Workshops & Meetings

RSVP for the Facility Managers Meeting

Location: Rotary Centre for the Arts, Mary Irwin Theatre Stage

Host: Theresia Reid, Chilliwack Cultural Centre

The facility managers’ meeting provides an opportunity for venue managers from BC and beyond to meet to share their knowledge and experience, to discuss trends, successes, challenges and other topics related to managing and programming venues.  This meeting is open to all BC Touring Council members, not just those registered for Pacific Contact 2024.

RSVP here.

Sponsored by Actsafe Safety Association

Location: Rotary Centre for the Arts, Mary Irwin Theatre Stage

C.A.R.E. Circle Talk

Canadian Artists for Reconciliation and Education (C.A.R.E.) is hosting a Circle Talk as part of Pacific Contact. C.A.R.E. was created to educate its members and the general public in all matters of the truth regarding Indigenous and Settler history while nurturing acts of reconciliation.

At this Circle Talk, Krystal Withakay will share their story of resilience while shedding light on the truth about the injustices inflicted upon Indigenous Peoples of Canada, helping us build the path towards reconciliation.

Participants are invited to observe or engage in conversation. This session will also be live-streamed on Zoom.

Host: Kym Gouchie, Indigenous Cultural Liaison
Speaker: Krystal Withakay

Krystal Withakay (spaxwawlm) is of the Syilx nation and is from Westbank, BC. She is an independent Syilx artist and  knowledge keeper. In sharing knowledge and creating safe learning spaces, Krystal is a life long advocate in holding the Syilx practices, language and lifestyle close to her heart.

This event is open to all, not just those registered for Pacific Contact 2024. To RSVP to attend in-person, visit this link.

To attend on Zoom, visit this link.

Location: Rotary Centre for the Arts – Room: Yellow Room, First Floor

Appropriate for artists & artistic company representatives
Hosted by  Renee Iaci
This meeting offers an opportunity to meet with artists and artistic companies from BC and across Canada to share ideas, common challenges, offer support, ask questions and seek ways to collaborate.

Sponsored by Dufflebag Theatre

Location: Rotary Centre for the Arts – Room: Orange Room, First Floor

Appropriate for artists representatives including agents, managers, tour managers.
Hosted by Aaron Schubert, Agent, Paquin Entertainment/BCTC Board member
This session is an opportunity for artist representatives to network, discuss topics of interest and relevance about their business and share best practices.

Sponsored by the Chilliwack Cultural Centre

Location: Rotary Centre for the Arts – Room: Atrium

Appropriate for presenters and festival presenters

Hosted by Sheryl McGraw & Jenny Lee Craig, BC Touring Council
Presenters connect, network and discuss the most pressing issues facing them today, including funding, touring, audiences, community engagement, production, ticket sales, equity, diversity and inclusion. Meet our new Festival Coordinator and hear about updates to the Community Presenters Assistance and Into the Act Funding programs and other exciting developments.

Sponsored by the Capitol Theatre Restoration Society

Location:  Rotary Centre for the Arts, Atrium

Pamela and Grouse Barnes, Syilx Elders and Knowledge Keepers from Westbank First Nation

This workshop is focused on Indigenous cultural competency presented by Syilx Elders, Grouse and Pamela Barnes, who are experts in this topic, having presented to workplaces and academic groups over many years. It will cover themes such as Sylix Indigenous worldview, history of contact, current affairs and the way forward and will help you understand the Truth and Reconciliation journey.

Location:  Rotary Centre for the Arts, Blue Room, Second Floor

Frédéric Julien, Director of Research and Development, Canadian Association for the Performing Arts (CAPACOA)

As an event organizer, you spend a lot of time entering event information on your website and on events listings. But is the information you populate fully optimized for discovery via search engines and for reuse across platforms? In the age of AI, could a machine “recommend” your events to arts goers?

In this session, you will learn how structured data, entity SEO and sector-owned infrastructures such as the Artsdata knowledge graph may already have lent your organization a helping hand, and what steps you can take to further boost your digital presence. By putting a few key recommendations into practice, you can harness the power of these technologies to reach new audiences!

This session will be particularly helpful for series presenters, producers, festival organizers and anyone who publishes events on their own website.

While this session builds upon previous “digital presence” sessions delivered by CAPACOA, there will be something in it both for participants who are brand new to the topic and learners with more advanced digital literacy.

