National Ballet of Canada and Toronto Symphony Orchestra Team to Foster New Generation of Arts Writers

The National Ballet of Canada and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) today unveiled a new collaboration, the Emerging Arts Critics (EAC) programme, fostering a new generation of dance and music critics and writers.

Originally launched by the National Ballet in 2014 as Emerging Dance Critics, the newly expanded EAC programme will continue its long-standing partnership with Canadian dance magazine The Dance Current while welcoming a new partnership with Ontario music magazine The WholeNote.

The EAC programme will provide a forum for aspiring arts writers and assist them in developing the tools required to write about and review ballet and music authoritatively. Applications from aspiring arts reviewers between the ages of 19 to 29 are now being accepted. To apply, writers are asked to email media@national.ballet.ca a writing sample and state why they would like to take part in the programme. Deadline is October 27.

Retired arts critic John Coulbourn and David Perlman, Publisher and Editor In Chief of The WholeNote will mentor this season's EAC participants throughout the reviewing process. Megan Andrews, PhD and Founding Editor of The Dance Current magazine, and Mr. Perlman will coach the writers through one-on-one editorial support and publishing exposure.

Selected participants will attend National Ballet and TSO performances over the organizations' 2017/18 seasons from November 2017 to June 2018. Participants will work with EAC programme mentors and have their reviews published in dedicated columns on The Dance Current and The WholeNote's websites. In addition, participants will also be invited to critical writing and journalistic research skills workshops hosted by both the National Ballet and TSO as part of the programme.

Last year, a group of eight emerging dance writers were selected through an open call and produced 16 reviews during the National Ballet's 2016/17 season. Emerging arts writers successfully selected for the newly expanded programme in 2017/18 will review productions in both the National Ballet and TSO's 2017/18 season.

Performance schedule:

The National Ballet of Canada, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
The Winter's Tale, November 10-19, 2017
Nijinsky, November 22 - 26, 2017
Frame By Frame, June 1 - 10, 2018
Paz de la Jolla & Dark Angels & Cacti, June 16 - 22, 2018

TSO, Roy Thomson Hall
Handel's Messiah, December 18 - 23, 2017
Majestic Mozart, January 10 and 13, 2018
Holst The Planets, January 25 - 27, 2018
Dvorák & Beethoven, February 21 and 22, 2018

The Dance Current is Canada's dance magazine - in print and online - covering the performances, people and perspectives in Canadian dance. The Dance Current cultivates dance literacy, fosters discourse and provides the broadest possible public with access points into dance art and culture.

The WholeNote is a print and online magazine dedicated to classical, new, early and world music, jazz, opera and musical theatre, featuring extensive concert listings, CD reviews and blogs.

Click here for more information about the Emerging Arts Critics Programme.

Pictured: Elena Lobsanova. Photo by Karolina Kuras.

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