Past Programs
T.R.A.I.N
T.R.A.I.N – Training Respectful, Adaptive and Inclusive Networks in the Arts was a professional development program that took place from September 2022 to March 2023. It congregated a national community of arts workers and artists who wanted to contribute to a more equitable and sustainable professional arts sector. The program offered free online workshops across eight learning streams covering a range of timely topics based on Mass Culture’s research. These streams included Equitable Evaluation, Navigating the Canadian Arts Ecosystem, Ethical Practices in the Arts, Emerging Governance Models and Anti-Oppression, Civic Engagement, Arts Advocacy and Activism, and Artists’ Rights.
The program put Mass Culture’s national sector consultations and research into practice, and through community-building centered in care, it shared existing knowledge, tested new ideas, and further informed artists and arts workers. T.R.A.I.N endeavored to support and address the needs of a shifting sector that was transitioning through a period of reflection, recovery, and growth. The program was funded by Canadian Heritage Performing Arts Workers Resilience Fund.
Here we are offering a curated share-back of key materials, resources, and discussions that took place as part of the program. This is offered as a recap for the community that participated in this program as well as a resource to those who missed the program. These conversations are part of ongoing learning designed to support the arts sector.
ASOs: Positioning a Future Forward
It is time to bring the ASO community together to investigate the challenges our sector faces, and to advance our ideas for addressing such challenges.
In spring 2022, Mass Culture hosted a crowdsourcing campaign, receiving 40 challenges from the arts sector. We clustered these challenges into themes, hosted an upvote, and a final decision-making panel to determine the five topics for the Solution Pathways. As part of this initiative, 140 people gathered during ASO Convergence Conference in January 2023. We’ve now reached a point for action.
Play-Go-Rounds
Play-Go-Round is a knowledge journey. It is an in-depth learning exercise involving convenings (one closed and one public/recorded event) as well as thought pieces. This method for gathering and sharing knowledge involves a more deepened approach, giving content contributors different occasions to share information, listen to their colleagues, reflect, and maintain a level of curiosity in the subject matter. Find out about past Play-Go-Rounds below.
Gatherings
MC Gatherings are in-person or online community-centred consultations in the form of casual conversations.
What is the intention behind a Gathering?
- Inform and enhance a wide range of cultural Research Provocations that matter to the people within each discussion
- Shape the future of Mass Culture – what types of supports can Mass Culture provide to the Canadian arts and culture sector?
- Result in stronger connections and future conversations on cultural research topics within and across communities
- Bring together people with shared interests, so that they can meet new contacts outside their existing network
- Provide an open space for discussion
Are you interested in hosting a Gathering in your region? Have you hosted an In-Person Gathering and want to share images and notes? Get in touch: [email protected]!
