Comedy is Art is back for a third year and we are looking for comedians of all kinds; standup, improv and sketch, to bless the stages. This is a paid opportunity. 

Please submit a link to a maximum three minute video and a little bit about yourself in the form below. We’ll also ask you to share one, or several of the following, depending on what you’ve got. No need to create anything specifically for this – we just want to get a sense of you as an artist: CV, Instagram, website or another way we can get to know your work. 

This is festival is all love: we know comedy comes in all flavours but we’re not interested in jokes that are hateful or phobic. 

Click here for the submission form. 

Time Commitment/Schedule
The festival is taking place October 25-29, 2022 in the Franco Boni Theatre at The Theatre Centre (1115 Queen St. W). Depending on your technical needs, you may be asked to attend a rehearsal the week of October 17-22. Set times for the festival will be determined later in conversation with the artist’s schedule. 

About the Festival

Comedy is Art features some of the best comedians in Toronto and sends a clear message: comedy should be taken seriously! For the third year, Comedy is Art is back on stage in 2022 with generous support from Kingfisher Foundation. Curated by Associate Artistic Director liza paul, the festival combines live comedy with the digital realm, offering a week-long program of hilarious comedians you can catch in person or streamed to your home.

Launched at The Theatre Centre in 2019, the inaugural festival responded to barriers within the comedy community, including the overall desire to professionalize the sector. While Canada is responsible for exporting some of the world’s greatest comedic talents, comedy isn’t recognized as an art form by public arts funders. Though comedians are invited to apply as theatre artists, they’re immediately at a disadvantage, shoe-horning themselves into definitions and structures that don’t fit.

Excited by the advocacy work being done by the Canadian Association of Stand-up, Sketch & Improv Comedians, The Theatre Centre wants to help change that. 

Comedy is one of the most undervalued art forms there is. Musicians get to rehearse in private to perfect their craft; the same is true for dancers, actors, acrobats – all these performing artists have the luxury of getting things just right in the rehearsal hall.

For comedians, the only way to know if a joke is working is to put it out in front of people and see if it makes them laugh. That degree of vulnerability, that lack of anything else to hide behind – that’s what makes comedy one of the bravest things out there.

About The Theatre Centre 

The Theatre Centre is a nationally recognized live-arts incubator and community hub. Our mission is to offer a home for creative, cultural and social interactions to invent the future.

We make and present work that spans disciplines and genres; work that pushes the boundaries of what is considered “art”. Our programming and our role as a community space are inextricably linked. Art is not made in a silo: it is connected to the world around it. 

We offer one of the only non-transactional spaces in the neighbourhood where folks can pop in for a coffee, spend the day working, or just hang out. It is a community hub and a place to gather; a place where you — regardless of class, race, ethnicity, religion, or ability — are welcome to be. You don’t have to identify as an artist or performer to use the space. We want you to feel at home here.

Application Process 

Click here for the submission form. 

The Theatre Centre is committed to equity practices. We encourage applications from queer, transgender and two-spirited people, First Nations, Inuit & Métis, people of colour, and people with disabilities.

We are committed to providing accommodations for people with disabilities in all parts of the submission process. If you require an accommodation, please let us know and we will work with you to meet your needs. Send an email to comedyisart@theatrecentre.org 

At the time of this posting, we are still asking that audiences and artists are fully vaccinated and masked to enter the building. If you have any thoughts or questions on this policy, please share them in your application form or reach out to comedyisart@theatrecentre.org

We thank everyone for taking the time to apply. Due to the anticipated volume of applicants we will likely only be able to get back to folks who are being considered for a spot. Thank you. Submissions will close Friday June 6 at 11:59PM EST