Canada's Arts World Has a Diversity Problem: Everyone Thinks Alike
Commentary A couple of years ago, Vancouver’s PuSh Festival cancelled its planned production of Christopher Morris’s “The Runner.” The issue was not that the play had suddenly become unwatchable; its repeated performances had earned lavish praise. The issue suddenly was that Morris, a Canadian playwright, had “no religious or cultural ties to the region” he […]
Canada’s Arts World Has a Diversity Problem: Everyone Thinks Alike The PuSh Festival in Vancouver canceled a play by Canadian playwright Christopher Morris because he lacked religious or cultural ties to Israel, the region he was portraying. Instead, the festival produced a play by Palestinian-Syrian Basel Zaraa, stating it would “honour the artist whose work reflects their lived experience.” This decision implies that the festival prioritized an artist’s biographical background over the artistic merit of their work.
- Vancouver’s PuSh Festival canceled Christopher Morris’s play ‘The Runner’.
- The reason for cancellation was Morris’s lack of ‘religious or cultural ties’ to the depicted region, Israel.
- The festival opted to produce Basel Zaraa’s ‘Dear Laila’ instead, citing the need to ‘honour the artist whose work reflects their lived experience’.
- The festival’s decision prioritized an artist’s background over their work’s merit.
Write a comment