by Charlie Smith on January 16th, 2021 at 8:18 AM 1 of 1 2 of 1
An arts community backlash appears to explain why two high-profile theatre directors have decided to back away from a series of events at this year s PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.
PuSh Rally curators Marcus Youssef and Maiko Yamamoto, along with producer Dani Fecko, said in a statement that they are stepping down from our contracts , effective immediately.
They acknowledged that since they released the PuSh Rally program, they ve received a lot of feedback from people we respect about what we planned and how we framed it . This included artists withdrawing from the Rally program, they stated. While we understand this information might be out of context for those who are not local arts workers, we have come to believe that what we programmed is actually hindering attempts to resolve conflict.
Vancouver theatre artists Marcus Youssef and Maiko Yamamoto are curating a series of compelling presentations by Charlie Smith on January 13th, 2021 at 10:46 AM 1 of 5 2 of 5
This has been an awkward year for the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. The associate artistic director, Joyce Rosario, was let go in the midst of a pandemic, along with others. And health restrictions imposed by the provincial government have made it impossible to put on live theatrical or musical performances.
Stepping into the breach have been highly regarded Vancouver theatre artists Marcus Youssef and Maiko Yamamoto.
In a phone interview with the Straight, Youssef pointed out that there was a reaction from the community when Rosario left because the PuSh festival is so meaningful to so many artists. “Suddenly you have an organization that’s been central to the development of many of our careers and our lives without any artistic leadership whatsoever,” he said.