Associated Designers of Canada

06/09/2026

The summer edition of Drinks With Designers (DWD) is happening soon, with events taking place across the country from June 14 to 22. IATSE Local ADC659 will once again be providing nibbles! Check the graphics to find the location and time nearest you!

Don't miss this fantastic opportunity to connect with your local theatre community. Everyone is welcome!

06/08/2026

Congratulations to Susan Benson - Set and Costume Designer and painter - on her Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award! The GGPPA's were presented on June 5th during a ceremony at Rideau Hall.

Susan Benson, C.M. – Set and costume designer and painter

05/18/2026

🌟 CALL FOR NOMINATIONS 🌟
The 2026 Siminovitch Prize, Canada’s most valuable theatre prize, begins with a peer nomination. Who will you put forward?
The $100,000 Siminovitch Prize honours a groundbreaking mid-career theatre artist whose work demonstrates compelling vision, artistic excellence, and transformative impact, and whose artistic journey is still growing.
This year, playwrights, directors, DESIGNERS, and multidisciplinary creators are all eligible. The award recognizes theatre artists who are breaking new ground and advancing the art form, and enables them to grow, develop, and expand their distinctive artistic practice.
Nominate an outstanding mid-career artist whose vision and work are transforming Canadian stages.
📅 Nominations close June 1, 2026.
💡 Learn more and submit a nomination: https://siminovitchprize.com/siminovitch-prize/
💬 Share this post to help shine a national spotlight on Canada’s outstanding theatre artists.

04/22/2026

🎉 Attention designers! 🎉 We are delighted to announce that Drinks With Designers (DWD) will be returning to Toronto, Regina, and Stratford later this month.

Event Details:
Toronto: The Rivoli, 334 Queen St W, on April 27 at 8pm EDT.

Regina: Hotel Saskatchewan, 2125 Victoria Ave, on April 27 at 7pm CST.

Stratford: The Starlight, 64 Wellington St, on April 29 at 7pm EDT.

DWD is a fantastic opportunity to meet other designers, catch up with old friends and colleagues and build community. We hope to see you there!

04/10/2026

For the 2027 Canadian Exhibition of Countries and Regions at the Prague Quadrennial (PQ), Mishelle Cuttler's and Lisa Cooke Ravensbergen's Co-Creating Alternative Futures: Using Sound and Somatic Design to Presence the Absent Matriarch, curatorial starting point is The Seventh Fire, an immersive audio performance drawing on oral Anishinaabe stories and societal roles as a way to evoke ceremony in the everyday.

Importantly, it presences those who have been historically silenced in Canada. The goal is to create a somatic link to ancestral realms, with sound design as the primary activating force, while also incorporating a highly intentional spatial design and a focus on audience care.

Ravensbergen and Cuttler aim to expand this inquiry: How can design illuminate those who have been forgotten or unheard, particularly through sound—a discipline often overlooked in exhibition environments? Both curators believe that Canadian designers excel at elevating voices that persist despite silence, and this exhibition seeks to demonstrate that resilience on an international stage.

Stay tuned for more information about the 2027 Canadian Exhibition of Countries and Regions at the Prague Quadrennial (PQ), produced by ADC in association with the University of Alberta. We invite you to visit our Canada Helps fundraising page to contribute to this inspiring initiative! https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/associated-designers-of-canada/campaign/adc-prague-quadrennial-exhibition-2027/

04/07/2026

📣 Announcing ADC, in association with the University of Alberta, will produce the 2027 Canadian Exhibition of Countries and Regions at the Prague Quadrennial (PQ), alongside Quebec's exhibition produced by APASQ.

Following a national open call for curatorial visions and a month-long adjudication process, a jury of eight creative peers selected Mishelle Cuttler and Lisa Cooke Ravensbergen as curators for their proposal Co-Creating Alternative Futures: Using Sound and Somatic Design to Presence the Absent Matriarch.

From our curators: "In building an exhibition to represent Canada on an international scale, it feels urgent and essential to highlight the voices and stories of our nation's most invisible, silent and essential figures – specifically, Indigenous women and other matriarchs."

Lisa Cooke Ravensbergen (she/her/kwe) is an interdisciplinary artist and scholar whose research and cultural practice encompasses performance, creation, curation and dramaturgy, writing, teaching, advising and consultancy. A tawny mix of Ojibwe/Swampy Cree and English/Irish, Lisa's work centres on Indigenous knowledge and embodies Indigenous resurgence practices.

Mishelle Cuttler is a Vancouver-based sound designer and composer whose work is centred around the integration of sound, music, and storytelling. In addition to designing for a wide and diverse range of theatre companies throughout Western Canada, she has built recorded projects, live concerts, and installation pieces.

In addition to the national exhibition, Gabriel Tsampalieros (National Theatre School), Ken Mackenzie (University of Saskatchewan) and Tamara Kucheran (Dalhousie University) will curate the Student Exhibition (Quebec & Canada), produced by Association des professionnels des arts de la scène du Québec (APASQ) and Associated Designers of Canada.

03/27/2026

Happy World Theatre Day! 🎉 We're celebrating by showcasing our 2026 Mentorship Program recipients!

Congratulations to Gabrielle Papillon, mentored by Aaron Collier in Sound Design and Composition for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" at Neptune Theatre, and Electra Pappa, mentored by Michael Gianfrancesco in Set Design for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens.

Aaron Collier (he/any) is an award-winning musician, composer, sound and video designer, performer, playwright, and theatre creator.

Gabrielle Papillon (she/her) is an award-winning artist, songwriter, composer, music producer, and playwright based in Kjipuktuk/Halifax.

Michael Gianfrancesco's set and costume designs for theatre, musical theatre, opera, and dance have been seen across Canada, Europe, and the US.

Electra Pappa (she/her) is a Greek/British set designer whose work in film and television art departments includes large studio films, independent projects, and stop-motion animation.

Thank you to everyone who applied. This program is vital to us, and we are committed to continuing it. We will share more opportunities to apply in the future!

03/20/2026

NEW Workshop announcement! Join us on March 23 for “Creative Money” with Chris Enns.

Are your finances a major source of stress? In this workshop, we’ll talk about the fundamentals of finance and how to start building a financial technique. We’ll work with tools that help connect your money to what really matters, manage money when your income is variable, and strategies to pay off debt/save for the big things you’re working towards.

Don’t miss this opportunity! Register now using the link below.

Are your finances a major source of stress?

01/09/2026

🎉 We're excited to kick off the new year with a fantastic panel discussion! "Creative Leadership: Managing and Mentoring Emerging Designers" brings together experienced design leaders to explore strategies for mentorship in live performance.

Participants will gain practical insights into balancing artistic collaboration with leadership responsibilities, navigating challenges in mentorship, and cultivating sustainable pathways for emerging designers to thrive in Canada's dynamic live performance landscape.

Join us online on for this free and enlightening conversation! Register here:

This panel brings together experienced design leaders to explore strategies for mentorship in live performance.

11/19/2025

We are thrilled to host a series of holiday gatherings across the country this year, with ADC659 covering some appetizers and other nibbles in each city!

We invite all designers and colleagues, regardless of their career stage—members and non-members alike—to come together for an enjoyable evening of community connection. If you have theatre friends you'd like to bring along, please do! Everyone in the theatre community is welcome to join us.

Thanks to the local members who have volunteered to host these events! See you there!

*Update! The start time for Edmonton (Dec 1st) is 6pm MT!