Intercultural Conversations– Conversations Interculturelles Announces 2024-25 Season Grant Program

Twice a year the Cole Foundation's Intercultural Conversations-Conversations Interculturelles program disperses hundreds of thousands of dollars to support professional Montreal theatre companies to produce, commission and translate plays that show diversity on stage.

This encourages greater understanding of Montreal's intercultural reality by having audiences both learn about and see their stories presented. For the recent fall competition, 13 deserving companies were given instrumental grants for a total of $225,000 for the 2024-25 season, as well as added funding for post-show audience talkbacks to continue the conversation initiated in the production.

Over the past fifteen years the Cole Foundation has cultivated and strengthened a catalogue of theatrical work incorporating themes of inclusion and dialogue. “It is a privilege to support the creation of work that features diverse cultures, including racial, ethnic and religious viewpoints,” said Cole Foundation President and Chairman, Barry Cole. “The IC-CI grant is founded on the idea that expansion of a community's world view is an invaluable principle.”

Commissioning Grants:

Geordie Productions- Nikanihk by Todd Houseman

Productions Menuentakuan- Yahndawa'; Ce que nous sommes by Marie-Josée Bastien

Système Kangourou- Paysages en filiation by Claudine Robillard and Anne-Marie Guilmaine

Théâtre UBU Inc.- Chronologies by Stephie Mazunya.

Production Grants: 

Productions Onishka- Nigamon/Tunai by Émilie Monnet and Waira Nina

Black Theatre Workshop- Diggers by Donna-Michelle St.Bernard, and Vierge by Rachel Mutombo

Festival TransAmériques- Carte noire nommé désir by Rebecca Chaillon

La Messe Basse- Sur les traces by Dany Boudreault and Gurshad Shaheman

Lara Kramer Danse- Rétrospective Lara Kramer Windigo + Them Voices

Orange Noyée- Il neige sur Abidjan by Iannicko N’Doua

Théâtre de la Sentinelle- M’appelle Mohammed Ali by Dieudonné Niangouna

Théâtre de Quat’Sous- Fin de l’homme rouge by Svetlana Alexievitch, adapted by Catherine de Léan.

Translation Grant

Segal Centre for the Performing Arts- Josephine: A Musical Cabaret by Tymisha Harris, Michael Marinaccio and Tod Kimbro.

The foundation was delighted to see that this round of grants received an increase in play submissions including a number of newcomers to the competition, offering a widespread range of ideas, cultures and identities. Many of the issues are topical and current, taking things from the news to the theatre. Anticipated works by both emerging and awarded playwrights range from intimate solo performances to stage-filled spectacles. Upcoming season's audiences will be presented with works of honesty, humour, history and heartbreak. Plays include theatrical styles and themes that are truth-based, sci-fi/fantasy inspired and literary adaptations, among others. Theatre-goers are offered a wide intercultural choice for youth and adults including: a socio-political satire exploring stereotypes including pre-conceived ideas about Black women's bodies; similarities and shortcomings between refugees and locals; visiting faraway unknown family and culture shock; the  quest to answer, ‘Where are you from?'; the naivety of young ‘good girls'; inhabitants of a living room evolving over generations; a talented Black musical entertainer overcoming racially-divided hostilities; an adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning testimonies from forty years of travel; an actor pondering the parallels of his fight for dignity and recognition, and that of his latest role; and captivating scripts about the fight for access to water, Indigenous creation myths, and the destruction of natural resources. The shows highlight contemporary Quebec issues via the Congo (DRC), previously-named USSR, USA, Martinique, Iran, Ivory Coast, Turkey, Colombia, Indigenous peoples (including Anishnaabeg, Inga, Wendat) and Burundi.

Intercultural Conversations-Conversations Interculturelles grants encourage Montreal companies to offer diverse, cross-cultural shared experiences by telling impactful narratives. “With this show, we offer an outstretched hand towards ‘the other'—the Cole Foundation instills in us the freedom and confidence to do so according to our convictions,” said Dany Boudreault, co-artistic director, La Messe Basse. “The Cole Foundation's Intercultural Conversations/Conversations Interculturelles grant makes it possible for us to support new work by Black Canadian writers, and open up conversations for cultural exchange and understanding, while proudly contributing to The National Theatre ecology in a meaningful way with longstanding impact,” said Dian Marie Bridge, Black Theatre Workshop Artistic Director. "We have spent so many hours researching archives and interviewing family members and can now weave all this trove of information into a script that will be a precious tool in understanding who we are as Wendats. The Cole Foundation has proven to be an exceptional ally in allowing Indigenous dramaturgy and storytelling to grow in Tio-tia-ke,” said Productions Menuentakuan Artistic Director Charles Bender. From Mani Soleymanlou, artistic director of Orange Noyée, “Since 2012, with the support of the Cole Foundation, we have tried to tell the story of Montreal in all its diversity, to reach out to all Montrealers regardless of their origins. The foundation is an invaluable and irreplaceable partner.”

There are two annual Intercultural Conversations- Conversations Interculturelles grants, in October and April. The deadline for the next competition of the award is Friday, March 29, 2024 at 5:00pm. Theatre companies interested in applying for a grant can download the necessary application forms and information from the Cole Foundation's website at: www.colefoundation.ca/en/programmes/intercultural-conversations/apply-now/.

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