This fall, I spent several weeks in Montreal, finishing up a creation project with students at the National Theatre School. Fall is a pretty nice time to be in Montreal — you see the colours changing, the cold and snow has not yet blanketed the city; people are out and about.

I recently participated in the first of the OFFTA Coffee Machines, a series of professional conversations for professional performing arts audiences. Fifteen local and international arts organizations contributed letters in response to the prompt:

In December of 2019, a friend and artist Julie Hammond reached out to 20 artists about doing some writing for a new, collaborative project. The prompt was to write something every 20 days for a year. I signed on because I’m a big fan of Julie’s, but also I was game for some practice — writing is something I always wish I had more time to do.

Recently, a colleague asked: What do you want arts and culture to look like? Super open. Go. My response to his prompt on that particular day came rather quickly.

I want it to feel like that bathhouse in Spirited Away.

Maybe my response came at a time when I needed a bit of dreaming, but as the days have gone on (and on), I’ve continued to roll around inside my answer.