Diagnostic of the Dissemination of Dance for Young Audiences

Recommendations

A- Presentation, Dissemination et and Outreach

A1 - Arts Education

Recommendations

Considering the importance of artistic education in the de­velopment of children and youth, and considering that it is a shared responsibility of Education and Culture De­partments, we recommend that they identify it as a stra­tegic priority and that they work closely on policies, pro­grams and on the ground between creators, schools, presenters and networks.

Stakeholders

By identifying artistic education as a strategic priority, arts councils and cul­ture depart­ments identify as priorities tour funding for young audi­ence performances, transporta­tion funding between schools and venues and presenters’ funding for young audience activities.

Performance Indicators

Number of tours, transportation to venues, number of young audience performances by presenters.

A2 - Presenting Support

Recommendations

Considering the importance of accessibility of all art forms to the children and youth of all regions, we recommend that multidisciplinary[1] and specialized presenters who present annually at least one dance for young audience (DYA) performance receive a supplement in their public support.

[1] Many multidisciplinary presenters are facility-based.

Stakeholders

By allocating a supplement for the presentation of at least one dance performance for young audiences (DYA), including a youth matinee of a dance presentation, arts councils and cul­ture depart­ments will extend accessibility across the country.

Performance Indicators

Number of DYA tours, performances and attendees.

A3 - Outreach Coordinator Support

Recommendations

Considering the diversity of stakeholders and outreach efforts required at a local level to support programming for youth, we recommend that presenters that are programming at least  2 young audience works per year, receive public support to hire a dedicated part-time or full-time human resource.

Stakeholders

By supporting the hiring of an outreach coordinator, arts councils and  departments of culture will support the local development of dance audiences by presenters looking to develop new audience strategies in an in-depth way.

Performance Indicators

Number of coordinators hired, number of performances for young audiences.

A4 - Priority Groups

Recommendations

Considering the importance of presenting artistic creations from priority groups (Indige­nous, culturally diverse, sexually diverse, offi­cial language minority, deaf and disability artists and com­panies), we recommend that presenters who present at least one dance performance of one of these groups be supported, as a priority at equal merit, through a pre­senting grant.

Stakeholders

Presenting performances from priority groups gives pre­senters the opportunity to re­flect on stage the diversity of their community, as well as providing extended touring opportunities to these dance compa­nies. The choice of the targeted group should be done by the presenter accord­ing to its community.

Performance Indicators

Number of performances from priority groups

A5 - Performance Fees

Recommendations

Considering that DYA perfor­mance fees are lower than the average fee paid per per­formance in dance, we recommend that grants provided to schools and presenters be increased in order to raise the fee paid per performance to DYA companies. Funders should monitor performance fees when attributing grants to schools and presenters.

Stakeholders

As fees paid to DYA companies reflect the low level of financial resources for artistic education in the schools as well as the lower level of earned revenues of DYA presenters, municipal, provin­cial and federal public funders should compensate these low revenues to expand democratic access to DYA.

Performance Indicators

Average fee paid per performance by schools and by presenters.

A6 - Network Coordination Support

Recommendations

Considering that tight coor­dination is needed for the dissemination of DYA, and considering networks’ efficiencies in sharing infor­mation and resources, we recommend that networks which are coordinating at least three productions for young audiences, including at least one in dance, receive public support to hire a dedi­cated human resource.

Stakeholders

By supporting the presentation of a least one DYA production per year, networks[1] will pool their efforts by being supported to hire a dedicated human re­source to work in col­laboration with other perform­ing arts as­sociations and to es­tablish a dialogue with private dance studios and pre-professional train­ing dance in­stitutions.

[1] Such as Prologue, Roseq, ArtStarts, Radar, Ontario Presents, etc.

Performance Indicators

Number of DYA tours, performances and attendees.

A7 - Flexible Initiatives

Recommendations

Considering that innovative, flexible and multi-year coordinated initia­tives, between art­ists, presenters and dance schools, contribute to the appreciation of DYA, we recommend that presenters supporting these initiatives receive multi-year project grants.

Stakeholders

By supporting flexible and mul­ti-year initiatives to build appreciation for DYA, arts councils, departments of culture and cities will contribute to the development, in the long term, of dance audiences.

Performance Indicators

Number of initiatives and participants in dance education activities for young audiences.

A8 - Outreach Resources

Recommendations

Considering the importance of printed and virtual outreach resources, such as pedagogical guides, we recommend that the production costs of these resources be considered as eligible expenses in touring programs. By including a specific clause related to these resources in the presentation contract, pre­senters will make sure that these tools will be available to schools and family audiences before the presentation.

Stakeholders

If not done already, the eligibil­ity of these outreach expenses in touring programs will allow young audience dance compa­nies to enhance knowledge of a dance form thus reinforcing the impact of the performance on the audience.

Performance Indicators

Number of outreach resources, number of printed copies distributed, website hit rate.

A9 - Ongoing Promotion and Advocacy for DYA

Recommendations

Considering that artistic edu­cation and DYA are not strategic priorities for a num­ber of public funders, we recommend that dance associa­tions, dance-lover educators and presenters’ networks continue their ongoing pro­motional and advocacy efforts to improve practice condi­tions, accessibility and in­crease dissemination of DYA.

Stakeholders

To be effective, an ongoing promotional and advocacy cam­paign must be based on in-depth research, an annual mapping, key events and a unified message on the benefits of DYA, as well as on its accessi­bility in the schools and in the performing arts venues in all regions of Canada. As part of developing such a strategy, work collaboratively with existing advocacy bodies in the performing arts for young audiences (e.g. TUEJ and ASSITTEJ)

Performance Indicators

Number of DYA tours, performances and attendees.

Désolé!

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