Arts Consulting on Call
Have you ever known that you needed help, but were exhausted by the idea of applying for a grant, hiring a consultant and putting aside the time to do the “big thinking work”? We’re here to help you!
What We Do
Combining our skill sets and decades of experience provides cultural organizations with a unique opportunity to access the services they need, on an hourly basis, tailored to specific skills and consultants.
Arts groups face significant hurdles from succession planning to change management, right sizing to sunsetting, expanding partnerships to acquiring space and developing new funding models.
Our consortium is made up of front-line practitioners with a long record of service. We've acted as Artistic Directors, General Managers, Dramaturgs, Directors, Producers and Executive Directors. Currently rooted in Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, and Stratford, we have all worked across Canada. Arts Consultants On Call includes experienced arts consultants and executives, adept at identifying root causes and proposing actionable, measurable solutions. We bring an empathetic, experience-based understanding of the challenges faced by our peers and we are excited to offer that in our consultations.
How to Book A Consultant
First explore each consultant below to find the person who best suits your background and needs, then click the ‘Book a Meeting’ button which will take you to their direct booking service to select a time and instantly be sent a link for the first online meeting.
Book when you need, for what you need, and pay hourly when invoiced by your consultant. Should your consultant feel that another Arts Consultants On Call members' skills and experiences would be of value, the lead consultant will request of the arts organization if they are comfortable with the addition of another resource before bringing in another member of the Consortium to assist.
Each consultant is paid their hourly rate which is listed below. Arts Consulting on Call is thrilled to offer you our expertise at a reduced rate for short-term coaching which does not exceed 10 hours.
Meet the Arts Consultants
Kendra Fry
$100 per hour + applicable tax
Kendra Fry has worked in the arts for over 25 years including opera, dance, music, theatre, heritage and museums. She was the General Manager of Theatre Passe Muraille, Cahoots Theatre Projects, Stratford Summer Music and the Theatre Centre, was a board member for the Professional Association of Canadian Theatre and the Co-Chair of ArtsVote Toronto. For the University of Toronto, she taught Financial Management for the Arts, was an Advisor to the Humber Graduate Program in Arts Management, and a four-time mentor for Artsbuild Ontario.
In 2019 Kendra began transitioning her career to the repurposing of historic spaces for broad public good. She redeveloped Metropolitan United Church in London Ontario into a professional recital hall working with London Symphonia and the church. The project won the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Heritage Repurposing in 2024.
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In her role as a broad cross-sectoral consultant in heritage and the arts, Kendra provides services in culture shift, change management, governance, human resources right sizing, capital upgrades, marketing, financial management, placemaking, housing development and collaborative community transformation through public space. She is currently working on projects across Canada which can be seen at www.creativecollisions.org.
Kendra was a speaker at the 2023 Detroit Social Purpose Real Estate Conference and is currently studying with the Public Space Academy, a project of UN-Habitat.
Vanessa Porteous
$50 per hour + applicable tax
Vanessa has over twenty-five years of demonstrated success in Canadian theatre as a practitioner, leader, administrator, and educator, and expanding proficiency in the fields of arts consultancy, independent filmmaking, and writing. She brings a wide-ranging skill set, a life-long spirit of inquiry, a bold imagination, and a hunger for the new. She exhibits outstanding communication skills and an inclusive team leadership style. She is adept at assessing strategic needs, working with stakeholders to identify a forward-thinking, doable plan. Vanessa believes in the transformative power of the arts in the lives of individuals and to community.
Key arts leadership includes:
Jury Chair, Siminovitch Prize (2018-2021) -- Oversaw jury selection process; led access and inclusion strategy; consulted on strategy with Board and Executive Director.
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Artistic Director, Co-CEO, Alberta Theatre Projects (ATP) (2009-2017) -- Charged with setting, articulating, and driving an ever-emergent artistic vision for the company that served ATP’s mission, vision, and values. With Co-CEO Executive Director, shared accountability for organizational vision and strategy; led the staff; and reported to the Board of Directors. Annually programmed a season of contemporary plays. Spokesperson and advocate for the company, and the arts.
Artistic Associate, Dramaturg, ATP (1998-2006) -- Leadership Team position. Drove vision for new work at ATP. Oversaw the world premieres of 30+ new Canadian plays.
Faculty Dramaturg under various titles, Banff playRites Colony (now Banff Playwrights’ Lab) (1999-2003) -- Leadership Team position. Contributed to vision, process design, and execution of this writer’s retreat.
