2025-26
Artist Mentorship Program (AMP)
Turn Dreaming into Doing!
Applications for Black Theatre Workshop’s 2025-26 Artist Mentorship Program are currently closed. Follow BTW on social media for updates.
What is the Artist Mentorship Program?
The Artist Mentorship Program (AMP) by Black Theatre Workshop supports emerging, mid-career and established artists on their journey to becoming self-sustaining, professionals with a strong understanding of theatre production in all its facets. AMP is a national program that focuses on bridging the learning gaps, and access faced by Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (POC) artists in their theatre careers.
Program Components
- Workshops: Over 15 workshops led by industry professionals from across Canada, tailored to the needs of the cohort. Topics include, theatre production, collaboration, playwriting, dramaturgy, grant writing, taxes etc.
- One-on-One Mentorship: Artists are paired with a mentor that aligns with their career trajectory. Mentorship is geared towards helping the artists understand what they need to do to build long lasting careers in the arts.
- Project Development: Six months of guidance and advice provided to each artist towards the development of their projects.
- Peer-to-Peer: The opportunity to network with artists and theatre practitioners from across the country & establish long term relationships that translate into jobs, collaborations and mentorships.
- Theatre Engagement: Outings to see professional interdisciplinary theatre and critically engage in conversations about the work.
- A National Gathering: An in-person meeting for the entire cohort at a National Arts Organization.
- Space to Develop your Work!: A direct investment from Black Theatre Workshop into your project along with the space and resources to get it on its feet and in front of an audience.
Is this a paid program?
Yes. All participants in the program receive an honorarium for their six-month participation.
Who is this program for? Who can apply?
This program is open to established, mid-career and emerging professional theatre artists, and prioritizes those who identify as Black, Indigenous, people of color, and/or part of the 2SLGBTQ+ community. This program is built for artists looking to enhance their skills in theatre production, creation, and collaboration, as well as build self-sustaining, long-lasting professional careers in the theatre arts. For clarity – AMP is not a training program to develop your skills as professional actor. We do not have workshops on acting technique, dance and choreography classes, text analysis etc however we welcome applications from professional theatre directors, actors, designers, stage managers and other practitioners.
Professional Artists: A Professional artist is defined as someone who has specialized training in an artistic field, not necessarily in academic institutions. They are recognized as a professional by their peers, are committed to devoting more time to artistic activity within their financial capacities and have a history of public presentation or publication.
Emerging Artist: Our definition of an emerging artist is a creative practitioner—be it actor, director, designer—in the early stages of their career, perhaps with some professional credits, who has been working within the industry but isn’t yet recognized as an established artist in the public eye. The term emerging artist is often used for young and new graduates but can also apply to someone who’s made a career change or recently decided to pursue their artistic practice as their primary career.
Mid-Career Artist: An artist who has created a large body of work over a number of years and who has received regional or national recognition through publication or public presentation of their work.
Established Artist: An artist who is at a mature stage in their career and who has created an extensive body of work. An established artist has reached an advanced level of achievement by sustaining a nationally or internationally recognized contribution to the discipline.
Are you a theatre designer wanting to produce your own show but unsure where to begin?
Have you written your first play and would like to learn how to produce it?
Do you want to start your own professional theatre company or collective?
Are you looking to tour or pitch your project at festivals?
A drag artist looking to create interdisciplinary theatre?
An experienced producer looking to build new partnerships?
Do you want to learn how to work with a dramaturg?
Want to learn how to financially support your professional artistic practice?
A dance artist interested in learning to collaborate with other artists.
This program is for you!
Timeline and Commitment
The AMP Program runs from September to March each year – Six months. Attendance is mandatory.
We meet online on Zoom between 1PM-4PM Eastern Standard Time, three Mondays a month for a workshop. These workshops are led by some of Canada’s leadings arts professionals.
In addition, you will have one-on-one mentorship once a month for one hour, for six months with your designated mentor, set up by Black Theatre Workshop. You are in the driver’s seat – you will have to reach out to your mentor to set up your meetings, plan the questions you’d like to ask relating to your career and engage in conversation. We’ll give you the tools to make the most of your mentorship.
We also meet at least once a month to experience many kinds of live performance!
Accessibility
A number of accessibility measures have been put in place to ensure that artists engaging with the program are able to do so without limitation.
The Artist Mentorship Program is offered in both English and French. Artists wishing to engage in these languages can let us know during the application/interview process.
We are also able to accommodate the needs of artists with disabilities.
All workshops will be live captioned and recorded so artists can review the information shared in their own time, at their own pace. When applicable, presentations documents are shared with all participants, so they review information prior to attending a workshop.
Accommodations are made for ASL/QSL interpreters, and everyone is encouraged to make use of chat features while attending on Zoom.
Guest Speakers and Moderators will identify themselves prior to speaking. Participants in the program are welcome to turn cameras off or keep them off for the entire meeting, as needed. They are welcome to fidget, stand up and stretch, or attend while lying in bed. Nothing is interpreted as disinterest or “unprofessional.” Instead, we welcome all bodies in all states of being, and all modes of communication are treated equally.
What are the Application Deadlines?
Applications open Tuesday, April 1st, 2025.
Applications closed on June 15th, 2025.
A National Gathering
As a cohort, we visit a national arts organization/ or festival to experience local and international work, meet influential artists, build community, and develop critical skills while enjoying professional theatre. Travel is usually 2-3 days, and the transportation and accommodation costs are paid for by Black Theatre Workshop. This is also an opportunity for the cohort to build community and foster future collaborations. Some examples of travel in the last few years have been trips to The Luminato Festival and The National Arts Centre for Black History Month.
What do I Need to Apply?
- An updated CV/resume
- A short artist biography (max 200 words) & headshot.
- Completion of the google form with your personal information.
- A short summary of an artistic project that you would like to work on (max 500 words)
- A letter of Intent – Some of the things we’re looking for are:
- Why you want to be a self-producing artist?
- Why do you think you’d be a good fit for AMP?
- Why you want to work in professional theatre and what would you like to learn?
- What professional work are you most proud of and why?
- What do you want to achieve in this program?
- How would you describe mentorship and how could it help advance your career?
Access Accommodation
If you would like to submit your application in video format, we are happy to receive them. Please send a private Google drive, YouTube or Vimeo link, with password.
Click here for a PDF Version of the form.
We are unable to discuss or provide feedback, due to the volume of submissions, but all applicants will be notified of their status of their application by the end of June 2025.
