“They were thrilled to see something from us live.”ĭuring lockdown, many performing arts companies offered virtual productions. “Many of the people who attended told me they didn’t know who Against the Grain was until they saw Messiah/Complex,” says Whiffen. Whiffen, who is based in Vancouver, received encouraging feedback at a recent pub show at the city’s La Fabrique St-George Winery. This season, AtG has expanded its popular Opera Pub series from Toronto to Vancouver and Edmonton. Moreover, the film exposed the company’s work to audiences outside Toronto. Hoping to break even with its online lockdown pivot, the production turned a small profit. Over the 2020-21 winter, the 80-minute Messiah/Complex film drew more than 100,000 YouTube views and took in cash donations from 28 countries. However, while Identity starts its life as a film, AtG recently received a $100,000 grant from the National Art Centre Creation Fund to transform it into a vehicle for live performances.
The 45-minute online film showcases five newly composed songs inspired by baritone Elliot Madore, who opened up on social media about his struggles with identity as a biracial person.
23, the company will premiere Identity: a Song Cycle. So, does one ride the unicorn, or put it out to pasture?įor the moment, AtG is not choosing one over the other. “ Messiah/Complex is its own beast,” Whiffen says. While the company says Messiah/Complex increased its audience by 600 per cent, its other online content has not been anywhere near as successful. “We were doing what we could with the resources that we had to provide work for the artists in our community.”įor AtG, finding the right balance between live performances and online content has proved challenging. “I don’t think we have the answer, simply because a lot of our success during (lockdown) was very experimental,” says Robin Whiffen, executive director of the Toronto-based company, which was founded in 2008.
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