Arkady Spivak
Producer and CEO of Talk Is Free Theatre

Arkady Spivak was recently cited as a 2020 Canadian Arts Hero by the Globe and Mail. He founded Talk Is Free Theatre in 2003, which tackles the cross-section of repertoire, in traditional and immersive mediums. Since TIFT's founding, Spivak produced 145 works in Barrie, Canada, and toured nationally and internationally. TIFT won the prestigious Dora Awards for its productions of Sweeney Todd and Assassins. In the fall of 2018, Spivak produced the largest theatre experience in the world, entitled The Curious Voyage. It was a 3-day long journey, in which each patron became the protagonist of their own story and was transported, quite literally, from Barrie and London, UK. Commissioned by the National Arts Centre, TIFT's COVID artistic response was an imaginary wedding, Something Bubbled Something Blue, in which the party wore human-size rideable balls over their formal attires. The work has been viewed on Facebook over 2,000,000 times.

Arkady Spivak has served several times as a Juror for the Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts and Theatre Ontario's Professional Theatre Training Program. Spivak is a volunteer mentor for Business and the Arts, working with a number of emerging and small-scale organizations. He's a recipient of the inaugural Barrie Arts Award and a Contribution to Tourism Award.

For the past 20 years, Arkady Spivak has mentored several emerging artistic leaders. He has also initiated a number of special initiatives with the goal of strengthening the theatre ecology, such as the recent Artist BIG. This first-of-its-kind initiative for independent artists in Canada has offered a minimum Basic Income Guarantee to 40 artists for three years. 

Sector Representative: Arts and Culture & Live Entertainment 
Elected 2023
Elected Term Ending 2029