Xenia Concerts is hiring an Accessibility Coordinator on a one-year contract starting in April 2023. Please spread the word to qualified applicants who might be interested!
Author: Xenia
Re-imagining music and arts events and activities to make them inclusive, relevant, and accessible to all members of society.
Xenia Concerts & NAaC present – the Sound.colLAB Videos!
This past Summer (2022), Xenia Concerts, National Access Arts Centre, and seven incredibly unique artists took off on an adventure to co-create an original piece of music under the mentorship of nine professional musicians.
Thank You Toronto Arts Council!
We’re THRILLED to announce that we are the recipients of a Toronto Arts Council Open Doors grant! This funding will allow us to create the Xenia Concerts Accessibility Accelerator, a launchpad to a more accessible future in the arts. Through this project, we will create a diverse network of paid advisors who identify as neurodivergent or as having a disability. Facilitated by an Inclusive Designer, the advisory network will develop design recommendations that enhance the accessibility of our programming AND help us guide other organizations to make their events more neurodiversity- and disability-friendly. Using their recommendations, we will develop training materials for musicians to help them deliver accessible programming for a range of neurological and physical diversities.
Thank you so much Toronto Arts Council! Watch this space in the new year for more information about this exciting new chapter for Xenia Concerts.
Thank You Unity for Autism!
Thank you to Unity for Autism for funding an exciting Xenia project in 2023! With funding from Unity for Autism and planning support from community partners, we are creating a (paid) Youth Autism Advisory Panel that will make recommendations for our accessible, neurodiversity-friendly concerts! By consulting directly with young Autistic adults, we hope to make our concerts even more inclusive and welcoming for the neurodiversity community. This funding also allows us to offer a valuable paid work opportunity to our panelists.
There’s more to come so stay tuned to hear more about this project! And if you’re a young Autistic adult, watch for our call for applicants!
Giving Tuesday: Help us advance inclusion in the arts!
Dear Xenia Family,
This Giving Tuesday, we are reflecting on the growth that comes from facing continued challenges. Thanks to the strength of our community and the creativity of our team, 2021-2022 was a year of transformative growth for Xenia Concerts. Here are a few things we accomplished last year with the support of our funders and donors like you:
- Completed the ground-breaking sound.colLAB program, in which seven participants of identify as neurodivergent or having a disability worked together with nine professional musicians to compose a new work for The Rolston String Quartet: Seven Miniatures for String Quartet and Electronics. We presented the first performances of the work in Toronto this July, and in Calgary this August. More performances are planned in 2023, and the recordings will soon be available on our YouTube channel.
- Presented 15 sensory-friendly and dementia-friendly concerts through partnerships with TO Live, Hand Over Hand, Alzheimer Society of Toronto, and Sunshine Centres for Seniors
- Reached over 900 audience members with sensory-friendly and dementia-friendly programming (an increase of over 80% compared to our previous year)
- Presented our first sensory-friendly concert in Parry Sound, ON, through a new partnership with Festival of the Sound, Hands TheFamilyHelpNetwork, One Kids Place, ASO, and Autism Ontario
- Developed the Xenia Concerts Artist Training Program, which launched this September
We have ambitious plans for 2022-2023, and you can help make them happen! Here’s what’s happening this year:
- 14 sensory-friendly concerts (twice as many as last year!), including the return to Flato Markham Theatre and our first concerts in North Bay, Stratford, Campbellford, and Halifax
- 7 dementia-friendly concerts, delivered in person and online in partnership with Alzheimer Society of Toronto and Baycrest@Home
- The launch of the Xenia Concerts Artist Training Program, which teaches professional musicians how to design inclusive, accessible events
- A new series of educational music videos for children with exceptionalities, created in partnership with The Lotus Centre for Special Music Education
- The launch of our new Accessible Concert Training Program for Young Artists, in partnership with Scotiafest
- Our first D/deaf-friendly concert featuring musical ASL interpretation by Phoenix the Fire, in collaboration with the AGO (details to be announced soon!)
