They’ve been there for us… Jacoba Knaapen

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Jacoba PhotoJacoba Knappen, Executive Director of the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA)

Jacoba has been a cherished supporter of Modern Times’ over the years – assisting us on numerous occasion by providing counsel or contacts, and also serving as gala chair for a major fundraiser during our 2005 production of Macbeth. Jacoba has been a cherished supporter of Modern Times’ over the years – assisting us on numerous occasion by providing counsel or contacts, and also serving as gala chair for a major fundraiser during our 2005 production of Macbeth. We’ve also appreciated seeing her in regular attendance at our productions, beginning with the premiere production of Aurash in 1998.

“I first encountered the work of Modern Times at Theatre Passe Muraille during a production of AURASH in the late 1990s. The house configuration in the Backspace at TPM had been reversed for AURASH, and the audience was seated on stage with the performance taking place on top of the bench seating and the actors moving around at various levels. I remember watching AURASH and realizing I had absolutely no previous exposure to Persian culture and I was immediately captured by the story, by the work, and of course by Soheil.”


Jacoba Knaapen is the Executive Director of the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), an arts service organization that represents 192 professional theatre, dance and opera companies in the city of Toronto).  Jacoba is a champion for the performing arts and committed to the ongoing development of a healthy arts sector in Toronto. Her career in the Canadian professional arts industry spans 30 years.  (http://www.tapa.ca)