Welcome to the STAGES Industry Series, where people in theatre - artists, presenters, producers, funders, and supporters - come together to make things happen. Our goal is simple: connect people, encourage collaboration, and share visions for the future. We want to make theatre better by working together.
Each day of the Industry Series will focus on a different theme, asking how we move beyond survival toward sustainability. Through talks, roundtables, pitches, field trips, and casual meet-ups, we will look at different ways to provide support that doesn’t depend only on artists doing more with less. We will explore alternative infrastructures, collective strategies, and new ways of structuring support that acknowledge the realities of artistic survival today.
This isn’t just about opportunities—it’s about who controls access to them, and how we shift that power.
Every year, artists work tirelessly to get their work in front of audiences—hustling for funding, navigating fragile touring networks, and balancing creation with endless admin. We know this because we’ve been doing it for years. And yet, despite all the effort, the same challenges remain: funding is shifting, institutions dominate resources, and artists are expected to figure it all out alone.
But what if we challenged this idea?
This year’s Industry Series invites us to examine what it means to be an artist today. We’re not here to support the myths of working harder or making better connections as the only paths to success. Instead, we want to ask:
-
How can the burden of touring be better shared between artist, presenter and funder?
-
What needs to fundamentally change so that artists aren’t forced to build, manage, and fund their own careers alone?
-
If we stop pretending the market will fix itself, what bold alternatives are we actually willing to try?
Let’s move beyond the idea that artists must shoulder all the responsibility and instead explore how we can collaboratively build a more sustainable future.
Welcome to the conversation.
Dustin Harvey & Richie Wilcox
Industry Co-producers
INDUSTRY SERIES
CO-PRODUCERS
Dustin Harvey
I create new ways of being together while shedding light on how we’ve grown apart. My work blends theatre, film, and participatory art, inviting audiences into unexpected roles through interactive performance, virtual reality, or site-specific encounters. Over the years, I have invited people to slow dance with strangers in disused storefronts, confess secrets to scene partners thousands of kilometres away, and engage with passersby on busy city streets from Aarhus to Whitehorse. My projects have been presented internationally at festivals and exhibitions, including SXSW, IDFA, MIT, and the Aarhus Festival. In 2021, I was selected for the UK-Canada Immersive Exchange, a talent development and co-production program for future leaders in immersive storytelling.
Richie Wilcox
Richie Wilcox is a multi-talented director/actor/writer who has spent the last fifteen years creating, devising and writing original works. They are the founding artistic director of HEIST where they have helped create and tour several acclaimed works including The Princess Show, Frequencies, Princess Rules, and New Waterford Boy. Wilcox has worked with numerous companies across the Maritimes including Neptune, Festival Antigonish, 2B Theatre, Kazan Co-Op, Opera Nova Scotia, the Highland Arts Theatre and more. Wilcox was Artistic Associate with Theatre Outre in Lethbridge, Alberta from 2012 - 2016 where they premiered acclaimed works including UNSEX’d and The Confessions of Jeffrey Dahmer. From 2019-2022 Wilcox served as the artistic director of Ship’s Company Theatre where they premiered award-winning original productions such as Good Grief and Dayboil. Wilcox is a Merritt-award winner in acting and playwriting as well as a past Mayor’s Award for Emerging Theatre Artist recipient. They were also a finalist for the 2021 Nova Scotia Masterwork award for their work on The Princess Show. Most recently, Wilcox directed the acclaimed production of Casey & Diana at Neptune Theatre.
FESTIVAL FUNDERS
FESTIVAL SUPPORTERS