Here’s how your donation will be used:
$10-50 Send a child or a senior to a concert
$51-100 Fund the creation of an accessible e-program
$101-250 Help us provide visual aids and other accessibility features for one concert
$251-500 Help put one artist through the Xenia Concerts Training Program
$501-1000 Sponsor one artist’s performance
$1001-5000 Sponsor an ensemble for one concert
$5001+ Want to make a big impact? Write to me at rory.mcleod@xeniaconcerts.com to discuss funding opportunities for our upcoming projects.
As always, if you have suggestions for how we can make our concerts and the broader performing arts scene more accessible for individuals and families in the neurodiversity and disability communities, please don’t hesitate to let us know!
Sincerely,
Rory McLeod
Executive and Artistic Director
Xenia Concerts
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Call for Applications: Xenia Concerts Board of Directors
Call for Applicants
Are you passionate about advancing inclusion and accessibility in the performing arts? Do you want to help provide exceptional musical experiences to people who face systemic and social barriers to inclusion? You might be a good fit for the Xenia Concerts Board of Directors!
Xenia Concerts is welcoming applications for the positions of Treasurer and Director on its Board of Directors. You can find complete descriptions, skill requirements, and responsibilities of the Director and Treasurer positions within the job postings below. These are volunteer positions with a three-year term.
Xenia Concerts is committed to improving equity both within its institution and across the performing arts sector. Applicants from all equity-seeking communities are encouraged to apply, including, but not limited to, those who identify as neurodivergent, D/deaf or disabled, Black, Indigenous, and people of colour, recognizing that both lived and learned experiences will inform the success of this role. At all levels of the organization, Xenia Concerts promotes equal opportunity, fair treatment, and the elimination of barriers for qualified individuals with disabilities. If you require accessibility accommodations to complete the application process, please email Executive and Artistic Director Rory McLeod at rory.mcleod@xeniaconcerts.com or call 647-896-8295.
Apply today or share this posting to spread the word!
Xenia’s Mission
Xenia Concerts works with the neurodiversity and disability communities to design, produce, and present exceptional performing arts experiences for children, their families, and others within those communities who face systemic and social barriers to inclusion.
Xenia’s Vision
To serve as Canada’s leading resource for the creation and promotion of family-friendly, accessible, and inclusive performing arts experiences for neurodiverse and disabled audiences through professional training, productions, and presentations.
Apply Today
To apply, please send your CV and a brief cover letter explaining why you are a good fit to xeniaboard@gmail.com.
Accessible PDF Job Postings
Xenia and Baycrest@Home Launch Songs and Stories Workshops for Caregivers
New Workshop Series Begins May 26
At Xenia Concerts, we recognize that there are many people whose life circumstances create barriers to accessing arts and culture experiences. One group that often gets overlooked is caregivers, people who often have to put their own needs aside to care for their loved ones. That’s why we’ve partnered with Baycrest@Home and singer-songwriter Avery Florence to create Exploring Our Stories Through Song. This special series of 8 creative workshops is designed specifically for family caregivers of people living with dementia. The workshops will take place online via Zoom.
Professional singer-songwriter Avery Florence will invite participants to explore self-expression through journaling, mindfulness, and poetry within the context of songwriting. The goal of these workshops is to help participants connect with their creative voices in a supportive social environment.
Combining a sense of play with the connective power of singing, the sessions will culminate in a creative musical project. This program is meant to bring comfort, fun, and a sense of discovery to those participating.
Here’s what Avery says about what makes these workshops meaningful:
“Writing music changed my life indefinitely. Before I discovered songwriting at 21, I didn’t have a clear way of both expressing myself and processing my feelings. Music allows you to tap into an open, vast, part of yourself that maybe can’t be expressed in spoken language. Music is the language of emotion. And as humans, our emotions create how we see and act in the world.
This workshop will practice tapping into yourself through creativity, within an engaged and safe community group. I have no doubt we will be connecting and creating something special together.”
These free online workshops run every Thursday 2-3:30pm ET from May 26th-July 14th.
Our 2021-2022 Season so far.
