Applications for Realwheels Theatre's second Academy cohort are open now to March 15
Performing arts training program for D/disability-identified artists will run from September 2025 to June 2028
SPONSORED POST BY Realwheels Theatre
Realwheels Theatre Academy alumna Jennifer Burgmann (left) and instructor Sandra Ferens. Photo by by Mark Halliday
Realwheels Theatre has just announced the intake for its second cohort of the Academy, which will run from September 2025 to June 2028.
The Academy is a three-year, part-time, fully scholarship-funded training program—the only one of its kind in Canada—that focuses on exploring the creation of compelling performance. Centred on the principle that every mind and body is uniquely creative, the Academy is open to anyone identifying as living with visible or invisible D/disability and/or who is D/deaf and is working toward acquiring the skills and knowledge necessary to sustain a professional performance practice. Graduates will possess a strong foundation on which to build a thriving career in the arts.
Year One of the Academy is designed to expand students’ understanding of performance. Through a variety of approaches to contemporary creation and active experimentation (including sound, light, digital media, and human interaction), students will develop the ability to make work that reflects their creative intentions.
Year Two of the Academy explores the relationship between a performance and its intended public. Students are asked to consider who they are making work for and why. They will investigate the diverse ways in which folks attending a performance can be affected, going beyond basic accessibility to create multisensory experiences.
Academy alumna Emily Grace Brook at the Freewheeling Mini-Festival in 2023. Photo by Sarah Race
Year Three centres on the development of an original piece from concept to performance. This intake combines considerations of “What am I making?” and “Who am I making it for?” into the larger question of “How do I make it?”. In addition to aesthetic considerations, students will engage in concept proposals, grant writing, scheduling, budgeting, contracting, and marketing.
“Rolling out this program taught us so much,” says Adam Grant Warren, co-artistic director of Realwheels Theatre, in a release. “Particularly that we couldn’t just start with the traditional classes in voice, movement and acting, for example. We needed to build a whole new curriculum: one that could offer professional calibre training with the flexibility to meet each student in their individual body, mind, and creative curiosity.”
The application deadline for the Academy is March 15. Interested students can learn more and apply by visiting the Realwheels Theatre website.
Post sponsored by Realwheels Theatre.
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