Photo from White Girls in Moccasins by Yolanda Bonnell. Pictured: Elizabeth Staples, Ravyn Wngz, Yolanda Bonnell Photo by Jeremy Mimnagh.
As artists, we don’t usually have the best health care/benefits, but so many of us have different illnesses that need care. The Compassion Fund allowed me to take care of my chronic health issues while working.
Buddies in Bad Times
Buddies in Bad Times
Compassion Fund for Artistic Team
Level UP! Strategy Area: Compassion Fund
Pilot Project: Compassion Fund for performers and creative team of White Girls in Moccasins
Project Duration: February – April 2022
Continuing to Implement: Yes, on a production by production basis
Resources Shared: Project Field Notes, Compassion Fund Request Form, Reimbursement Form
About Buddies in Bad Times
Location: Ontario
Artistic Discipline: Theatre
Operating Budget: More than $1,000,000
Established in 1979, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is Toronto’s leading destination for artistically rigorous alternative theatre and a world leader in developing queer voices and stories for the stage. Buddies offers a year-round program that includes a full season of queer theatre, new works festivals, artist residencies, and intergenerational training and education initiatives. In its 45-year history Buddies has welcomed over one million people into its home in the heart of Toronto’s queer village and has premiered over 1,000 new works for the stage, making it the largest and longest-running queer theatre company in the world.
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre’s Level UP! Project
Buddies in Bad Times piloted a Compassion Fund during rehearsal and production of manidoons collective’s White Girls in Moccasins (written by Yolanda Bonnell).
Daniel Carter, Buddies’ Interim General Manager at the time, collaborated with manidoons to design a fund that could support a variety of needs. manidoons was already practicing many care strategies in their rehearsal room, and had developed a framework of Indigenizing Practices, which can be found HERE on their website.
Project Highlights:
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- Close collaboration between Buddies and manidoons to design the fund
- Allowance of a per person maximum amount, with a contingency fund available.
- Allowed for support that extended beyond the production by remaining open a week after the show closed.
Resources
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre | Project Field Notes
About This Resource Buddies in Bad Times Theatre created the following Project Field Notes in 2022 as part of their Level UP! Pilot Project. Their project focused on creating a fund to support artist needs during the first production in the theatre after the onset of...
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre | Compassion Fund Form
About This Resource Buddies in Bad Times Theatre created this Compassion Fund Form in 2022 as part of their Level UP! Pilot Project. The content in this resource is drawn from a Google Form that Buddies used to receive Compassion Fund requests.
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre | Reimbursement Form
About This Resource Buddies in Bad Times Theatre created this Reimbursement Form in 2022 as part of their Balancing Act Level UP! Pilot Project. Artists and arts workers were asked to fill out this form and submit it along with any receipts/invoices in order to be...
More Information
For more information about the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, visit buddiesinbadtimes.com
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