Terry Costa founded Mirateca Arts in Vancouver-Canada and leads the organization since 2002. Currently the company has offices in North America and Europe.
As an "artist of artists" Costa's mandate is to elevate an idea step by step through its development and production and raise its visibility from local to national, and at times around the planet.
Canadian-born Costa was raised in Pico island (Azores, Portugal). Past leadership positions include Managing Artistic Director of AQT Vancouver (2002-2006), and UNI Theatre (1997-2001) in Mississauga-Ontario; he also founded the Gastown performance art gallery Spaces, the Looking Forward, Looking Black Festival and Vancouver's Portuguese Heritage Month Festival.
LIVE STAGE: Costa has produced, directed and presented hundreds of events including music, theatre, dance, and multi-disciplinary works across Canada and abroad. From independent "whole in the wall" performance spaces to large state-of-the-art theatres and concert halls including Living Arts Centre’s Hammerson Hall, Vogue Theatre, River Rock Casino Show Theatre, and beyond, Costa's work has made a mark in many corners of the world. Multidisciplinary spectacle shows created include An Evening of Fado (2005); Latin Vox (2007); and, Circus Musicale (2009); also, he created the very successful live event, turned television show, Gay Top Model that premiered in early 2008 and spearheaded a series of spectacles based on competitions in Vancouver's gay community including Go Go Boy Star, Mr Gay Canada, Mr. Gay World and Hot Gay DJ.
MUSIC: Costa has worked with a variety of Canadian musicians and presents international artists including the Canadian tours for Suzana da Camara, Stockholm Lisboa Project, Pe de Cana, Sara Marreiros, solo shows for international artists including Sara Tavares, Helena Lavouras Quartet, Margens and supported presentations of Mariza, Ana Moura, Helder Moutinho, Cesaria Evora, Seu Jorge, Bebel Gilberto, Fabianna Cozza, Yamandu Costa, amongst many others. Costa also produced artistic nightclub events with local and international DJs. In 2008 he produced Celebrating Black History in Conversation and Music with Ron Small and the late Denis Simpson at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre (The Cultch).
THEATRE: Terry Costa created many new works for the theatre stage including the international award-winning hit
69 Moments of Life [over 200 performances around the world]
, Madonna in my Mind, Go Tell It On The Mountain, Peace - No Fear!, Stories Grandma Never Told Me, discovery@erotic, Phaedra’s Dreams and
Inception in Extremis. He also directed and managed the Canadian and U.S.A. tour of Shannon Jardine's award-winning audience and critical hit play
Torch River, the Canadian premiere adaptation of
Douglas Coupland's Life After God, Jan Caruana's
Kitty Kat Klub and Daniel MacIvor's
Humans along with the official Canadian premiere of
Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange. Amongst published work he has directed
Lysistrata Project in protest of the war lead by USA,
Eight Reindeer Monologues to liven up the holiday season and John Mighton's
Body+Soul.
He developed a series of piano-singer shows called Kabaret Season for Vancouver's Alpen Club and a series of readings called Hot Guys Read... for J Lounge, a Vancouver venue he programmed for 18 months and turned into a legit cabaret space.
TV: Costa worked as a freelance producer and correspondent for Rogers/RTPi and the show
Canada Contacto from 2005-2010; he was the consultant and story-developer for
Mosaico TV (2006-2007) and was on the Western Canada team for
Canadian Idol (CTV/Insight) from 2003 to 2008. Other work includes television specials
Anne Murray Duets,
Gemini Awards and
Ontario Live. Costa also produced the work that turned TV show: 9 episodes of
How Far Will You Go (OutTV/Here) and the special
Mr Gay Canada (2009).
WORKSHOPS: Terry Costa runs workshops and speaks in various communities about Youth Participation and Partnerships in Arts+Culture; he has been at various events across the country of Canada as an invited guest speaker or panel participant including
Pacific Contact, Toronto Youth Conference, "
Encontro",
YOUCAN in Ottawa,
Portuguese-Canadian National Congress (Winnipeg, Victoria, London, Montreal, among other cities); he has also been a guest of the
Government of Azores as a speaker, workshop leader and facilitator.
EDUCATION: Costa's institutional education comes from certificates, diplomas and a degree:
On The Road Touring Workshop, Canada Council for the Arts (2008)
Community Building and Strengthening for Ethnocultural Groups Certificate, Canadian Ethnocultural Council/AMSSA (2005)
The Art of Managing Your Career, The Cultural Human Resources Council (2002)
Honours B.A. Theatre and Drama Studies, University of Toronto (1999)
Acting Diploma, Sheridan College (1998)
Loyola Secondary School, Oakville (1994)
Externato Particular da Madalena, Pico-Azores (1989)
FAVOURITE THINGS: great food, wine and long cross-country drives... and yes, he does not mind being called "Costa" as that is his family name!