News & Events

GhostLight Announces Fifty Percent Donation Support for The AFC during COVID-19

GhostLight is honoured to announce its partnership with The AFC to divide any and all donations made to GhostLight’s GoFundMe campaign during COVID-19 economic lockdown. For every dollar donated, fifty cents will go towards supporting The AFC’s mission to help “Canadian entertainment professionals maintain their health, dignity and ability to work.”

“Our goal at GhostLight is to create and nurture channels for connection and collaboration across our industry. Right now, the most vital channel is ensuring our colleagues in need have access to financial and compassionate support in these difficult times. We are honoured to partner with The AFC in working to maintain a vital lifeline for our performing arts family across this country during COVID-19,” says Graham Abbey, Co-founder and Creative Director of GhostLight.

GhostLight was created to keep theatre artists connected and inspired during this period of self-isolation necessitated by COVID-19 quarantine measures. Our mission is to be an essential virtual resource for development and creative exploration for the theatre community. Accessibility for all is vitally important to us; that is why we are offering free opportunities to train with Canada’s premiere artists and mentors through our online platforms. Through donations, GhostLight will be able to “leave the light on” for artists to connect, explore and collaborate online. And our partnership with The AFC allows us to provide much-needed funding to our colleagues and community.

“It is a painful, fearful time for so many of our friends and colleagues – the profound impact of COVID-19 on livelihoods, careers, and companies will be felt for a long time. We are so inspired by the creativity and collaborative spirit of our community, as we turn to the arts to help us make sense of our new reality. It is fantastic to partner with projects like GhostLight to make sure artists continue to engage in creative exploration and develop new ways of telling stories. We are honoured to be a channel for the expression of the community’s goodwill and to be of service to so many who need us now,” said David Hope, The AFC’s Executive Director.

It is GhostLight’s mission to provide space for theatre creators and patrons in a time when we are rethinking and expanding the notion of assembly. The other half of the donations will go into funding courses and technical support to make programming happen. This will include honorariums to put artists back to work in mentoring positions through interactive online classes and workshops with the highest calibre of talent, including Seana Mckenna, Erin Shields, and Dion Johnstone.

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About GhostLight

Ghost lights have stood vigil over unoccupied theatres for years, protecting the stage in darkness and illuminating the space for creative spirits to play in the void. Our mission is to sustain this vigil in the virtual world, providing a beacon for actors and other artists to gather together and collaborate through mentorship, conversation and collective creation.

GhostLight is a digital theatrical training ground. This virtual space will allow established artists to mentor emerging and mid-career colleagues through online classrooms, emphasizing live, two-way conversations between teachers and students. These offerings will take the form of multi-session studio classes, private coaching, intensive workshops, and our interview series entitled “Friday Night at the GhostLight.”

In addition to our mentorship platform, GhostLight will also function as an online theatre space, providing virtual rehearsal halls for artists across several disciplines and geographical barriers to collaborate and learn from each other on our digital platform. These collaborations will be an extension of a particular GhostLight classroom or a collective of like-minded artists interested in online creation.

Select GhostLight creations will be available for public viewing and linked to an online audience and eventually filmed in a studio through digital streaming and network partnerships.

Website: https://www.ghostlight.ca

Contact us: gabbey@ghostlight.ca

GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/ghost-light-canada

Social Media: 

https://www.facebook.com/Ghostlightcanada

https://www.instagram.com/ghostlight.ca

https://twitter.com/GhostLightca

About The AFC

The AFC is the lifeline for Canada’s entertainment industry. Through compassionate and confidential support, we help Canadian entertainment professionals maintain their health, dignity and ability to work.

Through our Emergency Financial Aid Program, we provide short-term financial assistance to entertainment industry workers in vulnerable circumstances. In the past 24 months, The AFC distributed over $1.4 million in emergency financial aid to Canadian arts and entertainment professionals working in all aspects of film & TV, music, theatre, and dance.

Anyone in the arts and entertainment community can call for compassionate, confidential, non-judgmental support with a tough situation through our Personal Support and Advocacy Program. We can help people carve out a viable path to improved well-being and connect them with existing support systems and resources.

Our Financial Wellness Program offers entertainment industry members free access to personalized, high-value financial counselling and educational services to build and maintain financial resiliency and stability.

In 2020, we are working on developing new services to offer mental health supports and mental health first aid training to entertainment industry workers.