Norman Armour, veteran actor and executive director of the acclaimed PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, comes from a well-known artistic family.
His great-aunt was Canadian theatre pioneer Dora Mavor Moore. Moore, an Order of Canada recipient for a lifetime of work in theatre, was the first Canadian student accepted into London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art more than 100 years ago. She helped establish the renowned Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Toronto's prestigious theatre honours, the Dora Awards, bear her name.
The stage is in the blood. So, too, is the challenging business of producing and presenting live entertainment.
"On my father's side there were lawyers. My father was an engineer, but the rest of the family were lawyers, judges and ministers," said Armour. "But I feel very comfortable with the theatre side of things because on my mother's side it goes way back."
That creative predisposition – genetic or otherwise – didn't yield any immediate results, however. As a young man, Armour's focus was sports. He moved to British Columbia in 1979 to play semi-professional Frisbee. To pay the bills, he worked for Haebler Construction in Whistler in the early days of the resort's development. It wasn't until after some travelling and completing a degree from the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University that Armour became a professional actor in 1986.
Armour racked up some impressive screen credits, appearing in such notable television shows as The X-Files and Millennium. He even had a small part – a "literary enthusiast" – in the 2005 biopic Capote starring Philip Seymour Hoffman.
But it's been his work as a director and presenter that has brought Armour the most acclaim. In 1990, he co-founded Rumble Productions, a small but pioneering theatre company now known as Rumble Theatre. The mandate was to create and support pioneering, multi-disciplinary work spanning mediums such as theatre, dance and music. It was a collaborative venture – one that allowed Armour to work with myriad young artists and emerging, groundbreaking companies.
One such collaboration was with Touchstone Theatre, a mainstay of the Vancouver theatre scene. Led by artistic director Katrina Dunn, Touchstone Theatre made a name for itself producing and showing all-Canadian content. Armour and Dunn, however, had a vision for a Vancouver-based festival that would not only show inventive Canadian works, but also present pioneering pieces from across the world.
The PuSh festival was born.
"I had always been interested in work from elsewhere," said Armour. "My colleagues, I felt, would benefit from seeing work from elsewhere in Canada and elsewhere in the world. And Katrina Dunn felt the same. So, we pursued the idea of bringing in artists from other places to show their work, to do workshops and have conversations about what it was like in Montreal or Toronto or Berlin or Paris. That influence could help us change the situation under which we were creating work."
Now in its 10th season – scheduled to run from January 14 to February 2 – the PuSh festival is still building on that directive. This year, the festival features a host of Canadian-centric shows, as well as international pieces from Berlin-based Gob Squad arts collective, an exhibition from Lebanese artist Rabih Mroué and a multimedia production from New York City's Phil Soltanoff.
Like its artistic lineup, audiences are growing as well. In 2013, more than 34,000 people attended the festival, with 44 sellouts. That figure marks a 674% jump in attendance since the festival's inception.
"Last year, our attendance at the festival was at 79%. Basically, eight out of 10 seats were full," said Armour. "Anything above 60% is good in any house."
Aside from assembling the lineup, Armour is in charge of staff – the festival employs seven people year-round, eight seasonal contractors and 150 volunteers – and fundraising.
The PuSh festival, a registered non-profit, had a budget last year of $1.8 million: $600,000 from the box office, $600,000 from government grants (all three levels of government contribute) and $600,000 via donations.
But Armour wants more. He aims to raise more money so PuSh can begin commissioning its own work.
"I want us to have more investment from the private sector. There are a lot of corporate entities that are missing out on opportunities to associate themselves with the arts and be in the midst of exploring the important issues of today," said Armour.
"I'd like to see more individual support so we can bring work from Africa, India. I want the festival to be considered one of the jewels of the city and in line with everything this city wants to be – contemporary, alive, creative and willing to take on difficult questions."
Attracting money isn't easy – especially when one has to scrape together donations, either from individuals or corporate entities. But it's critical to the survival of arts, and Armour excels at it, said Bill Millerd, longtime artistic director of Granville Island's Arts Club Theatre, a venue used by the PuSh festival.
"He is a naturally creative person; he just thinks in creative ways. But Norman is also pragmatic; that's why PuSh has been so successful," said Millerd.
"He knows, at the end of the day, you have to balance the books. But he is also an excellent fundraiser. He knows how to play the game. At the public art level, there are various pots of money available that Norman always seems to know about."
Millerd also praised Armour for his interest in collaborating with other arts institutions in the city.
"Vancouver is, unlike Toronto, a size where partnerships work right across the board. There are no particular silos, and we all depend on each other because we have limited funds and there is a limited audience, and we all know that we are only as good as our last show."
Armour agrees.
"The festival has been very smart," he said. "It has seen the value of partnerships, which is very important in this town. We partner with about 70 different organizations. We work with the Arts Club and we share costs and expenses where we can. We gather like-minded people, pool resources and create a bigger idea. The festival is one of those bigger ideas. This city is good for that." •
