Stages & Spaces: Space Access Program

For Artists

Intrepid Theatre is home to two venues: the Intrepid Studio, and the new Festival Hub. These busy downtown spaces are home to our festivals, programming and residencies, alongside local creatives, artists, companies and collectives who use these venues for one-night events, workshops, classes, and shows year-round. We want to activate these creative spaces even more, and infuse them with vibrant energy, lively ideas, fresh collaborations and support local performance artists and theatre-makers. 

In 2025, with support from the Victoria Foundation, we launched the inaugural Stages & Spaces program. While originally intended as a pilot for three projects, the overwhelming quality of applications led us to support five distinct initiatives that served 34 artists and arts workers with over 380 hours of free space.

We have expanded this program for 2026 to include two streams, the original free space access program and a new studio residency program:

1. Space Access Program; for local artists
2. Studio Residency Program; for local or national artists

Making space for local artists – Space Access Program

We know how difficult it is to find creation space, a rehearsal venue, a room to sit with your ideas and dreams, or a dedicated desk to write your next great show (or grant).

We are responding by renewing this program that makes space available for free for local artists, collectives and companies in our three spaces. 

In year two of this program, we will support three to four projects in 2026, depending on scale and available dates. The use of space is very flexible, adaptable, and should fit each project – there is no cookie cutter formula here. Let us know what your needs are. 

Support and spaces will vary and could look like:

• Dedicated desk hours to finish an in-progress script, then workshop time in the Hub, and a public reading at the Intrepid Studio
• Creation/rehearsal time in the Intrepid Studio to work/rehearse a show, then touring the show to other venues/festivals
• A technical residency at the Intrepid Studio, followed by a two-night show at the venue (staffing costs to be discussed)
• A research and exploration residency at the Intrepid Studio, working with designers or a dramaturg
• Facilitating workshops/community dialogues at The Hub to aid in research for a devised creation, then desk time to collect the notes to bring into a rehearsal at a future date
• An archival recording of an existing show, in front of an invited audience
• A week of dedicated desk time to finish a project grant
• A weekly puppet-building workshop for 6 weeks to work with community members on building puppets and puppeteering for an outdoor performance

Creating performance opportunities – Studio Residency Program

This new stream is intended to reduce barriers for performing arts creators to engage in artistic exploration that is ultimately geared towards public engagement. This residency encourages artists to create a new work, re-imagine an old idea, or to engage in an existing project that is ready to meet an audience.

The Studio Residency is intended for artists, collectives, or companies at any level of their career to bring a workshop-ready or fully-produced project to the stage for a multi-night run of public shows at the Intrepid Studio. Studio time, artistic and technical support, and hot desk or rehearsal time is covered by Intrepid Theatre, but staffing costs are not included. For any public events, Intrepid Theatre will cover ticketing and box office set-up, and a ticket split between the artist/collective/company and Intrepid Theatre will be arranged in advance. 

The Studio Residency is open to projects from local and national applicants, though no accommodation, travel or presentation fees are guaranteed; we are happy to provide support letters for funding and development grants for successful projects. For touring artists, this could be a great fit for an artist wanting to: build a new show to tour; try out their new work in a new community; have access to a professional blackbox theatre for a run of a new show.

This Residency will vary by project and could look like:

• A technical residency or design workshop, followed by a 2-4 day run of the show
• Staging rehearsals, technical rehearsal, followed by a 2-4 day run of the show
• An alternative venue arrangement or seating plan set-up with staging rehearsals, technical rehearsals and a weekend run of the show
• A week-long set-up and technical rehearsals and week-long run

To Submit

Send a short pitch, no longer than two pages written, or a 5 minute audio or video recording that outlines: your proposed project; what your space needs are; any technical/production needs; your ideal time/date range for the project; and tell us a bit about yourself as an artist/collective/company. Dates are available starting in May 2026.

Due to our own programming and space use, projects cannot happen in August or November 2026.

In addition to free space, successful applicants will also receive complimentary tickets to shows in the 2026 season, and mentorship with Intrepid staff on anything from marketing to preparing budgets to applying to festivals to writing a tour rider, etc.

There is no fee to apply, and applications are due by 5pm on March 30, 2026. Please send any questions and all applications to artistic director, Sean Guist sean@intrepidtheatre.com