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Alumnus/Alumna profile

Michael Martini

Performance Creation (BFA) 18
Works as an independant artist and arts programmer

Michael Martini
Faculty

Faculty of Fine Arts

After studying theatre and playwriting at Concordia, I expanded my practice toward other types of performance, creating my own interdisciplinary work. Today, I work as an independent artist and have toured self-created shows internationally. I also work as a programmer at Danse-Cité, where I help curate projects by local dance artists for production.

Career questions with Michael

What do you love most about your work, and what inspired you to pursue this career in the first place? 

I love being in touch with playfulness and creativity, human forces that some of us leave behind in adulthood. I also love the ritual of performance: coming-together, breathing the same air as the audience, working with technicians, celebrating with collaborators.

Looking back, what skills have been the biggest gamechangers in your career? 

Being actively involved in other artistic disciplines — even as a casual spectator — is what I find important. When I started going to dance shows, galleries, film screenings, and so on, as often as I went to theatre shows, I started having a better idea of how to create work that wouldn't just exist in one milieu. Now, my work is shown as often in dance contexts as theatre contexts. 

On top of that, taking the fact that I live in a French-language city seriously has had a huge impact on me professionally. Once I started making commitments to soak up the language and to pursue professional opportunities in the francophone milieu, possibilities truly opened up for me.

How did Concordia prepare you for your career? 

I was able to practice grant-writing through Fine Arts Student Alliance (FASA) grants and get my first experience programming an artistic event through Art Matters Festival. 

There were many interesting cross-disciplinary projects I was able to participate in once I had my ear to the ground with what was offered by the Fine Arts department at large. I doubt I would be working in the dance field now if I hadn't pursued the interdisciplinary opportunities around me while studying.

What is a standout memory from your time at Concordia? 

I proposed an independent study with my friend, a drawing student, to be mentored by a professor specializing in performance art.  We made a 30-minute performance that we were then able to have programmed in three very different venues in Montreal, including a dance venue — and got credits for it! 

If you could give your younger self one powerful piece of advice, what would it be? 

There are so many more opportunities and resources than meet the eye when you are at university. There are student groups, seminars, labs, studios, materials, you name it — lunch programs, even. I would suggest to anyone starting their studies to get the lay of the land as quickly as possible and take advantage of what is offered. 

Within the actual theatre department, I wish I had taken more courses that I didn't see as relevant at the time. I would love to have a more in-depth knowledge of certain technical aspects of theatre, such as designing lights. Many people I know in the professional sphere make their bread and butter doing what they initially started just learning about on the side.

What’s the most exciting shift happening in your industry right now? 

When I first started my studies, I expected theatre to be structured around directors, actors, playwrights, costume designers, and so on. This is still the case in some institutions, but more often than not what we see these days are creations, where roles are less siloed, and say, an artist or collective performs their own ideas with their own direction. I think the fluidity surrounding disciplines is becoming more mainstream. For artists, I think this means there is freedom to knock on all sorts of doors.

Feeling inspired?

 
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