In May, the playwright, actor and director was offered a $30,000 fellowship to attend Columbia University’s MFA program in playwriting, but at first, she didn’t think she would be able to accept it.
“There were about two or three weeks where I thought it was too expensive and I was not going to go…I realized, if I didn’t find a way to go, I’d probably regret it.” Slaney started reaching out for help.
She was met with enthusiastic support from the creative community in Halifax. Slaney has since received two anonymous donations “from generous people who took an interest in me without knowing me.” She also started an Indiegogo campaign, which raised almost $2100 from family and friends.
Slaney is also the recipient of a Nova Scotia Arts Council grant as well as the inaugural Ruth Goldbloom Award from the Charles and Mary MacLennan Foundation.
Columbia’s renowned MFA program includes creative professionals on faculty, such as Charles Mee and Anne Bogart. In Slaney’s third year, she will be creating a final thesis play, to be performed in New York. “The opportunity to connect with established writers who I admire is really great,” she says.
At 25, Slaney has lived in Halifax her entire life, and spent much of it contributing to the creative fabric of Nova Scotia. “I love Halifax very much and I love the theatre community here.” She’s looking forward to learning some skills and ideas that will allow her to contribute to Canada’s arts scene more fully. “I’m ready to learn from new perspectives…to just experience an entirely different world.”
And, of course, “to see a whole lot of plays.”
Slaney is holding two fundraising events at the Bus Stop Theatre on 3 and 21 August 2013..
