Operations
Sometimes known as the underbelly of a non-profit or the behind the scenes work of a company, operations is HOW you execute the details of you plan. From HR to Organizational Tools and Beyound!
Technology - Tools & Systems
For many audience members, the box office experience might be the only interaction they have with your company. You want to make sure your box office is set up in a welcoming and efficient manner. Consider the community you are trying to reach and what way of purchasing tickets makes the most sense for them.
There are different ways of defining AI but in simple terms, it’s about the automation of tasks that might have once required a level of human intelligence to complete. Modern AI systems are built using a technique called machine learning which involves using a lot of computing power to find statistical patterns in vast amounts of data. These systems can make inferences from these data inputs in order to produce outputs such as “predictions, content, recommendations or decisions.” (OECD)
Contracts
Approaching contracts is more than just the paper itself that you need to get signed. Start here to get an overview of all the considerations that go into making a good agreement.
A contract is a voluntary arrangement between two or more parties that is enforceable by law as a binding legal agreement. It is formed when one party makes an offer, which the other party (or parties) accept, in exchange for consideration.
Artists and producers should be familiar with IATSE, as their membership will be integral collaborators on all manner of performances and live events, in many capacities. Stagehands, carpenters, riggers, audio and video technicians, hair and makeup artists, front of house staff, designers, prop builders, production coordinators and more may be members of IATSE. Like many unions, IATSE has “locals”, which are individual chapters of the larger organization. IATSE locals can be focused on a particular specialization of the industry, or specific location, or both. There are Locals with municipal, regional, or provincial jurisdiction representing stagehands, prop and scenic shop workers, front of house staff, production coordinators working in the film industry, cinematographers, and designers. Each local has a fair amount of autonomy, and writes their own bylaws and constitution.
When you are dealing with Equity, it’s important to remember that this organization was founded to deal originally with Broadway producers, the Stratford Festival, and large, well-funded regional theatres. It sees its primary responsibilities as:
a) collective bargaining and advocacy for its members
b) ensuring workplace safety and insurance benefits, and
c) making sure its members get paid.
The Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT) is a service organization for professional theatre companies across the country. The organization acts as a collective voice for its member companies.
PACT is a Professional Association, representing Canadian Theatre companies, collectives, and other organizations, whose Labour Relations department negotiates collective agreements with other Professional Associations, including the Associated Designers of Canada (ADC-IATSE), L’Association des professionnels des arts de la scène du Québec (APASQ), Canadian Actors’ Equity Association (CAEA), and Playwrights’ Guild of Canada (PGC), on behalf of their membership.
Incorporated in 1965, Associated Designers of Canadais a national, professional non-profit arts service organization dedicated to representing the interests of set, costume, lighting, projection and sound designers working in the live performing arts in Canada. In the summer of 2020, ADC members voted in favour of affiliation with IATSE, as ADC Local 659. Local 659 has been active since January 2021.
Playwrights Guild of Canada (PGC) is a member service organization that advocates, protects, and promotes Canadian playwrights. If the playwright you are looking for is a member of the guild, you can most likely find information on performance rights for their work. If you commission a PGC member, you can guarantee that the playwright will know their own rates and be able to navigate their own contracts.
The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) helps thousands of musicians who need assistance with any number of issues related to the recording and performing of their craft. They have specialized services including immigration, media recordings, symphonic and theatrical matters, touring, freelance musicians and membership services, contract negotiations and administration, royalty streams, and more. The union helps its membership take advantage of all career opportunities and optimize the level of their professional working environment.
Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists (CADA) are two organizations who work for the labour rights of artists and professional standards for dance. They are independent organizations and both registered as non-profits; one in British Columbia, based in Vancouver, and one in Ontario, based in Toronto. While their mandates and programs are similar, they are not officially tied in any way.
The Toronto Musicians' Association (TMA), Local 149 of the Canadian Federation of Musicians (CFM) and American Federation of Musicians (AFM) is the professional association for musicians in the Greater Toronto Area. Founded in 1887, the Toronto Musicians' Association received the charter as the Toronto area Local of the AFM on June 15, 1901.
