May: These changes are happening across Canada—do you think each city is different in the way they’re responding? And what about how the new ADs in different theatres across the country are?
Brendan: I would say two things are happening: in Canada, structurally, we all sort of operate in a similar manner—because of funding, because of Canada Council, because of history. We have these models that have been replicated from city to city. However, the various communities are so distinct and localized. That’s one of the weird things about the situation we find ourselves in right now: very standardized business models—functioning models—inside widely diverse communities.
May: Are you in conversation with any of the other new leaders who are taking the reins?
Brendan: Informally. But we talk, we share information. How you doing, pat on the back, it’s going to be okay. I’ve yet to have conversations where we go deep, deep, deep into, like, What are you really trying to shift, what do you think the major challenges are, what are some of the innovative practices you’re putting into place to try and affect some change.
May: Are you interested in that?
Brendan: Absolutely. It’s really important as we move forward. We’re going to have to share as much as we can with each other. I think our generation is into that. We’re much more comfortable with that openness and transparency. But what’s tricky, especially when you land in a role—it feels like I stepped into a pool and I had thought, I’m just going to step into the shallow end, and I went right down to the deep end, right away.
You find yourself completely immersed in day-to-day things, and you kind of lose that ability to look over the horizon and keep an eye on the strategy, the bigger picture. And that’s where you lose touch with your colleagues, because you’re so busy with your day-to-day stuff you’re not taking a moment to just reach out and connect.
May: Are you working with Matthew in a transition?
Brendan: No, Matthew left in May. We’re in touch, we’re friendly, but he’s no longer at the company.
May: I was wondering because I read David’s opening essay for the series where he talks a bit about different strategies people have—leaving fully, building a contract—so I was just curious if there was any of that there.
Brendan: Yeah it’s interesting. In that piece, I believe the gentleman was the founding AD and had been there and had retired out of the role, so in that context absolutely. When I was running Buddies (2009–15) [the world’s largest and longest-running queer theatre, based in Toronto], I had much more of a regular relationship with Sky Gilbert, who was the founder of that company, than I did with the ADs who were between me and Sky.
I like David’s idea around the impulse behind a company, that throughline. Stepping into a role, I feel the work is getting back to that impulse. Your predecessor had a mandate and an expression of that mandate, which is important for you to have a relationship with, but you need to not just stop there. I think you need to go back to the source and then understand, for yourself, what it means to you. And then you’re able to think, That’s how that individual related to that source. But I do believe, as David puts it, every company has a throughline, and really that’s actually what you’re trying to connect with.
An arts organization that doesn’t have artists who love it has no future, whereas an arts institution that doesn’t have an audience but has artists who care about it… You can find that audience.
May: I’m curious about what you learned from past transitions. You were at Buddies for seven years before passing the torch to Evalyn Parry.
Brendan: When I got the job at Buddies, an AD told me about how, when they had gotten their job, the person they took the job from said to them, Don’t call me now but call me when you’re leaving because that’s when I think I’ll be able to help you. I thought that was interesting, and then when I left Buddies, I understood it. There was a pain that I felt. I mean I left out of my own volition, I left because I was ready; I felt like seven years was a good chunk of time, it was time for a new voice, for a new perspective. It was a super peaceful transition. But it still felt painful—deeply, deeply painful.
I’ve known Evalyn for a very long time, and we have a lot of history, so that maybe defined how that transition went. I wasn’t part of the search process but I was so happy that Evalyn got the job—we’d worked together at Buddies, I’d known her from university, I felt so happy. It was easy for me to hand it off. If it was someone I was not as happy about, I might have behaved differently. But I knew that my role was to really step the hell away from that company because Evalyn needed to make it her own, she needed to take full ownership, and I didn’t want her to worry about my feelings.
May: So you’ve been in the position of leaving somewhere you’d been for a long time, and now you’re coming into somewhere where someone’s who’s been here for a long time is leaving. That’s an interesting experience to have under your belt, knowing what that could be like.
Brendan: Yes. How to have empathy and respect—real respect—for people who’ve left. Everyone in this building has poured their life into it. And it’s really easy to come into a role all, Bang bang bang! It’s a new day, I’m going to make it better! I’m going to change everything! And that’s a bit of an ego thing, really. I think this time around, especially after the experience of leaving Buddies, I feel very humbled. I feel humbled by the work that’s been done here and I feel honored to continue the conversation and to influence the conversation.
My understanding of what my role is as an AD has also shifted a little bit. I am responsible for articulating a vision, for sure, but I think as a younger guy I was probably like, I have a vision, and my vision is supreme, and that vision needs to be the guiding light. And now I see myself more as a social architect. I’m a convener, I’m creating containers for things to happen within, and maybe what happens within them is not what I expected it to be, maybe I’m just curating encounters that will have lives of their own. Maybe my goal is to actually, hopefully, have it look like something that I could have never imagined.
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