(They/Them: Anishinaabe, Nipissing First Nation) Olivia Shortt is a Tkarón:to-based multidisciplinary performing artist. They are a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, noisemaker, improviser, composer, sound designer, curator, administrator, artist manager, and producer.
Highlights include their Lincoln Center (NYC) debut performing with the International Contemporary Ensemble, their Australian debut in 2017, their film debut performing in Atom Egoyan’s 2019 film ‘Guest of Honour’, as well as recording an album two kilometres underground in the SnoLAB (Neutrino Lab in Sudbury, Canada).
They are a 2020 cohort member of Why Not Theatre’s ThisGEN Fellowship, the Musical Stage Co.’s RBC Apprentice Program, and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre’s Emerging Creators Unit.
Their most recent works include ‘the body remembers’ as part of the JACK Quartet’s inaugural JACK Studio (including a second work: a musical land acknowledgement in collaboration with Face The Music in NYC); several compositions in development such as a solo bassoon work (supported by the Canadian New Music Network) for NYC-based artist Clifton Joseph Guidry III; a trio for violin, cello and soprano commissioned by California’s Long Beach Opera for their 2020 UnGala; composition and sound design for Mx. by Tyler J. Sloane as part of the Alberta Queer Calendar Project; composition and sound design for Welcome To My Underworld (Director Judith Thompson – Soulpepper); and Brain Storm with Lucid Ludic Productions and Why Not Theatre.
Shortt is an alumni of the 2018 cohort of the artEquity facilitator training program (New Orleans, LA), as well as the 2019 Toronto Arts Council’s Leaders Lab. They are a member of the Circle of Artists with the Canadian Opera Company and curate for The Music Gallery (Toronto). www.olivia-shortt.com
International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI)
The International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI) is a partnered research institute building from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) project, “Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice” (ICASP). IICSI’s partners include six academic institutions, a foundation partner, and 30+ community-based organizations. The Institute’s mandate is to create positive social change through the confluence of improvisational arts, innovative scholarship, and collaborative action.
