The success of the CANCOM Comedy Symposium is vital to establishing ongoing funding support for comedy artists for their future content creation and career advancement.

The Symposium features professional development workshops for Canadian live comedy performance workers. Hundreds of industry peers will attend in-person and online, to participate in a one-of-a-kind series of events hosted and facilitated by some of the top industry leaders in comedy.

Six 90-minute workshops, (and four follow-up workshops), will run from October 2022 to March 2023, one each in: Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax. Each event features experienced comedians, live in-theatre and on-screen, facilitating discussions and workshops with comedy professionals both emerging and with international recognition. Workshop topics are comedian-inspired, and include Pay Culture, IP & Branding, Touring and Showcasing, Anti-Oppression & Anti-Competition and more.

For the first time ever, federal funding will go toward a national comedy program designed, managed, and delivered by comedy artists, for comedy artists. CANCOM will ensure all participants and contributors can benefit from having their voices, experiences, and creative innovations included in acquiring business intelligence and training for an improved pathway to pursue and acquire employment, income, skills, training, and health support in their careers.

The paid, on-camera roles at each training workshop include in-person Facilitators and Educators, as well as online Peer Coordinators who will contribute virtually. The sketch, improv, and stand-up comedy artists who fill these roles will collaborate on interactive, comedy-inspired content and creative exercises that will educate and empower comedians to tell inclusive, diverse, hilarious stories. Featuring additional industry expert presenters, each workshop will be recorded, edited and available for archive viewing for professional development by future comedy workers and industry stakeholders.

Live comedy performance workers in technical occupations will be paid for their roles off camera in helping to deliver the online and in-person production elements of each workshop. Stakeholders in the live comedy performance sector, including venues, will get training, experience, and resources relevant to ongoing business success and resiliency.