When looking to use music in performance, you may need to check in with The Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN). SOCAN is a member service organization that distributes royalties to Canadian music composers, authors, and publishers. All venues will have SOCAN licenses to play music in the general space (like background music, or the radio). If you have popular music in your show, you will need to look into getting licensing for your production. Composition rights are usually handled with SOCAN, but the recording rights are taken care of at Re:Sound
Re:Sound handles recorded music or sound that is used in a live performance. They represent recording artists and music labels.
Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA) is an association for Dramaturgs.
LMDA has published a set of Employment Guidelines for dramaturgs, and a series of Sample Contracts for some of the many ways that dramaturgs are hired. The Guidelines have info in rates that LMDA has found via surveys, but the organization is not a union and doesn't publish suggested minimums because the range of contracts are so varied. Dramaturgs are not part of the CTA/ITA.
Accessibility
Ontario is the first jurisdiction in Canada, through the AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) to mandate and regulate accessibility standards for public and private sectors in all key areas of daily living. The purpose of the act is to make the province accessible for Ontarians with disabilities by 2025. This regulation applies to every person or organization that provides goods, services, or facilities to the public or third parties and that has at least one employee in Ontario.
Hearing interpreters have to be members of CASLI (Canadian Association of Sign Language Interpreters) in order to work. Deaf Theatre Interpreters have a different scope of interpreting, as it is an artistic field for them. Therefore they require a different set of training, which includes theatre experience/training.
You've made the art, but is your art accessible to people with disabilities? How can producing considerations alter the artistic landscape so that performance can include and involve more audiences?
Making your art accessible goes beyond offering accessible performances. Here are some (but not all) of the considerations you should make when looking at accessibility for your event/production…
Producing live performance usually means producing a lot of content around your event: marketing and communications (like marketing materials, a website, promotional photos, and graphics) to share information about you or your project with an audience; important documents (like contracts, invoices, and schedules) to manage your team and your project; and the scripts and designs that help bring your creative ideas to life.
It is important to create an accessibility statement for all of your events. If you are a venued company, you should also have an accessibility statement for the spaces that you regularly work in. An accessibility statement can be quite broad or quite specific. Remember: each person is unique and you can't know the accessibility needs of everyone curious about your event. It's best to just accurately list the access features of your space, and leave it to those who know their accommodation needs to make their own choices about whether it is accessible for them or not.
Let’s face it, theatre and access aren’t always words we find in the same sentence, even in 2025. Though there is a long way to go - there are ways to start the conversation. Remember - ensuring a theatre space meets your access needs, should NEVER be your sole job, it needs to be a conversation with the producers and facilitators of the process!
Artists who are parents and caregivers have complex access needs that are specific to their caregiving situations; there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to balancing caregiving and art-making. Many intersecting factors can compound the socio-economic burden on artists who are also caregivers.
Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion
Climate Justice is a term linked to a movement intrinsically related to Social Justice that acknowledges climate change can have differing social, economic, public health, and other adverse impacts on people, communities, and ecosystems globally. Climate justice is a concept that addresses the ethical dimensions of climate change, and climate justice in producing practices requires artists’ acknowledgment of the short and long-term impacts of production for the planet and all living things, now, and generations to come.
Going hand-in-hand with inclusion and accessibility, social justice solidarity is about using your platform appropriately to meaningfully and respectfully support causes aimed at promoting equal economic, political, and social rights and opportunities. Being an artist naturally lends itself to this work. However, the way forward isn't always clear, especially when funds are limited.
Inclusion is a way of thinking and acting that allows every individual to feel accepted, valued and safe(r). An inclusive community consciously evolves to meet the changing needs of its members. Artist producers can make conscious decisions to make safe(r), more inclusive spaces for themselves, their artists and their community.
What is Community Engagement? It depends on who’s asking. Community can mean different things to different people. Generally, a community is a group of people that share some kind of commonality.
A Community Partnership is a relationship between your arts collective or organization and a non-arts organization or collective. This differs from a corporate sponsorship or private funding relationship as there is generally no exchange of funds or goods. Community partnerships often meet a more social service or community-oriented purpose.
Social Design is the strategy and implementation of online tools to deepen or broaden the artistic nature of a live performance. There are three types of social design that mobilize digital tools like social media, live-streaming, green-screen technology, online forums, teleconferencing software, etc.