Dr Sarah G. Stanley (SGS)

Over the last several years, I have inhabited a variety of spaces. They all connect. I am driven by decoding structure and love thinking about the often hidden connection between things. Chances are we have lots to talk about and I have much to learn from you.

Sarah/SGS is the VP of programming at Arts Commons in Calgary, Alberta. Before this, she was the Artistic Producer for the National Creation Fund (NAC), She continues to co-steward the historic Birchdale in Southwest Nova Scotia. SGS is by craft a theatre director and dramaturg, and by education a Doctor of Philosophy in Cultural Studies. SGS was born and raised in Montreal and now lives in Calgary,  Alberta with a foot still holding space on the unceded and ancestral lands of the Mi'kmaq in Southwest Nova Scotia.

During her tenure as head of the National Creation Fund, SGS launched several initiatives, most notably the publishing of Materials of Creation (co-edited by SGS and Sarah Conn) the Creation Lounge, and working to ensure the ongoing funding potentials for this game-changing cultural project. During her tenure as Associate Artistic Director of English Theatre at Canada’s National Arts Centre, she led The Cycle(s): a 7-year project dedicated to transformation in Canadian Theatre, and The Collaborations: a curatorial adventure that supported theatre artists in their home communities creating work that profoundly impacted national conversations about, and presentations of, great theatre. She is co-founder of SpiderWebShow: the first digital-first theatre company in Canada and FOLDA, an internationally recognized festival dedicated to live digital art. She also co-founded the Baby Grand Theatre, was the 1st female Artistic Director at Buddies in Bad Times, and was the inaugural Artistic Associate for The Magnetic North Theatre Festival.

This award-winning artist has won and been nominated for several theatre awards and was the recipient of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas’ Elliot Hayes Award, and the Honorary Member Award for Canadian Association for Theatre Research and was recently named a 2022 and 2023 Arne Bengt Johansson Fellow at The Banff Forum in PEI.

Her current research-creation project Massey & Me: Conversations at the End of Theatre is a series of thought events referencing the CBC Massey Lectures. This critical reflection explores the genealogical, political, and administrative structures that house professional theatre in Canada.

SGS is co-authoring Manifesto for Now with Owais Lightwala.