Past Programs

past programs

Explore some of the programs we have offered over the past decade, with support from our gracious sponsors, funders and partners.

Trans Gemmes

The Trans Gemmes Creative Writing Mentorship Program was a virtual creative writing and community-building program for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) trans women and trans femmes of any age. Offering a stipend, mentorship, and virtual meetings, the program curated many opportunities for participants to meet and connect in an affirming environment amongst a cohort of 15 BIPOC trans women and trans femmes across Canada.

The program ran in 2021 and participants had the chance to:

  • Work in their own time on a piece of writing, which may be new or a work in progress that they are seeking to develop and workshop
  • Attend 3 meetings with the the full cohort to exchange ideas and workshop their pieces
  • Have two 1-on-1 mentorship sessions with a mentor to discuss the development of their piece and/or their writing practice more generally
  • Submit a piece of writing that will be edited and published in an online publication by the AMY Project
  • Attend the launch of the online publication

The program was facilitated by writer, multidisciplinary artist and Associate Artistic Director of the Trans Gemmes Program, Kama La Mackerel.

Theatre Performance Intensive

The Summer Theatre Performance Intensive extended and deepened the work of our Creation Program (formerly, the Spring Theatre Creation Program).

Picking up where we left off, AMY’s artistic leadership team first worked with participants through a dramaturgical process to refine the script they created in the spring into a production-ready draft. Then, the focus shifted to strengthening performance skills and developing a full theatrical production in collaboration with a professional design team.

Building on the confidence they discovered in the spring, participants took to the stage to share their stories with a wider audience at the prestigious Summerworks Theatre Festival – Canada’s largest curated performance festival.

Theatre Design and Production Program

Launched in 2018, the Theatre Design and Production Program provided opportunities for emerging 2SLGBTQ+ and BIPOC designers in Toronto to build skills, experience, and professional networks through paid work-learn opportunities and with the support of a dedicated professional designer mentor.

Participants had the chance to either take on a designer role for the AMY Project Theatre Program’s final production as part of SummerWorks Performance or work as an apprentice with a professional design on a mainstage production in the Toronto theatre industry. 

In all versions of the program, emerging designers are paired with a professional mentor and provided with resources to create beautiful designs in collaboration with other participants and artistic leadership.

Write On! Residency

As AMY entered our 15th season and has well over one hundred alumni across all of our programs, we offered a residency program that serves this growing community of young women and non-binary artists.

The Write On! Residency furthered our commitment to providing young artists from equity-seeking communities with long-term support: affirming creative environments, artistic creation and training opportunities, and meaningful connections with artistic mentors.

This residency provides an opportunity for past AMY participants of the AMY Theatre Program to develop a monologue, poem, movement piece, scene, or song, into a full-length play script.

Check out a reading of Carvela Lee’s play Djumoke and Sade from the 2020 Write On! Residency playwright cohort.

eOne Film Program

The eOne Film Program was an annual program established in 2015. Participants learned about the development and creation of film projects and were given the chance to bring their creative work to the screen.

This program was generously sponsored by Entertainment One (eOne), with additional support provided though a partnership with Charles Street Video.

AMY Community Program

The AMY Community Program (formerly The AMY Alumni program) offered programming to past participants and facilitators of The AMY Project programs, and others in our wider community, with three focus areas: community gathering, artistic professional development, and social justice action.

Partnered Programs

We have been lucky to collaborate with some of our past partners to offer the initiatives below.

MARQUEE

In 2018, The AMY Project worked in partnership with The Musical Stage Company to offer MARQUEE, a multi-arts creative storytelling and theatre workshop series for 2SLGBTQ+ youth, with themes drawn from the sounds and stories of musical production.

JRG Grant for Artists with Disabilities

From 2017-2018, The AMY Project worked in partnership with Halifax’s JRG Society for the Arts to produce the inaugural JRG Grant for Artists with Disabilities, a national project culminating in a ceremony and arts show in Halifax that granted one winner a $3500 arts project grant, and two second-place winners a $250 cash prize.