About The Workshop

WORKING WITH RESPECT is a workshop offered for the arts sector in Newfoundland and Labrador. In this 3.5 hour workshop, tools and tips, including legislation, are highlighted for employers (including board members), artists, and cultural workers to create and maintain a respectful workplace.
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Under the Respectful Workplaces in the Arts banner, this workshop explores with participants how to best deal with harassment situations through:
  • discussions of what IS and IS NOT a respectful workplace
  • a review of situations and scenarios to identify how to create and sustain a respectful workplace
  • an in-depth consideration of the roles of employers, artists, and cultural workers in establishing and maintaining a respectful workplace
  • Provincial legislation discussion and definitions re: harassment and bullying

Working With Respect Workshops available in 2025

PerSIStence Theatre, supported by resources provided by Canada’s Cultural Human Resources Council (CHRC), is promoting the sharing of best practices pertaining to creating and maintaining respectful workplaces as the norm in the cultural sector. This includes information regarding forms of harassment including sexual harassment, bullying, discrimination and violence.

In 2025, PerSIStence Theatre Company is working to offer the workshop across the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, sharing this invaluable knowledge to as many employers, artists, and cultural workers as possible. We are available to facilitate our workshop to Boards, Schools, Organizations, and more. 

The workshop fee, suitable for up to 25 participants, is:
  • $500 
  • $250 (50% subsidized)
  • $0 (100% subsidized)
Travel, per diems, and accommodations are covered by PerSIStence Theatre Company. 

To inquire regarding booking a workshop, please email us at [email protected] ​

Location​

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Workshops can be offered in an organization's workspace, a  community space, or any suitable alternative. If the workshop is taking place in St. John's, The Nest, located at 410 East White Hills Road, can be used (subject to availability). 

Please note, The Nest is not wheelchair accessible. An alternative workshop location can be arranged in our wheelchair accessible boardroom upon request, for a reduced number of maximum participants.

What People Have Been Saying About This Workshop

“Thanks for taking this work on and making it accessible to the performance arts community.  Lots to digest, lots to think about, lots to consider as we build these principles into our working environments and embed these values into the unique culture of each of our organizations. I look forward to digging deeper into this material in the coming weeks / months!”

“This is a wonderful resource to have! Thank you very much for sending and for creating such a powerful conference. I really found great value in it.”

“Wanted to send a quick but sincere thank you for organizing and providing that workshop yesterday to the community. There were things I thought I knew and then quickly realized I didn’t. And I’m grateful to have had the opportunity and exposure to those resources.”

“Thank you for providing that! It was invaluable!!!”
St. John’s is home to a rich, diverse, and vibrant urban Indigenous community. Located on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Beothuk, the lands and waters in and around the City have traditionally served as a gathering place for the Mi’kmaq. The broader region of Newfoundland and Labrador continues to be home to diverse Indigenous Peoples, including First Nations, Inuit, and Métis. We honour and pay respect to the past, present, and future caretakers of these territories.

We also must acknowledge the labour theft extracted from people of African descent, used to build European wealth and economies globally, and in the Canadian nation state, including Newfoundland and Labrador’s shipbuilding and cod fishery industries, through the violence of trans-Atlantic enslavement.

We thank both First Light and the office of the Vice-Provost of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism at Memorial University for crafting and sharing these words that provide us with important perspectives.