Unlocking hope.
Exploring optimistic futures of prairie-based theatre in Canada.
It seems everywhere we turn these days, there are examples that indicate the future is going to be difficult. Whether it’s disastrous hurricanes, brutal wars, rising inflation, or news of yet another COVID-19 variant, life is increasingly complex, uncertain and volatile. In short, there are a lot of reasons to lose hope.
Beyond these global issues, there are a host of challenges different communities are experiencing. Since September 2021, Creative Futures has been working with the performing arts community in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, exploring the future of prairie-based theatre identity. Going into this project we had a high level of understanding of some of the complex challenges this ecosystem was facing. Like all live experiences, COVID-19 has hit theatres particularly hard, creating questions about what the “new normal” may look like, not to mention new income challenges for a community already experiencing a high degree of precarity. Simultaneously, the theatre community has been working to address issues of institutionalized racism, and how to meaningfully address reconciliation commitments.
A few months in, we came to understand even more challenges - from intense work schedules (10 outta 12s? Wow), to limited mentorship opportunities, to inclusion challenges pushing many artists to leave the region to join more diverse theatre communities in Toronto or Vancouver. These, and a lot more.
Feeling the immense weight of these challenges, a group of researchers was interested in experimenting with strategic foresight methodologies as a way to pull the conversation out of current-day doom and gloom and provide space for the community to envision new possibilities. With this in mind, we worked with this group to develop four possible futures of prairie-based theatre. Using evidence of current changes, we described four different scenarios, each with benefits and challenges. The goal of these scenarios was to provoke a discussion about what a preferred future of prairie-based theatre might be, followed by a session identifying actions to advance this vision.
What we found was that the strategic foresight approach was able to unlock hope for many of the participants. It allowed them to envision a range of different futures, and what changes might be necessary today to make them possible. Participants left feeling like change was happening regardless, and that it was up to them to influence the direction things go to unlock the future they hope to see for prairie-based theatre.
There are many benefits of incorporating strategic foresight tools into discussions and decision-making today. The world is increasingly complex, and foresight can help us make sense of the changes and identify our preferred path forward. Beyond that, however, strategic foresight can help us find hope in the future. It can help us understand where things may be headed, and how we feel about them. It can inspire us to act. But in order for this to happen, we must have hope and a feeling that it could be possible. Strategic foresight helps us understand that “the future” is not set in stone, as there is not one single future we are moving towards. Understanding this, can be very liberating for teams.
As a foresight practitioner, every day I learn new things that make me concerned about the future. These days, there really is not a shortage of things to worry about. But this worry can immobilize us when we need to be doing the opposite. Finding hope in the future is critical, and one of the reasons Heather and I started Creative Futures. To this point, I would argue that there is also not a shortage of things that show us hope. We just need to find them.
If you’d like to learn more about this project, or how strategic foresight can help your organization move beyond present-day challenges, get in touch.
About the project
Christine Brubaker as Principal Investigator at the University of Calgary, Dr. Taiwo Afolabi as co-Investigator at the University of Regina, and Yvette Nolan received a SSHRC Insight Development Grant to conduct collective research into the critical uncertainties and possible futures affecting the professional theatre community in the Canadian prairie provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The research project is using participatory action research and strategic foresight to surface and identify signals, trends, critical uncertainties and generate a range of possible futures with an intention to specifically understand the implications and opportunities for prairie-based theatre companies and theatre artists.