Compassion Fund Program

Bad Dog Theatre is participating in Balancing Act’s Level UP! Initiative, to pilot strategies that forefront more inclusive, care-led workplace policies and practices. Balancing Act is a national initiative to support Artist Caregivers. Bad Dog is part of a group of organizations piloting a Compassion Fund that is accessible for our contracted artists/arts workers.

This fund can be accessed for any marquee production, or for any Bad Dog Education faculty, to a maximum of $150 per participant for the calendar year, to ensure funds can be provided to as many people as need them.

We have a total of $2,000 to provide financial support for help with child care, elder care, or general caregiver support which may restrict your access to performing and teaching.

As this is a pilot, we are exploring the best methods to share these funds, and to refine our future uses of and processes for accessing the fund. We want these funds to be as barrier-free as possible, and as such, will operate on an honour system of need. To that end, we ask you to help us prioritize those with the most need, by self-determining your social positioning and level of need. As with all of our endeavors, we seek to uplift equity-owed identities for our collective liberation.  

Each team member of these productions and faculty is able to access these funds for support while on contract. To access these funds, please fill out the form below. We will not require receipts as this will be considered taxable honorarium. 

Honorariums are not subject to HST for HST registrants. Individuals are responsible for remitting any taxes incurred in connection with receiving this honorarium via a T4A

We will be sharing information about our experience implementing this strategy with Balancing Act, including what types of supports were requested and the average amount requested overall. We will not be sharing any names or other identifying information as part of our reflections. We will also be asking you to participate in an anonymous survey when the strategy has been implemented to help strengthen the Balancing Act initiative and inform advocacy work and policy change in our cultural spaces.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Stephanie Malek at stephanie@baddogtheatre.com