» Green Touring FO’s style – Towards Carbon Reduction in Foolish Operations’ Touring Foolish Operations

In 2018, with the support of a travel grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, Montreal-based artists were selected and trained to perform Tricoter, which resulted in more than 15 presenting contracts in QC and Ontario, in places like Sept-Iles, Québec, Montréal, and surrounding cities, as well as Toronto. This continues to support us this year with presentations in Kitchener-Waterloo (ON) and the Laurentides (QC). Since this green touring tryout, we have expanded to include dancers and violists from St John’s NL, Sudbury ON, Vernon (Interior BC), Smithers (Northern BC), and Toronto. We have enjoyed collaborating with local artists to expand our understanding of the places we visit, resulting in lasting creative relationships.

This process supported us through the pandemic, as different provinces established different health protocols, which resulted in Tricoter being presented in Montréal with added distancing measures and still allowing us to meet our audiences.

This year, we consulted artist-collaborator Silene Razo, who dances Paper Playground with us. As an actor, Silene was able to share how we might borrow from online audition processes to find qualified artists in other provinces without having to travel months ahead of the production week.

Artist Sarah Gallos led the design of the process and launched a call to perform the role of Quinn in Moving Resting Nesting in Montreal, with specific sections to learn and supportive video and text documentation. We received outstanding applications and chose Gabriela Jovian-Mazon. We selected Marie-Noelle Choquette as a new flautist based on recommendations, and Lana Tomelin, who has performed Tricoter with us, completed the cast.

Meanwhile, we continued to develop our onboarding document. This idea was suggested by artist Caroline Liffmann, who had made one for the “Arts and Health Project” with the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation during our strategic planning sessions in 2022. This onboarding document is a one-hour presentation hosted by Sarah Gallos with images, quotes, and links, describing who, what, when, where, and how Foolish Operations works, to provide context to the 20 to 30 freelance artists we work with every year. Many artists who have worked with us over several years have enjoyed the presentation and learned new information about Foolish Operations. This presentation fosters an understanding of our values, outlines collaborative practices, prioritizes safety in all our activities, streamlines contract and invoicing processes, fosters constructive conversations to enhance care practices in our work, and promotes transparency, including our financial support. We held these online onboarding sessions about 6 weeks prior to our production week.

During the fall, Sarah Gallos reviewed the score and text, watching past video presentations, and suggested changes to make it clearer and more cohesive.

We sent the text and score for “Moving Resting Nesting” to the new artists, who then paired each with past performers in BC for a paid online consultation. We also held an online table read with everyone involved, including Karen Thao La, the stage manager.

Festival Petits Bonheurs offered a full week of technical residency at Maison de la Culture Mercier from April 28 to May 3, 2025, allowing for our new cast to rehearse and to finally upgrade our light design for a black box. We were hosted with such generosity at Maison de la Culture Mercier by a very supportive team of technicians, who allowed us to test and complete the recently adapted light design by Andie Lloyd.

Instead of moving a team of 5 artists, 3 of us travelled from BC: Karen La (stage manager), Sabrina Mo (flautist and music learning support), and myself as the choreographer and artistic director. As per online calculators, we saved 3.4 tons of carbon output. Next time, only two of our team members will need to travel; soon we will reduce it to one. As travel and touring grants become increasingly hard to access, we hope this model will also help us continue meeting our public in Canada.

The week concluded with four performances of “Moving Resting Nesting,” which attracted a full house, allowing our team to discuss and deepen the participatory aspect of our work. We made the decision to hire a talented photographer to capture new, high-definition photos of the work and the cast, with the aim of attracting the interest of numerous presenters from Québec, Ontario, and the Atlantic region in the future.

“Moving Resting Nesting” is a commission from Marnie Perrin, artistic director of Surrey SPARK Stages, that premiered in May 2022 in Surrey, at Bear Creek Park in its outdoor version. Since then, the work has undergone numerous presentations, each time strengthening the story, rhythm, and delivery with the support of Julie’s mentor and dramaturge, Jo Leslie. It is important to note that the set was simplified over the years to the essentials; everything needed for this performance fits in two suitcases and one ski bag.

We are now in the creation process for our new work, Baby Space Opera, Grande Ourse – Petite Ourse in French. From the outset, we plan to incorporate this green touring model, which includes a set that can fit into a few suitcases. In early winter 2026, we will conduct online auditions and onboarding to identify Québec-based artists for our upcoming premiere in Montréal.

As a company dedicated to creating works for very young audiences, it is our responsibility to come up with solutions that will support a greener future. We hope to be able to deepen this process in the near future. Additionally, we hope that this blog post can assist others in making similar decisions!