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DAY ONE: INTERACTIVITY
Keynote Address
Andy McKim, Artistic Director, Theatre Passe Muraille
Engaging Our Community: Building the bridge while walking on it
Theatre Passe Muraille (TPM) is the oldest theatre in Canada for the development of new
work. Andy McKim took over as artistic director in 2007 on the anniversary of its fourth
decade. He has revitalised the theatre in part because he focused on the question of how to
engage with the artists and the public in his community. In his address he spoke about
“history, values and acts of engagement”.
TPM was founded in an environment, fuelled by the centenary of the foundation of Canada,
that was asking what it meant to be Canadian. Toronto was a traditional, homogeneous
Anglo-Saxon city with little evidence of the many decades on immigration that had been
taking place. “We now live in an exciting intercultural mash-up” – the new face of Canada,
said McKim. TPM values this diverse audience – and with 550 new Canadian plays to its
credit, reflects many of the community’s stories in its repertoire.
It was not always such a rosy picture. Four years ago, TPM was almost bankrupt and had
lost its way. TPM’s founder, director and playwright Jim Garrard, had stressed the
importance of not only creating new works that reflected Canadian experience, but of
developing new models through which to engage with audiences. Garrard’s successor Paul
Thompson developed The Farm Show, now a staple of Canadian theatre. It epitomised the
ethos of TPM in which actors go into communities and meet an audience who don’t share
the same values. By interacting, each develops different viewpoints.
By 2007, TPM needed to reconnect with these founding principles. TPM is devoted to
encouraging meaningful engagement between its communities: artists, staff, audiences,
neighbourhoods and supporters. It holds complementary values: supporting and presenting
new artists and companies; collaborative and multidisciplinary work; and presenting
alternative and marginalised voices.
McKim recognised that TPM had become abstracted from it audience. “We were in essence
broadcasting to the audience through a megaphone. Either you liked what we did – or not.
But we didn’t seek out their opinion. We were the artistic decision-makers – why would we
need to directly involve the community in our activities?”
“There is no doubt we have undervalued our community’s ability to be creative, articulate
and passionate about the arts,” he said. “But people are engaging in the arts all the time,
without our guidance. If we give them more room to participate, we may see a rise in our
institutions’ relevance and attendance.”
TPM has now restructured so that its value-based, non-hierarchical organisational model
reflects the artistic process, and its vision and values. McKim has removed the silos “that
create job segregation” and re-designated staff roles so they are all part of a management
team moving TPM forward collaboratively. All are called associate producers. All accept
responsibility for the marketing, promotion and ongoing development of the theatre. In