Harbourfront Centre
Harbourfront Centre
Support for Visiting Artists with Children
Level UP! Strategy Area: Care Solutions
Pilot Project: Supporting touring artists travelling with children, creating a resource guide
Project Duration: October 2021 – August 2022
Continuing to Implement: Resource Guide in use, childcare for artists on case-by-case basis
Resources Shared: Project Field Notes, Resource Guide For Visiting Parents/Guardians
About Harbourfront Centre
Location: Ontario
Artistic Discipline: Multidisciplinary
Operating Budget: More than $1,000,000
Harbourfront Centre is an international centre for contemporary arts, culture and ideas, and a registered, charitable not-for-profit cultural organization operating a 10-acre campus on Toronto’s central waterfront.
Harbourfront Centre provides year-round programming 52 weeks a year, seven days a week, supporting a wide range of artists and communities. We inspire audiences and visitors with a breadth of bold, ambitious and engaging experiences. We champion contemporary Canadian artists throughout their careers, presenting them alongside international artists and fostering national and international artistic exchange between disciplines and cultures.
Harbourfront Centre’s Level UP! Project
Harbourfront Centre explored providing wraparound childcare supports for visiting artists from outside of Canada who were coming to perform at Harbourfront Centre in 2022. Facilitated by Rosie Driscoll, Company Manager at the time, the pilot strategy supported a performer and his two-year old son travelling from Sweden, and a comedian from the US travelling with a toddler.
Project Highlights:
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- Consultation with performers well in advance to ensure the specific needs of parent and child were met
- Provision of onsite childcare space and babysitting services
- Creation of a resource guide that outlines everything a parent/caregiver might need during their time with Harbourfront (e.g. ramps at the venue, change tables in washrooms, childcare services, family-friendly restaurants and spaces, pediatric walk-ins, etc.)
Resources
Harbourfront Centre | Project Field Notes
About This Resource Harbourfront Centre wrote these Project Field Notes in 2022 to share details about their Balancing Act Level UP! Pilot Project.
Harbourfront Centre | Resource Guide for Visiting Parents and Guardians
About This Resource Harbourfront Centre created this Resource Guide for Visiting Parents/Guardians in 2022 as part of their Balancing Act Level UP! Pilot Project.
More Information
For more information about the Harbourfront Centre, visit harbourfrontcentre.com.
Click here to return to the Resource Hub.


