currently working on Healing Thread with Tethered the Ghost, Fertility Monologues with Light Echo, and on a new play with Anna Chatterton called O.A. Selected film credits: One Small Visit directed by Jo Chim and You’re Invited directed by Aviva Armour-Ostroff. In 2023 she is looking forward to directing Shirley Valentine at The Capitol Theatre. Karen is a recipient of a 2021 Hamilton Arts Award.

Mentor: Mary Francis Moore, Artistic Director, Theatre Aquarius

Stephen Ingram

Music Direction, Shaw Festival

Stephen Ingram is a Hamilton-born multidisciplinary artist, working primarily as a musician/multi-instrumentalist, music director, composer, actor, performer, singer/songwriter, and music educator. He looks forward to his Metcalf internship with extreme eagerness to guarantee both his career security and variety as an artist, and as a means of furthering his goal of immortalizing more Canadian-written stories into song and onstage. Stephen has worked professionally in theatres all around his home province of Ontario for the past five years and has worked as a music teacher when not on the road. He is an avid lover of craft beer, craft cocktails, and sharing plates (really anything ingestible), and writes music and plays extraordinarily long board games in his spare time. Stephen is releasing his debut album as a singer/songwriter, Fridge Magnet Symphony, this year.

Mentor: Paul Sportelli, Music Director, Shaw Festival

Karis Jones-Pard

Project Leadership, Jumblies Theatre with Arts4All

Karis Jones-Pard (Moakpi’ksiiakkii) is a Native Two-Spirit/genderfluid queer artist based in Tkaronto. They desire to create and offer art-making and performance as a form of self-care and boundaryless expression. Karis is a graduate of Humber College Theatre Production and has been working in theatre and community arts for a decade. Their artistic practice is inter/multi-disciplinary and covers many forms of art and performance, specialising in drawing, painting, fabric arts, puppetry and theatre costumes, and props.

Mentors: Ruth Howard, Artistic Director, Jumblies Theatre & Tijana Spasić, Artistic Director, Arts4All

Tsz Ting (Tiffany) Lam

Producing, Nightwood Theatre

Originally from Hong Kong, Tsz Ting Lam is a Toronto-based emerging arts administrator and stage manager. She loves observing, supporting, and collaborating with the talented individuals in this unique art form that raises awareness, and questions and challenges people on important issues like mental health. Viewing theatre in the shifted world as an opportunity to change and support the community, Tsz Ting is looking forward to developing producing skills to make her re-imagination of Toronto’s art scene into reality.

Mentors: Naz Afsahi, Managing Director & Andrea Donaldson, Artistic Director, Nightwood Theatre

Sabrina Merks

Artistic Direction, Theatre by the Bay

Sabrina Merks (they/them) is a theatre artist and educator from Barrie, Ontario. They are a graduate of St. Lawrence College’s Musical Theatre Performance Program and most recently graduated from Queen’s University with a BA in Music Theatre. Sabrina is also the current Pre-Dance Coordinator and dance/drama instructor at Kreative Dance Company. They are passionate about enacting change within the creative arts industry. Sabrina has four years of experience in the Canadian arts industry as a performer, director, and choreographer. They often create pieces that attempt to push the boundaries of what we think “traditional theatre” is and create an opportunity for audience members and performers to feel brave and empowered. Over the past two years, Sabrina has been interested in producing shows and developing educational programming for future artists.

Mentor: Iain Moggach, Artistic Director, Theatre by the Bay

In 2022, we increased the hourly wage of internship grants to $22 to align with the highest living wage standard in Ontario at the time.

For 2023, the maximum value of the internship grant is $36,000 for a full-time 10-month long internship. If you are interested in applying for an internship this year, please note the following application deadlines:

2:00 pm ET, April 4, 2023
2:00 pm ET, October 3, 2023

We also encourage you to watch a recording of our information session, which shares more information about the internship and our application process.