Terry Costa founded Mirateca Arts in Vancouver-Canada. Since 2012, he leads MiratecArts based out of Pico island, Azores, managing art festivals and artistic projects including the Azores Fringe Festival, Montanha Pico Festival, the international award-winning Cordas World Music Festival and MiratecArts Galeria Costa, 1Km of art in nature that welcomes artists-in-residency.
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 from the Town of Oakville, was actually raised in Pico island (Azores, Portugal) from ages two to fourteen. When he reached "middle-age" as he calls it, he decided to spend more time on the island.
Past leadership positions include Managing Artistic Director of AQT Vancouver (2002-2006) in the Canadian Pacific, 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 (2004-2011). Costa was also a Consultant/Conselheiro for the Government of Portugal - Language, Education and Culture Commission (2008-2015). He leads
MiratecArts since 2012 in the Azores islands.
ILLUSTRATED BOOKS - since 2019, Costa has dedicated part of his life to developing bilingual illustrated books, for the child in all of us. To his name he has the English & Portuguese titles: ´Néveda in the Azores´, ´Néveda in the Americas´, and ´Music, Maestro!´ now available at Néveda Ent. and many book shops across Europe, Qatar, Australia and Canada.
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. Original multidisciplinary spectacle shows created include An Evening of Fado (2005); Latin Vox (2007); and, Circus Musicale (2009); also, he created the very successful 4-year-run live event, turned television show, Gay Top Model that premiered in early 2008 and spearheaded a series of spectacles based on competitions in Canada's lgbt community including Go Go Boy Star, Mr Gay Canada, the first Mr. Gay World in Whistler, Canada and Hot Gay DJ.
MUSIC: Costa has worked with a variety of Canadian musicians and presented 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 2 years and turned into a legit live-event 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, Cirque du Soleil and
Ontario Live. Costa also produced 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 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. Since 2011 he speaks at international festivals and universities from North America to Japan and throughout Europe.
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 Mississauga (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!
AZORES: Since 2011, Terry Costa decided to spend more time in the Azores islands, kick-starting MiratecArts officially at the beginning of 2012 as a cultural organization with home on the island of Pico. Among many projects he has founded Azores Fringe Festival as a showcase for all arts and artists, Montanha Pico Festival to celebrate the mountain culture through art, Cordas World Music Festival about string-instruments from around the world, AnimaPIX, the animation festival through film, shorts, books and storytelling for the kid in all of us, and a platform to promote local artists.
OAKVILLE: Terry Costa always has a soft-spot for this beautiful town in southwestern Ontario, Canada, as it is the place of his birth and many years of schooling. From Loyola Secondary to Sheridan College, Oakville Towne Square iconic Tower Clock to the Glen Abbey Golf Course, from the Oakville Museum to the Bronte Historical Society, and of course the Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre and the Oakville Centre - always great to pop in every time one stops by the cleanest town! Looking forward to creating a book about Oakville.
Terry´s latest new ventures from 2019-now:
- creating a new character and writing a bilingual (english-portuguese) book "Néveda in the Azores" with the goal to take it around the world, just like the character does in the book;
- developing a new performance solo show, "Monster Monstro" (Canada/Portugal/Japan co-production).
- founded Néveda Ent. to edit new work and adaptations of classics through publishing...