About Us
Balancing Act was founded in 2019 by Lisa Marie DiLiberto, Artistic Director of Theatre Direct, with the goal to affect change and increase access to employment for mothers, parents and caregivers* working in the arts. We collaborate with artists, arts workers, and arts organizations to develop pathways for change at an individual, organizational and systemic level.
*Balancing Act defines ‘caregivers’ as individuals who care for children, aging adults, or those in need of personal or primary care. We acknowledge that care work can include care for blood, adopted, or chosen family, colleagues, and caring for others out of duty.
The team behind The Toronto Fringe Festival, Level UP! Strategy Partner 2021-22, Flexible Working Models
%
of artists surveyed in 2019 stated they had to turn down work due to caregiving responsibilities
Since 2021, 155 Balancing Act 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
Balancing Act acknowledges that our work is built upon the work of women, artists and companies who, for generations, have been caring for loved ones, for each other, and for our sector. We are here to help uplift this work.
Vision
Balancing Act envisions a future where care is a central value within the cultural sector in Canada, and where robust support creates greater access to equitable work for women, artists and cultural workers, creating a healthier, more diverse, and vibrant arts community.
Actor, playwright, storyteller Diana Tso and her superstar father, Daniel Tso.
Balancing Act Steering Committee Member and Artistic Director of SpiderWebShow Adrienne Wong and her child. Photo credit: Tetsuro Shigematsu
Our Mission
We champion and advocate for increased access to employment and leadership opportunities in the workplaces of the arts, so that artist/arts worker mothers, parents, and caregivers can thrive.
We develop and offer care-centred programs for both individuals and organizations that empower workforce participation.
We educate employers and the arts sector at large by sharing research and tools for supporting and advancing mothers, parents, and caregivers working in the arts.
Purpose
Caregivers working in the arts, primarily women, face distinct challenges and barriers. Rehearsal and production schedules require long hours and lack flexibility, and artists and arts workers often have to turn down opportunities because of conflicting caregiving responsibilities and financial barriers to childcare. Outdated models of arts production, coupled with limited awareness and stigma, contribute to the exclusion of caregivers at decision-making tables, and within the arts in general.
Balancing Act is a response to the call for reduced barriers to employment and greater support for those with caring responsibilities, as well as those with specialized care needs working in the arts in Canada.
Values
Lean In and Listen
Responding to calls from within the arts community inspire our actions and knowledge mobilizations.
Explore and Learn Together
Collaborating with partners and the arts community to discover new ways of supporting one another.
Serve and Help
Creating supportive containers that facilitate better practices to empower artists and art-making.
Acknowledge and Uplift
Recognizing that care labour has been ongoing for generations, and offering attributions.
Anti-Oppressive Statement
Balancing Act is committed to the ongoing work of engaging with anti-oppressive principles and practices. We strive to provide spaces conducive to engaging generatively across differences, free from harassment and discrimination. All are invited and supported to participate meaningfully, regardless of social location and values including age, ethnicity, race, ancestry, place of origin, citizenship, sex, pregnancy & breastfeeding, gender expression, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, class, and religious or spiritual beliefs.
We recognize that caregivers from underrepresented groups experience greater barriers to employment and work-life balance. Balancing Act aims to amplify support for those who identify as equity-deserving, and create increased opportunities for these artists and cultural workers.
Raising children in not a private hobby, not an individual duty. It is a social responsibility, one that requires robust community support.
Angela Garbes
Author, Mothering as Social Change
Healthy villages are organized and governed by grannies and aunties. We need to reconceive ourselves in the process, ‘all our relations’ outside of colonial and patriarchal models.
Dr. Kim Anderson
Canada Research Chair in Storying Indigenous Relational Futures
The Team
We’d love to hear from you! Contact us here.
