TNB announces Digital Now! workshop and commission series

Theatre New Brunswick announces an upcoming series of digital literacy workshops and artist commissions designed specifically to train, educate and inspire new projects from New Brunswick-based artists.

Theatre New Brunswick is excited to announce Digital Now!, an upcoming series of digital literacy workshops designed specifically to train, educate and inspire new projects from New Brunswick-based artists. With support from the Canada Council for the Arts’ digital creation funding stream, this series will take the form of three-day workshops offered at no charge in Fredericton, Miramichi, Moncton and Saint John. Participants who attend and complete one of the four three-day seminars will be eligible to submit a project proposal for a digital art showcase planned for summer 2022. Successful applicants will receive a one-time commission in the amount of $5000 to support the creation of a new work.

“Digital Now! is a new way for Theatre New Brunswick to invest in artists from our province,” said TNB Artistic Executive Director Natasha MacLellan. “Over the last couple of years we have made some great strides in the development of new plays by New Brunswick playwrights. And we plan to continue this work into the future. But we’ve only tip-toed into incorporating digital technologies into our shows, mostly through our design teams. Digital work is new to us, and we see this new initiative as a way to increase our literacy in the artform. We want to bring others along with us, as we explore the digital landscape and find new ways to expand our impact on the province’s arts community.”

TNB’s Digital Now! series will be led by Emily Soussana and Andrew Scriver from the award-winning, Montreal-based multimedia design and technical integration company potatoCakes_digital. Soussana and Scriver have a wealth of experience designing video, lighting, sound, set, and costumes, and have worked in production managing and technical direction for numerous live performance productions across Canada ranging from theatre to opera, dance, live music, visual and interactive installation art, and digital art.

“Theatre is a multi-faceted artform,” said MacLellan. “There are a lot of moving parts involved in bringing a show to life. TNB has a long history in developing the work of actors and playwrights but has done little to help designers further their craft. There’s a lot of work that needs to happen if we’re going to support and encourage designers the way we do other theatre artists, and we see this initiative as a good first step. With Digital Now!, our aim is to introduce artists from all backgrounds to the digital creation process as it relates, not just to theatre, but to live performance and installation work as well. And who knows? Maybe we’ll meet a few future theatre designers in the process.”

Digital Now! workshops are open to artists of all disciplines. Registration is required to enroll in the workshop portion of this program and space will be limited to 20 participating artists in each city. A complete breakdown of each workshop day is available on the TNB website.

“The flow of these workshops will follow the process of designing a show from early conceptualization to final production,” said MacLellan. “Emily and Andrew will cover everything from storyboarding and online collaboration to the many software programs commonly used to build environments, enhance onstage stories, and lift the audience experience to new levels. The workshops aren’t just for the inexperienced, however. I highly encourage artists who dabbled with digital art in the last year or two to have a look at what we are offering. I’m confident there will be something in this series for all.

“We hope artists from all disciplines will choose to join us for these workshops as we forge a path together into the unknown.”

Registration for all workshops open Dec. 3. More information on the Digital Art Showcase, a call for submissions and further partnerships will be announced in January 2022.