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nathaniel hanula-james

iPhoto caption: Photos of Eric Woolfe (by Dahlia Katz), Catherine Savoie, Evan Klassen (by Jerry Grajewski), and Heather Redfern.

With federal funding in question, four theatre leaders reflect on the joys and trials of performing arts venues

"Arts centres are going to have to apply to a new housing and infrastructure ministry program, which hasn’t been created yet, in order to access funds," says Heather Redfern, executive director of the Cultch in Vancouver. "So I’m very concerned that federal [funding] for cultural infrastructure in this country has completely disappeared."

By Nathaniel Hanula-James / Mar 13, 2026
text that says iPhoto caption: Lester Trips duo headshot Lauren Gillis and Alaine Hutton. Photo by Helen Yung.

Lester Trips wants Toronto theatre creators to ‘make it nasty’

"It doesn’t matter how many reels of a hamster falling out of its cage set to the Requiem I see: The music still hits," says Lauren Gillis. "We joke that the logline for Honey I’m Home is 'normie drone has menty-b from VR Zoom with her own living room.'"

By Nathaniel Hanula-James / Feb 1, 2026

Rhubarb! Festival director Ludmylla Reis wants artists to embrace ‘the detour’

"We do something formative at some point in the arts, and then we just continue doing that in different fonts until we’re no longer on this earth," says Reis. "The important thing is to know what that is, because you don’t want to be controlled by it. You want to be in control."

By Nathaniel Hanula-James / Jan 9, 2026
iPhoto caption: Headshot of Njo Kong Kie. Photo by Tam Chi Chun.

For composer Njo Kong Kie 楊光奇, the word ‘artist’ is a complicated label

At the ping pong table, eating pastries that Njo had thoughtfully laid out, I listened as this artist reflected on the back and forth of a career that’s bounced between multiple genres and disciplines. 

By Nathaniel Hanula-James / Nov 11, 2025