Leadership: Innate or Aquired? - Conversations with cultural consultants Charles Landry and Robert Palmer and comments by the school's director general Simon Brault.
	Jackie Maxwell: The Mentor's Practice - Portrait of one of the 2005 recipients of the Gascon-Thomas award
	What is Cultural Leadership? - Observations by Danielle Irvine and R.H. Thomson
	Keeping the Momentum - Discussion with One Reed Theatre Ensemble

© Antoine Fortin

BECAUSE TALENT ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH

Theatre, art, and culture are at a crossroads, largely because of new economic, commercial, technological, and social realities that are setting in all around us. The theatre of tomorrow will undoubtedly have to be different from yesterday’s if it wants to remain alive, relevant, and well attended. We are already witnessing artistic proposals that reinvent theatre. More often than not, these forays into uncharted territory are the result of the vision and ability to mobilize artists who exemplify true leadership.

Recently, the NTS launched a cultural and artistic leadership program (CALP), designed for its students and recent graduates. The established goal of this “extra-curricular” program is to support new ideas and original projects, which go beyond traditional models of creation, production, and presentation in order to revive theatre’s social relevance. The outcome of a partnership with the McConnell Foundation, which is interested in the resilience of communities, this new program has given rise to many discussions.

Just what is artistic and cultural leadership? How do you find it and nurture it? In this second edition of the nts magazine, we explore the subject by sitting down with our Director General, Simon Brault, who explains why he devised this program, and by discussing the issue with world-renowned cultural thinkers, Charles Landry and Robert Palmer.

While some artists devote themselves entirely to their craft, others choose to fully embrace their responsibility as citizens by getting involved in the future of arts and culture in society. For instance, what motivates Canadian actor R.H. Thomson and director Danielle Irvine to take a stand and talk about cultural diversity before UNESCO or to improve creative conditions for artists?

Leadership is the result of an interaction between the motivations, intuitions, talent, abilities, knowledge, skills, and charisma of an individual and a group. Recent graduates Patrick Drolet, Olivier Kemeid, and Stéphanie Capistran-Lalonde chose to form a tight-knit trio and share the leadership of the company they founded, Trois Tristes Tigres, which allows them to complete projects without being confined by the rigidity of institutions. As for actor and director Wajdi Mouawad, he has refused outright the label of leader which has been spontaneously thrust upon him. He prefers to be perceived as an explorer or a researcher, a request to which we can happily acquiesce since he embodies the three essential elements that define a leader, according to Robert Palmer, i.e. vision, credibility, and integrity... Throughout its pages, nts magazine also relates the adventures of Les Poignées de porte, a student collective, and of the first company to have benefited from the CALP’s support, One Reed Theatre Ensemble.

Finally, we hear from the winners of the 2005 Gascon-Thomas Awards, chosen precisely for their indisputable leadership skills: director Jackie Maxwell, currently Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival, whose unusual journey is an inspiration to young creators, and Janine Sutto, who celebrates 65 years in the business and continues to act and cheer on the work of young artists.

The nts magazine team

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