English-Canada Representation at the Prague Quadrennial: Art, Adventure and Politics

The Associated Designers of Canada, founded in 1965, is the association that many professional theatre designers voluntarily belong to and it functions as the association for negotiations with professional theatres as well as the promotion of professional designers within and outside of Canada.  The most important international project the association participates in is the national exhibition of scenography it sends to the Prague Quadrennial every four years.  The Prague Quadrennial has remained the most important international scenographic exhibition/conference since its inception in 1967.  This paper is an brief examination of English Canada’s representation at the PQ from the very first  ‘unofficial’ delegation  in 1971 until the Canadian Government pulled it’s funding in 1983.  Questions this paper will look at are varied but focus primarily on the relationship between the ADC the Canadian Government and the PQ.  Historically, how satisfactory has the relationship between ADC and the PQ been?    Generally, what is the relationship between ADC and the theatre/design community within Canada (and this representation at the international level)?  Pragmatically, who gets chosen to represent Canada at The PQ, and how/why are such decisions made?  Has the ‘national scenography’ put forward by the ADC been a scenography that is a leader or a follower of international scenographic trends and more importantly, why?