The CANCOM Comedy Symposium is a series of exciting hybrid events featuring professional development workshops for Canadian live comedy performance workers in artistic and technical occupations. For the first time ever, federal funding will go toward a national comedy program designed, managed, and delivered by comedy artists, for comedy artists. Read that again. The CANCOM Board is grateful for the support we can use to hire and engage Canadian comedy workers.

Between October 2022 and the end of March 2023, there will be six (6), 90-minute in-person workshops in cities across the country that will be live-streamed for an online industry audience. The cities scheduled are: Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, & Moncton, (not necessarily in that order).

The objective is to provide long-term career networks and improve skills for comedians and comedy tech workers. This will help them create content, find employment, and access the support necessary while pursuing comedy success on the global market. The Symposium will create ongoing opportunities for economic activity and professional advancement, as well as resources for health improvement for all participants. This unique national event will bring the comedy community together in a fun and rewarding way that has never happened before.

The programming will be made accessible to live comedy performance workers in all geographical regions and equity-deserving populations. 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.

Registration is free but required for all in-person and online participants and event attendees. All comedy industry stakeholders will benefit from attending each of the six workshops, either in-person or online.

KEY ROLES, URGENT HIRES

Facilitators & Educators

FACILITATORS (x6), one for each city.

They are an esteemed member of the Canadian comedy community, with a strong network of industry peers and notable expertise, credits, awards and accolades. Their facilitation of a CANCOM Comedy Symposium workshop will be exciting for participants and an enjoyable way for them share intel with other comedy professionals. Having some background as an educator is also an asset.

 

EDUCATORS (x38) Six to seven in each city.

They are passionate about the comedy industry and enthusiastic about the opportunity to contribute their talent and skills to a CANCOM Comedy Symposium workshop to help increase employment opportunities, enhance artistic development, improve skills, and boost career resiliency for themselves and their comedy peers. They have experience in the sketch, and/or improv, and/or stand-up comedy performance sector as an artist or technical production worker.

 

  • Report to the Program Manager and collaborate with the rest of the Program Team, which also consists of Peer Coordinators, in fine tuning the Symposium curriculum for the specific workshop in your region

  • Prepare for small group activities with other sketch, improv, or stand-up performers in collaborative discussions and creative performance exercises.

  • Interact with the online workshop hosts and other online presenters who are industry stakeholder experts.

  • Read and agree to the CANCOM Comedy Symposium Health, Safety, and Anti-Harassment Policy, (pending).

  • Follow all identified COVID-19 protocols established by the CANCOM Comedy Symposium Program Team, (ongoing).

  • Attend ALL six workshops, either in-person or online, not just the one you are working at in-person.

You will appear on camera in a digital livestream that will be edited for professional development archives. It is for an audience of industry peers, not a ticketed public audience. Your appearance may include some scripting, but improv is totally appropriate.

This is the first time Heritage Canada has provided federal funding for a national comedy program designed, managed, and delivered by comedy artists, for comedy artists. Your contribution to the success of the CANCOM Comedy Symposium is vital to expanding this kind of funding support to include content creation and ongoing professional advancement for Canadian comedy artists and technical workers.

To submit an application and see other roles,

click here: Open Casting Breakdown

Questions:

info@cancomedy.ca