Michael Torontow, Artistic Director of Talk Is Free Theatre (TIFT) and Project Manager/Developer of the Canadian Musical Theatre Database (CMTdB) announced today that the long-anticipated online catalogue of Canadian musicals and industry networking hub is ready for public interaction. This new website is a free, one-stop shop for people to find musicals by and about Canadians, to seek out other creators of musical theatre for collaboration, and to find producers eager to discover the next “Come From Away”, with many other exciting and useful features planned for the coming months.
At this time, visitors to www.cmtdb.ca can:
Initially conceived as a simple catalogue of existing Canadian works that could be a resource for producing organizations of any kind (professional, community, educational), the team behind CMTdB conducted research across the country and discovered they could address other needs such as information sharing, facilitating or spearheading professional development initiatives, and promoting works in development to potential producers. After having reached out directly to dozens of industry professionals across Canada to submit information and materials, there are currently over eighty titles to peruse, eighty creators, and about a dozen producers listed on the site.
Torontow hopes this soft launch will encourage more people to take part.
“We are thrilled that we already have so many titles and potential collaborators with profiles on the site, but we know there are many, many more we have yet to list. We encourage people to spread the word so this exciting tool can become THE online hub for Canadian musical theatre works and their creators.”
Use of the site is free of charge. Beginning May 1, users will be able to purchase perusal copies of scripts and piano/vocal scores through the site for a small fee, a portion of which will go directly back to the artists. Other future developments will include a sheet music sales platform, resources to help creators promote their work, and information about educational institutions offering programs in musical theatre.
Torontow stresses that CMTdB is not a licensing site.
“We are not looking to earn any commission if a producer decides to license a title for production. We simply want to help facilitate the connection and make it easier for more Canadian works to get their due across this country and beyond.”
The projects was initially spearheaded by Arkady Spivak, Producer and CEO of Talk Is Free Theatre, and Michael Torontow. Research and development were conducted by Torontow, Peter Jorgensen of Patrick Street Productions, and Alana Freistadt, with additional support from Chantal Gering and Griffin Hewitt.
The CMTdB acknowledges generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