Educator (ongoing) – Instructor in Directing, School for Contemporary and Performing Arts, University of Calgary, since 2018. In recent seasons, Vanessa has developed and delivered curriculum for Theatre Alberta, Calgary Opera, and ghostlight.ca, and mentored early-career practitioners for Playwrights Guild of Canada and Canadian Guild of Directors and Choreographers.
Affiliations: CAEA, LMDA, Theatre Alberta, and PACT (individual member)
Mieko Ouchi
$100 per hour + applicable tax
Writer, director, filmmaker, dramaturg and arts leader, Mieko’s career began as a professional actor working in theatre and film and TV. Since crossing into filmmaking, her award-winning films have screened at over thirty festivals including the Toronto and Vancouver International Film Festivals and Asian American Film Festivals in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and San Jose.
Her plays have been translated into seven languages, and been finalists for the 4 Play Series at The Old Vic U.K., the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award, the City of Edmonton Book Prize and multiple Sterling Awards, and have been recognized with the
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Carol Bolt Prize and the Enbridge Award for Established Canadian Playwright as well as two Betty Awards. They have been read at the Japanese Stage Director’s Conference in Osaka Japan, the Chekhov International Theatre Festival in Moscow, Russia, the HotInk International Reading Series at the Lark in NYC and at the Pop Up International Reading Festival at the Arcola Theatre in London, UK.
Her work as director and dramaturg, both at Concrete Theatre where she was Co-Artistic Director and Artistic Director for 31 years, but also with writers and companies across the country span
TYA to Indie to large scale work in spaces huge and small including the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Alberta Theatre Projects, the National Arts Centre, Persephone Theatre, the Grand, The Pumphouse, the West Village Theatre, the Motel Theatre, the Arden, the MAI, Kids On the Waterfront Festival, Young People’s Theatre and the Citadel.
Throughout her career, Mieko has advocated for equity-deserving communities, through her work at Concrete Theatre, whose mandate is to develop culturally diverse, accessible and inclusive work for children and youth, across Canada.
In 2020, Mieko stepped down at Concrete to take on her new role as the Associate Artistic Director at the Citadel, where she works with AD Daryl Cloran on season and strategic planning, heads up New Play Development and two Emerging Artist Programs as well as taking on artistic duties at the company. She currently sits on the Boards of the Telus Community Advisory for Edmonton and The Playhouse Association. She was recognized with a 2023 Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Award for Distinguished Artist.
BRIDGET MACINTOSH
$100 per hour + applicable tax
An award-winning Creative Producer and Strategist, Bridget has held senior municipal management positions across the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area (GTHA) with portfolios spanning arts, cultural policy, public art and festival producing ranging from small-scale activations to the production of major cultural events such as Nuit Blanche.
With roots as an independent theatre producer and festival manager, Bridget has grown into a respected and trusted arts leader and advisor.
While leading the Fringe of Toronto Theatre Festival, Bridget was instrumental in shifting the organization from a summer-based to a year-round programming model and developed such programs as the Fringe Dance Initiative, various workshops to support independent producers and Fringe’s popular winter-based new works event, The Next Stage Theatre Festival.
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Notable accomplishments as a municipal cultural leader include creating the City of Hamilton’s Events Office where she led the design and delivery of numerous civic events and extensive community engagement to facilitate 400+ annual creative placemaking, community and tourism events and leveraging City resources to create more responsive, relevant, inclusive and equitable policies and programs.
Now as an in-demand Cultural Strategist, she collaborates with arts organizations, academia and municipalities across Canada and internationally – engaging, questioning, facilitating, collaborating on and designing programs to navigate change to build resilient cities, communities, networks and cultural organizations. She is a member of Arts Consultants Canada,
the Creative City Network of Canada, the Creative & Independent Producer Alliance and is the Board Chair for SpiderWebShow / Festival of Live Digital Art (foldA) and Industry Performance.
Bridget is the founding Co-Chair of Mass Culture’s Research Working Group, a Toronto Arts Council Cultural Leadership Lab Fellow, a Next City Vanguard Fellow, a PlacemakingX Advocate and an International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts (IETM) Global Connector.
www.bridgetmacintosh.com
Areas of Consultation Include
Human Resources and Staffing Needs Assessment
Individual Coaching to Leadership Success
Change Management
Succession Planning
Tour Planning
Board Development
Dramaturgical Coaching
Innovation and Ideation
Venue Assessment
2 to 3 year Planning
Grant Writing (pre quoted based on grant, up to ten hours)
Short Term Strategy/Objectives Analysis and Review
Systems review (CRM, Financial, Communications)
Alternate Funding Sources
Building partnerships for art creation or space sharing