Creative Producers

About

The Creative Producers Program is a meeting place for IBPOC, LGBTQ2SIA+ women and non-binary artists to discuss and practice methods of producing, administration, and arts leadership as they plan and execute a workshop production at the Paprika Festival. 

When we say Creative Producer, we mean folks who consider the act of planning, organizing, fundraising, and bringing art to life PART of their artistic practice. Whether you identify as a producer first, or a creative first, is up to you! In the Creative Producer program, you will be exercising both of those muscles.

In this program, two participants will be offered a 1-hour showcase opportunity, with monthly conversational and collaborative workshops with the program facilitator, mentorship with a Paprika staff member, and mentorship with a professional artist leading up to the Festival. Participants will also attend different forms of theatrical performances and discuss producing methodologies with the artists behind the process. 

You can apply with a project in mind, or identify the type of project you would produce at the festival if given the chance (What motivates you? What interests you? What kind of stories do you hope to share?) If you intend on playing another role in the production (as producer-playwright, director, actor, etc.), please let us know why Creative Producing is key to your professional development. Successful applicants will be asked to have their project’s basic shape ready for when program sessions begin in December. 

Participants receive a modest production budget, rehearsal space, and mentorship in budgeting and fundraising to support their project’s needs within the festival.

This program was designed for IBPOC, LGBTQ2SIA+ women and non-binary artists under 30 as a platform and launchpad for new work and career development. We encourage self-identified emerging artists and new generation  artists to apply.

Facilitator

Kitoko Mai

Kitoko Mai

Kitoko Mai (they/them)  is a multidisciplinary artist based in Ontario who creates performance based works that challenge the notion of binaries both in content and form. Their work can be best described as a poetic collage.  Kitoko is the recipient of the 2021 Promising Pen Prize from Cahoots theatre and the 2020 Gilded Hammers emerging Artist Award from Hamilton Fringe Festival.