We are:
A Juno-nominated professional choir with singers from across the country.
We sing the music of people who live in or identify as Canadian. We push ourselves to be flexible, sensitive musicians through creative programming.
We have been increasingly drawn to the music of underrepresented composers, including BIPOC and women composers. We tell a wide variety of stories and promote emerging and established Canadian composers.
In response to the TRC Calls to Action, we have sought to learn from Indigenous ways of knowing. This has involved a commitment to a deeper understanding of historical context and building collaborative relationships with Indigenous artists and elders.
We provide high-level artistic outlets for outstanding Canadian choral musicians through educational outreach that includes Guest Conducting Artist and Singer Apprentice programs.
We are intentional about fostering community through choral music and collective singing in all sizes of communities, offering workshops, masterclasses, and performances for all ages and stages of singers, conductors, composers, and educators. It has been our great privilege to share our music with audiences from coast to coast to coast.
OUR MISSION:
To celebrate Canadian choral heritage (past, present, and future), to engage in a diverse musical narrative, to strengthen the choral community and make meaningful connections with people across the country and throughout the world.
Through performances, workshops, mentorships, recordings and collaborations with other artists, the CCC is dedicated to furthering choral art.
OUR VISION:
The dedicated, professional singers of the CCC commit to excellence as choral artists and to build community as Canadian choral educators, advocates, and ambassadors.
OUR GOALS:
To be recognized as Canada’s elite choir that uses our artistic excellence and diversity to find common ground and push boundaries with audiences, schools, collaborators, other artists and communities of all ages and stages through Canadian repertoire.
OUR OBJECTIVES:
- Develop an enhanced profile.
- Care for the wellness & diversity of CCC members
- Ensure the financial & fiduciary health of CCC
- Design a new model for CCC: The CCC Centre for Community Arts and Engagement
OUR VALUES:
The CCC is committed to ongoing, intentional, and action-driven efforts to overcome systemic inequities and to provide audiences, collaborators, composers, and singers equitable access to diverse Canadian choral music. This requires the ongoing commitment of our Board, artistic directors, CCC administrative support, and members to foster equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in CCC systems, policies, protocols, practices, and programming.
Equity is the creation of the conditions necessary to ensure fair treatment for all despite differences in power, privilege, access, and opportunity.
Diversity is the engagement with and respect for individual differences such as culture, race, colour, age, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, disability (mental or physical), marital status, ancestry, ethnic or national origin, political affiliation, and socio-economic status. We recognize that these differences sometimes stand alone and often intersect.
Inclusion is the creation of a welcoming, equitable, and diverse environment that supports a sense of belonging and the meaningful participation of its members.
Accessibility means addressing social and physical barriers so that persons with disability can participate fully in and with the CCC.
OUR COMMITMENTS TO ACTION:
- Recruitment and Auditions
- Update the audition information to reduce barriers.
- Diversify and expand where we advertise to recruit and engage directly with more BIPOC artists
- Diversify the pool of singers to participate in CCC projects.
- Selection of Contracted Singers
- Shift perspective of “national /regional representation” to include intersectional identities.
- Increase the diversity among contracted singers.
- Remain committed to the fair compensation of singers.
- Repertoire:
- Program repertoire expressive of Canadian stories and perspectives, written by people who identify as Canadian or who live in Canada.
- Include a diverse cross-section of composers and stories on any given program.
- Collaborations
- Devote space and time to engage with and learn from collaborators.
- Build relationships and engage with diverse composers through interviews, workshops, commissions, and consultations.
- Selection of Guest Conducting Artists and Apprentice Singers
- Identify and invite BIPOC candidates to apply.
- Use new methods of advertising to ensure a wider audience
- Professional Development for CCC members
- Invite singers to participate at the level that they are comfortable, sometimes self-guided and sometimes programmed and compensated.
- Educational Outreach / Engagement
- Singers must be comfortable participating in educational outreach and collaboration projects in diverse communities.
- Each singer will engage in professional development opportunities offered by the CCC when able.
These Commitments to Action will be reviewed annually and updated over time.
The CCC will periodically evaluate and assess the impact of our EDIA commitments.
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