Copy of Mixed Company Theatre's Ripple Effect Call-out

Here is Mixed Company Theatre's call-out to community members to attend their meeting on the pre-conference symposium The Ripple Effect Festival - Second Wave. A friendly reminder that the next PTO Steering Committee meeting will happen on Friday, August 28th from 3:30-5:30 PM in the OISE Peace Lounge.

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July 21, 2009

Re: Ripple Effect Festival – Second Wave

I am writing to you on behalf of Mixed Company Theatre (MXCO) to tell you about our plans for a community wide arts festival/symposium and to involve you and your organization in the initial planning phases of this exciting pre-Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Conference (PTO) planned to begin June 14, 2010. I also want to take the opportunity to create a stronger network and grow our connections within the greater Toronto arts community.

If you are not familiar with MXCO, we use Forum Theatre in schools, communities and workplaces to engage, educate and empower our students, audiences and community members to actively create positive change. In 1997 we organized the first Ripple Effect Festival which brought over 300 practitioners of Forum Theatre and PTO. This international festival featured lectures, seminars, workshops and performances by 70 troupes from 23 countries. Each year the PTO organizes their own conference in the US and for the first time, twelve years after the original Ripple Effect Festival, the conference is being held in Toronto, Canada. This has prompted us to engage an ad hoc group of artists to organize the Ripple Effect Festival – Second Wave to act as a pre-conference symposium and celebration of the arts in Toronto.

Our plans for the symposium are to create a tribute to the work of Augusto Boal and Paolo Freire by inviting five world renowned Jokers (Forum Theatre facilitators) to create Forum Theatre with five different and diverse neighbourhoods in the GTA. These jokers will work with community organizations and individuals to create collaborative works developed through workshops and soundings with community members and leaders. These presentations will be performed throughout the city, and at a tentatively confirmed downtown location at University of Toronto’s OISE facilities.

During this pre-conference there will also be a continuous celebration of arts available to the public and conference attendees. The festival committee, which we hope to build with your help, will also make available performance and workshop slots to interested organizations and individuals and will give preference to those who will use or reflect upon the PTO.

Our office looks forward to speaking with you about how we can work together to make this festival an exciting event for the arts organizations, arts patrons, and citizens of Toronto. We would like to host a meeting to discuss ideas for this festival on Tuesday, August 18th from 2 p.m. until 5 p.m. at our offices at 157 Carlton Street. At this meeting we can brainstorm ideas for the Second Wave, consider how to design a curatorial committee, and how to best pool our artistic resources.

Attached to this email is our company background. If you require additional information about Mixed Company, the symposium, or the first Ripple Effect festival, please do not hesitate in contacting me at 416-515-8080.

Duncan McCallum: Ripple Effect Festival – Second Wave