Lisa Marie DiLiberto
Lisa Marie DiLiberto is the Executive Artistic Director at Theatre Direct – one of the country’s leading companies for young audiences; the founder and lead advisor of Balancing Act Canada…
Susie Burpee
Susie Burpee is the Executive Director of Balancing Act Canada, a national non-profit organization dedicated to advancing equity for artist and arts worker parents and caregivers across Canada…
Margaret Evans
Margaret Evans is a Dora nominated actor and producer. As Artistic Associate in the Performing Arts Department at Harbourfront Centre, Margaret was Festival Curator for HarbourKids, and Coordinator…
Meryl Ochoa
Meryl (she/they) is a multi-disciplinary artist and producer who immigrated to Canada with her family in 2012. She studied Dramatic Arts and Psychology at Brock University…
Morgan Brie Johnson
Morgan Brie Johnson is a Dora award-winning theatre artist. She is currently Co-Artistic Director of Common Boots Theatre and for the past decade has co-run Animacy…
Dorothy Wong
Dorothy Wong (she/her) is a Hong Kong-born, Toronto-based multidisciplinary BIPOC mother-artist, arts educator, and arts worker…
Cynthia Lickers-Sage
Cynthia Lickers-Sage is the Executive Director of Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance. Cynthia is a proud recipient of the Governor-General of Canada’s Meritorious Service Cross…
Shira Leuchter
Shira (she/her) is an actor, writer and performance maker. She likes to make performances that invite audiences to participate in imaginative collaborations…
Sophie Gee
Sophie is a director/theatre maker working in English and French. Her works include Bonnes Bonnes (Théâtre Aux Écuries, Conseil des arts de Montréal en tournée, Canadian tour 2025-2027)…
Board of Directors
Chelsea Haberlin
Chelsea is the Artistic Director of Neworld Theatre and Associate Artist with ITSAZOO Productions, a company she co-founded in 2006…
Erin Goodpipe
Erin is a Dakȟóta wíŋyaŋ with Anishinaabe and Nehiyâw bloodlines from Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation. She is a multidisciplinary artist…
Lucy Eveleigh
Lucy Eveleigh is the Festival Producer at Luminato. Previously she was at the Toronto Fringe for over a decade, joining as the Managing Director…
Charles Ketchabaw
Coming soon
Our Steering Committee 2023-2024
Composed of cultural leaders from across the country, Balancing Act’s Steering Committee guided the project from a diverse set of perspectives and experiences. We are grateful to other past committee members Neema Bickersteth, Andrea Donaldson, Lisa Karen Cox, Sheila Kearney-Miller, Julie Lebel, Viv Moore, Janelle Rainville, Kelly Read, and Claire Wynveen for their foundational contributions.
Intisar Awisse
Why Not Theatre
Waterloo, ON
Maev Beaty
Stratford, ON
Brefny Caribou
Toronto, ON
Ella Cooper
Black Women Film! Canada
Toronto, ON
Sarah Cullen
MOTHRA: Artist-Parent Project
Toronto, ON
Ruth Howard
Jumblies Theatre
Toronto, ON
Geneviève Doyon
Open Pit Theatre
Whitehorse, YK
Penny Couchie
Aanmitaagzi
Toronto, ON
Lucy Eveleigh
Luminato Festival Toronto
Toronto, ON
Chelsea Haberlin
Neworld Theatre
Vancouver, BC
Beth Helmers
Community Arts Guild
Toronto, ON
Cynthia Lickers-Sage
Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance
Toronto, ON
Shira Leuchter
Toronto, ON
Djennie Laguerre
Toronto, ON
Jacoba Knaapen
TAPA
Toronto, ON
Karine Ricard
Théâtre français de Toronto
Toronto, ON
Adrienne Wong
SpiderWebShow Performance
Banff, AB
Ken MacKenzie
Associated Designers of Canada
Toronto, ON
Anne-Marie Ouellet
Montreal, QC
Jagroop Mehta
Museum & Culture Experiences, City of Guelph
Guelph, ON
Liz Forsberg
Impact, Ontario Trillium Foundation
Toronto, ON