We wanted to give you an update on what we have been up to this season!
Main Stage Series
Over the past seven months we have presented a number of performances in both sensory-friendly and dementia-friendly formats, in partnership with T.O. Live and the Alzheimer Society of Toronto. These concerts have featured incredible artists such as Ahmed Moneka & Friends, Jenna Marie Pinard & Jay Yoo, the Bridge-Wolak Duo, VC2 Cello Duo, Min-Jeong Kohn & Bo-Yon Koh, the Queer Songbook Orchestra, as well as Payadora Tango Ensemble.
We have even more exciting events coming up in May and through the Summer, so remember to check your inbox for updates from us!
sound.colLab
Between November and April, we held three workshops for the sound.colLab project in partnership with National accessArts Centre. At this first workshop, our participating composers were introduced to the instruments of the string quartet as well as musical terms and compositional techniques in a presentation led by composer Bekah Simms. In workshop number 2, our composers presented sound offerings from cats purring, to toy xylophones, to dragon roars. Bekah introduced them to ways that these sounds can be manipulated and integrated in to their pieces for string quartet. In our third workshop, held in both Toronto and Calgary, composers presented the first drafts of their new pieces, heard them performed by the Rolston String Quartet, and finalized their scores.
Congratulations to our participants Anthony Hodgetts, Laura Lapeare, Nathan Neutel, Rory Berk, Thomas Sinclair, and Maddux Ma, who are now officially published composers!
On Saturday July 16, you can hear the WORLD PREMIERE of these brilliant new pieces of music. We’ll be announcing more details soon, so watch this space!
Special thanks to our partners, TO Live and NaAC, and our supporters The Canada Council for the Arts and Unity for Autism for supporting this groundbreaking project.
Donate Today!
Our upcoming projects include:
- Touring the sound.colLAB project to new audiences across Ontario and beyond
- Post-production on the sound.colLAB documentary that shares our participants’ creative journey
- Our neurodiversity-focused Artist Training Program
- An innovative co-creation project called “Sharing Our Stories Through Song” for family caregivers of people living with dementia, in partnership with Baycrest@Home and singer-songwriter Avery Florence
- A Pride celebration concert for the older adult 2SLGBTQIA+ community in partnership with Sunshine Centres for Seniors
- Bringing Xenia Concerts to Northern Ontario through new partnerships (details to be announced soon!)
Your donation helps us continue to deliver sensory-friendly concerts and innovative creation projects in a welcoming environment. Donate today to help us celebrate neurodiversity through music and advance inclusion in the arts!
Thank you to our partners and supporters
Land Acknowledgement
Xenia Concerts Inc. is based in what is now known as Toronto (Tkaronto), on the homelands of the Huron-Wendat First Nations, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River.
This territory was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and Confederacy of the Ojibwe and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes.
Today, the meeting place of Toronto is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and Xenia Concerts is grateful to have the opportunity to work in the community, on this territory.
Sound.colLAB Takes Flight!
Sound.colLAB is a go! We had a BLAST this past Sunday at Small World Music, working with our Sound.colLAB participants on Workshop #1 of this project. There was music made, sounds sounded, questions asked, and fun had by everyone.
Sound.colLAB is a unique collaboration that celebrates the musicianship of our creator-participants, all of whom identify as neurodivergent. Over the next few months, these six participants (3 in Calgary and 3 in Toronto) will co-create an original piece of music with the guidance of Bekah Simms and the Rolston String Quartet.
A huge shoutout to our partners, National AccessArts Centre, composer Bekah Simms, and the Rolston String Quartet for their work and participation. Thank you again for everyone involved!
A big thank you too to the Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada for generously funding this project. It wouldn’t have happened without you!
Xenia Concerts Launches 2021-22 Season with Two Interactive Online Concerts
We are delighted to announce that we are launching our 2021-22 season in just a few weeks! We are changing the format of our concerts a little bit so that you can have a more direct connection to our musicians. These concerts will still be online, but we are going to use Zoom so that you can interact, see each other, ask questions, and have more fun!