Location:  Rotary Centre for the Arts, Yellow Room, First Floor

Inga Petri, Strategic Moves

In this workshop we will explore how various ticket selling models – from single tickets to subscription to multi-buyer discounts to  membership programs – work, benefits and challenges of each, and how to determine what will work best in your specific context.

Location:  Rotary Centre for the Arts

Hosts: Frédéric Julien & Chandel Gambles, Canadian Association for the Performing Arts (CAPACOA)

The Knowledge Café is a peer learning program designed to foster knowledge sharing and insights generation in a small group setting. The program makes it possible for conference participants to join roundtable discussions along a range of topics. These curated discussions, facilitated by industry experts, enable participants to share their experiences, to learn from others, and to come up with new ideas.

The event will feature two rounds of discussions, with topics repeating in the second round. Participants are encouraged to move between tables during the rounds to engage in different discussions. Each round will begin with facilitator introductions, followed by group discussions.

The Knowledge Café is a program designed and developed by CAPACOA and CINARS. This edition of the Knowledge Café is presented with support from CAPACOA.

Discussion Topics include:

Building your audiences through family-engaged work
with Marnie Perrin, Surrey SPARK Stages, Daune Campbell, Axis Theatre
First Floor – Atrium

Climate Change Impact and Event Cancellation
with David Gonella, Salmon Arm Roots & Blues
First Floor – Green Room

Cultivating relationships with local government and tourism agencies
with Renata Mills, Festivals Kelowna
First Floor – TKS Creative Hub

Cultural Competency and the Truth & Reconciliation Journey
With Pamela and Grouse Barnes, Syilx Elders and Knowledge Keepers from Westbank First Nation
First Floor – Atrium

Empowering Canadian Musicians to Understand their Royalties
with Aaron Lightstone, Co-Founder Canadian Musician Royalty Collection initiative (CMRCI)
Second Floor – Blue Room

In Conversation with Arts Funders
with Kaitlyn Reining, BC Arts Council
First Floor – Yellow Room

Planning for Succession
with Miranda Corbett, Kicking Horse Culture, Golden
First Floor – TKS Creative Hub

Rethinking the Audience Experience: Exploring how to Deliver Value-Added Events
with Inga Petri, Strategic Moves
First Floor – Orange Room

Sell the Sizzle, not the Steak – Putting together a showcase that gets noticed
With Debbie And Molly Wilson, Molly’s Comedy Cabaret
Second Floor – Lobby

Shaping the Future of Pacific Contact
with Miriam Manley, BC Touring Council
Second Floor – Lobby

Location: Outside The Laurel Packinghouse

Syilx Wellness Activity

Host: Krystal Withakay
In all of the good work we do and safe spaces we create for one another, please join Krystal for a syilx wellness activity. Participants can look forward to shared laughter, gentle affirmations, and togetherness within Syilx wellness practices. This Syilx wellness activity requires participants to have an open mind about what wellness looks like for Indigenous Peoples, there are many forms of wellness, and many different ways wellness is translated. The success of this activity is dependent on the groups willingness to participate, ask questions, and follow through with the guided portion of the morning session.

Location: The Laurel Packinghouse Stage

Host: Karma Lacoff Nieoczym, Creative Okanagan

Presenters share their stories and successes in the Pecha Kucha style. This “show more, talk less” is fast-paced, engaging and fun!

Location: The Laurel Packinghouse

One-to-One meetings are your opportunity to connect and meet with artists, agents/managers, presenters and programmers to build and create relationships.
We will be using meetingconnector.com to schedule these meetings at Pacific Contact. Artists/Agents will request meetings with presenters and chat in these 7-minute sessions. Please add meetingconnector.com to your trusted email domains.
Details include:
• This series of seven-minute meetings will be held in the Contact Room at the artist/agent’s booth. We will signal when it is time to move to your next meeting.
• A map of the Contact Room is located in the printed guide and available at registration.
• Your personalized schedule will be emailed to you from  meetingconnector.com

Appropriate for presenters, artists, artist representatives, funders

Location:  Delta Grand Okanagan Resort, Mount Boucherie Room

Join Petrice Brett, BCTC’s Block Booking Coordinator for an in-person meeting to discuss your interests for 2024-25 and 2025-2026 performing arts seasons. Presenters will have an opportunity to pitch artists to determine whether tours may be booked through the Arts Touring Connector, to review tours currently being offered.

Appropriate for presenters