The State of Care in the Arts
Mothers, parents, and caregivers face significant structural barriers working in the arts industry, including but not limited to: gig-based work, low wages, inflexible schedules and late hours, constant travel, and persistent stigma. These barriers are disproportionately faced by women and gender-diverse artists and contribute to workforce attrition, lost productivity, and inequitable access to employment and leadership opportunities.
Without embedded workplace supports, mothers, parents and caregivers face the reality of having to choose between their artistic career and family responsibilities and Canada’s arts sector risks losing key cultural talent.
Welcome to Balancing Act
Balancing Act is a national initiative that aims to increase equality, accessibility, and employment and leadership opportunities in Canada for mothers, parents, and caregivers in the arts sector.
This site is a resource and knowledge sharing platform for artists and organizations. We invite you to explore the transformative work that is happening across the arts sector to support artists and arts workers with caregiving responsibilities.
Resources For You
Our Resource Hub is intended to support artists, cultural workers, arts leaders and organizations in planning for, organizing, and implementing care-centred strategies in the workplace to provide better supports for mothers, parents, and caregivers.
Balancing Act Resource Hub: Tools to develop parent and caregiver support within an arts workplace.
You’ll find downloadable policy templates, how-to guides, sample forms, communications, case studies and more! Developed and shared by Balancing Act’s Level UP! Partners.
Our Level UP! Initiatives
The Level UP! Initiative began in 2021, engaging performing arts organizations to pilot care-centred strategies. By 2024, Level UP! Sector Expansion launched, allowing us to engage with partners in music, visual arts, and screen-based media industries alongside our work in performing arts.
%
of artists surveyed in 2019 stated they had to turn down work due to caregiving responsibilities
partners have implemented caregivers supports within their arts organizations
%
of artists surveyed in 2023 have been able to participate more fully in their work due to this caregiver support
Our Funders and Donors
Deviani Andrea
P Megan Andrews
Aimee Bouchard
Johanna Bundon
Jane Burpee
Cassidy Civiero
Nicolas Corbeil
Beth Helmers
Shelley Hobbs
Christine Horne
Rebecca Thomas Kahn
Marie Treasa Levasseur
Catherine Lushington
William Milne
Morgan Norwich
Pierre Simpson
Claire St-Francois
Tanisha Taitt
Diana Tso
Donate
Balancing Act is an initiative of Theatre Direct Canada. Donations to support Balancing Act’s programs and operations can be made through Theatre Direct’s Canada Helps donation page.
Balancing Act gave us the tools to empower each other, to take ownership, and to be proud of the work we create.
Annemieke Wade
Former Executive Director, Roseneath Theatre
Balancing Act has turned ‘no’s’ into a big ‘YES’, proving that not only is this sector change possible but it is clearly necessary.Â
Norah Sadava
Co-Artistic Director, Quote Unquote Collective
Affinity Groups
Monthly online gatherings for artist parents and caregivers
Research
A library of academic research, media articles, books, and case studies at the intersection of art and care
Consultations with Balancing Act
Interested in carrying out your own care strategy? The Balancing Act team is available for consultation and may be able to offer a bespoke set of resources.
Land Acknowledgement
Balancing Act and Theatre Direct are located on the ancestral lands of the Anishnabeg, the Haudenosaunee, the Wendat and Mississaugas of the Credit. This area is covered by the Dish With One Spoon Covenant, an agreement made amongst Indigenous nations governing how to share the resources that the land and water provide.
A pan-Canadian initiative, Balancing Act’s reach extends across regions and waterways to the oceans, and we acknowledge the many traditional territories upon which our partners live and work.