This article considers the responses of infrequent and non-attendees to a survey of their respons... more This article considers the responses of infrequent and non-attendees to a survey of their responses to Kamloops’ Western Canada Theatre. It discusses distinct, largely extra-performance best practices, mostly in theatres with similar focuses in Canada – with an emphasis on small cities. These practices were designed, in the main, to attract and engage infrequent and non-attendees to theatre, although many of them also enhance the well being of frequent attendees. In fact, in a survey of over twenty five dance companies in the USA, Dance/USA found diverse opinion on whether extra-performance activities enhanced the experience of existing audiences or attracted new audiences: “Some respondents felt that both deepening and broadening the audiences were results of engagement activities, while others indicated that a deeper audience can help broaden the audience, and still others suggested that broader audiences can become more deeply connected” (“Audience Engagement, 6). Thus, while the practices discussed in this chapter are focused on broadening, they may well have beneficial deepening side-effects.
The emergent interest in Canadian literary studies in the role of publishing can be seen as a ref... more The emergent interest in Canadian literary studies in the role of publishing can be seen as a reflection of confidence in the value of Canadian literature. It can also be seen as a continuation of an ongoing attention to the complex dynamics involved in creation, production and readership of text. Both the Spring 1997 issue of Open Letter, devoted to an examination of Coach House Press, and Sam Solecki’s 1998 Imagining Canadian Literature: The Selected Letters of Jack McClelland, for example, by the very act of chronicling the histories of their respective presses, assume the validity of the fiction, non-fiction and poetry whose publication they record, pay tribute to those responsible for making that work public and provide insight into publishing processes. A more recent study, the Spring 1999 issue of Canadian Theatre Review, themed “Publishing Canadian Theatre,” acknowledges and examines the contributions of such drama publishers as Playwrights Canada Press and Talonbooks, but f...
In the 21st Century, Canadian universities are increasingly emphasizing the importance of student... more In the 21st Century, Canadian universities are increasingly emphasizing the importance of student engagement. This research paper, by analyzing the reflections of undergraduate students on their experiences in a co-curricular service learning assignment – integrated into a course that included more traditional assignments – in the context of situated learning theory, advocates for a community-focused assignment as a component in a “traditional ” lecture-and-discussion based course as a tool for enhanced engagement through active, collaborative learning. While the case study explored is a drama course, the anticipated audience is pan-disciplinary, as the article casts more broadly by providing brief, general guidelines on implementing an experiential learning assignment and encouraging all professors to reflect on their classroom theory and praxis to the end of augmenting student engagement. Au 21e siècle, les universités canadiennes accordent une place de plus en plus importante à l...
All art of every sort changes the world. Perhaps an artist aims at less direct, precise, or immed... more All art of every sort changes the world. Perhaps an artist aims at less direct, precise, or immediate an effect than a president or legislator or general or banker or activist will have; but more effect, more potency, more agency than the ordinary is inevitably an artist’s aspiration...Art is not merely contemplation, it is also action, and all action changes the world, at least a little. -Tony Kushner
This essay draws on a case study and provides strategies for closer collaboration to enhance mutu... more This essay draws on a case study and provides strategies for closer collaboration to enhance mutual understanding between face-to-face and open learning. The ways that students and faculty benefit from the team approach used in open learning course creation are outlined. Practical methods of adapting group work and other learner-centred classroom pedagogies to the print medium are also examined.
This article considers the responses of infrequent and non-attendees to a survey of their respons... more This article considers the responses of infrequent and non-attendees to a survey of their responses to Kamloops’ Western Canada Theatre. It discusses distinct, largely extra-performance best practices, mostly in theatres with similar focuses in Canada – with an emphasis on small cities. These practices were designed, in the main, to attract and engage infrequent and non-attendees to theatre, although many of them also enhance the well being of frequent attendees. In fact, in a survey of over twenty five dance companies in the USA, Dance/USA found diverse opinion on whether extra-performance activities enhanced the experience of existing audiences or attracted new audiences: “Some respondents felt that both deepening and broadening the audiences were results of engagement activities, while others indicated that a deeper audience can help broaden the audience, and still others suggested that broader audiences can become more deeply connected” (“Audience Engagement, 6). Thus, while the practices discussed in this chapter are focused on broadening, they may well have beneficial deepening side-effects.
The emergent interest in Canadian literary studies in the role of publishing can be seen as a ref... more The emergent interest in Canadian literary studies in the role of publishing can be seen as a reflection of confidence in the value of Canadian literature. It can also be seen as a continuation of an ongoing attention to the complex dynamics involved in creation, production and readership of text. Both the Spring 1997 issue of Open Letter, devoted to an examination of Coach House Press, and Sam Solecki’s 1998 Imagining Canadian Literature: The Selected Letters of Jack McClelland, for example, by the very act of chronicling the histories of their respective presses, assume the validity of the fiction, non-fiction and poetry whose publication they record, pay tribute to those responsible for making that work public and provide insight into publishing processes. A more recent study, the Spring 1999 issue of Canadian Theatre Review, themed “Publishing Canadian Theatre,” acknowledges and examines the contributions of such drama publishers as Playwrights Canada Press and Talonbooks, but f...
In the 21st Century, Canadian universities are increasingly emphasizing the importance of student... more In the 21st Century, Canadian universities are increasingly emphasizing the importance of student engagement. This research paper, by analyzing the reflections of undergraduate students on their experiences in a co-curricular service learning assignment – integrated into a course that included more traditional assignments – in the context of situated learning theory, advocates for a community-focused assignment as a component in a “traditional ” lecture-and-discussion based course as a tool for enhanced engagement through active, collaborative learning. While the case study explored is a drama course, the anticipated audience is pan-disciplinary, as the article casts more broadly by providing brief, general guidelines on implementing an experiential learning assignment and encouraging all professors to reflect on their classroom theory and praxis to the end of augmenting student engagement. Au 21e siècle, les universités canadiennes accordent une place de plus en plus importante à l...
All art of every sort changes the world. Perhaps an artist aims at less direct, precise, or immed... more All art of every sort changes the world. Perhaps an artist aims at less direct, precise, or immediate an effect than a president or legislator or general or banker or activist will have; but more effect, more potency, more agency than the ordinary is inevitably an artist’s aspiration...Art is not merely contemplation, it is also action, and all action changes the world, at least a little. -Tony Kushner
This essay draws on a case study and provides strategies for closer collaboration to enhance mutu... more This essay draws on a case study and provides strategies for closer collaboration to enhance mutual understanding between face-to-face and open learning. The ways that students and faculty benefit from the team approach used in open learning course creation are outlined. Practical methods of adapting group work and other learner-centred classroom pedagogies to the print medium are also examined.
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