A Port Moody secondary graduate is now under the wing of a well-known actor, singer-songwriter, producer and humanitarian to guide her theatre career.
And Canadian Gov.-Gen. Julie Payette has given the year-long mentorship between Sarah Robertson and Tom Jackson her blessing — and federal funding.
In June, the 34 year old was named the 2018 protégé in the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards mentorship program, designed for emerging artists to learn from past laureates of the Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award.
The program, which is in consultation with the National Arts Centre’s artistic leadership, comes with a $5,000 honorarium and $10,000 toward a project.
Robertson, who graduated from PMSS in 2002, said she met Jackson — an officer of the Order of Canada — last year while he was filming a promotional video in the Badlands, just north of his home in Calgary.
At the time, Robertson was studying acting at the Rosebud School of the Arts — a spiritual-based post-secondary institution —and Jackson needed a student to interview for his piece; they instantly hit it off, she recalled.
This April, shortly before she moved to Toronto, Jackson invited her to be part of the mentorship project; they were inducted at a formal ceremony at Rideau Hall June 1 and, the next day, walked the red carpet at the National Arts Centre.
Now, nearly three months into their mentorship, Robertson said the pair has been busy exchanging ideas about her upcoming project that speaks of “the topics of play, and celebrating risk and failure in a theatrical context,” she said.
It’s still in the research and development phase but she hopes to include storytelling, spoken word, rap, clowning, improvisation and audience interaction. Last weekend, she travelled to Quebec for the Montreal Clown Festival and, earlier this summer, was at the Victoria Fringe Festival, also to glean ideas.
Jackson’s wisdom in performing arts also gives Robertson a fresh perspective. “His experience, peace and confidence helps to put me on a more solid ground as an artist,” she said. “He speaks so highly of me that it encourages me to live up to that…. A lot of our mentorship is less about details and more about sharing space with one another.”
Ernesto Di Stefano (George Pimentel Photography)
