About Us

RATIONALE

Towards the end of the last millennium, in 1999, 360 journalists, scholars, and political leaders were polled and asked to vote for the men and women who they believed had done the most to shape our world today

No dramatist writing in any language has ever equalled Shakespeare’s genius for holding up a “mirror to nature” and reflecting what it means to be human. For that reason, some educators and actors are concerned that the recent curriculum changes in Ontario do not ensure the continuing, prominent place of Shakespeare’s plays in every adolescent’s academic career. For a student to graduate from secondary school without looking at any of Shakespeare’s works might be as great a tragedy as any the playwright himself ever wrote.

William Shakespeare was the 5^th most influential and greatest figure of the past one thousand years. Professor Harold Bloom has gone so far as to say:

“The future of education has much to do with whether we will be able to cling to him or not.”

MISSION STATEMENT

Shakespearience is a literacy program which seeks to empower young people with the possibilities of the English language.

It does so by offering a summer program to students struggling academically, an after hours program for at-risk youth and a minimum of one hundred workshops a year to students in Grades 3 through 12, which utilizes experienced, professional actors in an interactive, simulated rehearsal process to explore a couple of scenes in any play the students might be studying.

All of these programs seek to foster an appreciation of the works of William Shakespeare by demystifying the words and phrases young people often find inaccessible and frustrating. Shakespearience seeks to demonstrate that material students originally perceive as being difficult and beyond their capabilities is more often than not something they can figure out with a little hard work, imagination and the tools artists draw upon and use in their exploration of the classical texts.

HISTORY

October, 1998	With the support of the Dance & Drama department of the Toronto District School Board, a twenty-school pilot project called On Board With The Bard is launched.
October, 1999	The program expands to forty secondary schools in its second season.
October, 2000:	In the 2000-01 academic year, a five-school pilot project introduces the program into lower grades as actors begin working with students in Grades 7 and 8. This experiment proves to be so successful that a percentage of schools visited in 2001-02 are elementary and junior high schools.
January, 2002	In January of 2002, the program visits schools in England and returns to the UK in January of 2003 and 2004 as well as March of 2005.
October, 2003	The English Department of the Toronto District School Board joins the Dance and Drama Department in funding the workshops. In addition to their support, a significant private donation makes it possible to visit eighty-five schools, more than doubling the reach of the program in comparison to previous years. Also in October of 2003, the school program is incorporated under the new name of Shakespearience, with a Board of Directors which includes Peter Young, Executive Superintendent of the Toronto Board of Education, as its President and award-winning Stratford Festival actress Seana McKenna as its Secretary.
April, 2004	Shakespearience is invited into schools outside of the TDSB for the first time. A grant from the Malloch Foundation makes it possible to visit secondary schools affiliated with the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board.
July, 2004	The renowned Shakespearean scholar, Professor Alexander Leggatt of the University of Toronto, joins Shakespearience as the company’s Academic Liaison.
August, 2004	Shakespearience is awarded charitable status from the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA). The company is also invited to do a workshop for in service English teachers pursuing AQ (additional qualification) training at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). The company is invited back in the summer of 2005.
September, 2004	Kenneth Branagh, the critically acclaimed, award-winning British actor, adds his name to the company’s roster of actors.
November, 2004	Shakespearience is invited into schools in the Toronto Catholic District School Board
March 2005	Shakespearience does a workshop for student teachers at the prestigious Goldsmith’s College, the preeminent faculty of education affiliated with the University of London
Spring, 2005	By the end of the 2004-05 academic year, Shakespearience has been invited to visit schools in six other Boards of Education, including The York Region District School Board, The York Region Catholic District School Board, The Peel District School Board and both the Halton and The Halton Catholic District School Board, bringing the total number of schools visited to more than one hundred, an increase of 400% in eight years
July, 2005	Shakespearience expands its programming into a two-week summer camp for underprivileged and at risk youth in partnership with the Toronto District School Board’s Northwest family of schools. North Kipling Junior Middle School, affiliated with the TDSB, provides the site; the Toronto Foundation for Student Success sponsors breakfast and lunches with Shakespearience devising and delivering the curriculum
December 2005	Shakespearience delivers its program to the youngest students it has worked with to date as it works with almost a hundred young people in Grade 3 at Corsair Public School affiliated with the Peel Region District School Board
April, 2006	Shakespearience holds a Gala Event at the new Young Centre for Performing Arts where some of the country’s most renowned stars perform on an evening which begins with a strong statement of support by Ontario Education Minister Sandra Pupatello.
July 2006	Shakespearience expands its summer program from one two-week section to two, three-week sections culminating with a performance by the two groups at the Young Centre for Performing Arts in the Distillery District, home to the critically acclaimed Soulpepper Theatre Company. Shakespearience’s Executive Director, Marvin Karon, stages the scenes put together by one group while award-winning actress Maggie Huculak directs the other section.
September 2006	Shakespearience launches a ten-week after-hours pilot program for at-risk youth in the Malvern district at the TDSB’s Lester B. Pearson Collegiate with the pioneering London Shakespeare Workout

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President	Amanda George
Secretary	Graham Abbey
Treasurer	Kelly Lazar , B. Comm., C.A.
Director	Derrick Chua, LLb.
Director	Richard Goulay
Director	Melanie Parrack, System Superintendent, Student Success, Toronto District School Board (TDSB)
Past President	Peter J. Young, Executive Superintendent, Toronto District School Board
Honorary Board	Professor Alexander Leggatt, Ph.D: Academic Liaison
	Carole McNeill, CBC Journalist
	Catherine Davey

FUNDING

• The Abraham and Malka Green Foundation
• Bell Canada
• The Bennett Foundation
• Breakthrough Films and Television
• Capital One
• The Hamilton Wentworth District School Board
• The Malloch Foundation
• The Metcalfe Foundation
• The McLean Foundation
• The Norman and Marian Robertson Charitable Foundation
• The Ontario Arts Council
• The Radlett Foundation
• The RBC Foundation
• The Toronto District School Board
• The Toronto Catholic District School Board
• The Trillium Foundation

SHAKESPEARIENCE is a registered charity (Charitable Registration Number: 86772 9105 RR0001) and, as such, all donations are eligible for a tax receipt