Theatre Ontario's Privacy Policy

This policy document was approved by Theatre Ontario’s Board of Directors at their January 11, 2004 Board meeting and amended at their January 20, 2008 Board meeting.

Our Commitment
Theatre Ontario is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information of its members, board of directors, employees, web-users and other stakeholders.  Theatre Ontario does not sell, trade or give out its membership mailing lists.

During the course of our various programs, services and projects, Theatre Ontario frequently gathers and uses personal information.  Anyone from whom we collect such information should expect that it will be carefully protected and that any use of or other dealing with this information is subject to consent.  Theatre Ontario's privacy practices are designed to achieve this.

Defining Personal Information
Personal information is any information that can be used to distinguish, identify or contact a specific individual.  This information can include an individual's opinions or beliefs, as well as facts about, or related to, the individual.  Exceptions: business contact information and certain publicly available information, such as names, addresses and telephone numbers as published in telephone directories, are not considered personal information.

Privacy Practices
Personal information gathered by Theatre Ontario is kept in confidence.  Only authorized Theatre Ontario personnel have access to this information.  Safeguards are in place to ensure that the information is not disclosed or shared more widely than is necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was gathered.

Information collected through membership applications/renewals and fundraising campaigns are used to deliver the services and programs of Theatre Ontario.

Theatre Ontario does not sell, trade, or rent personal information to other organizations or individuals.  If ever we share your information with an outside organization (such as the mailing house that sends out our newsletter), we have a contract binding them to the same strict privacy controls that we use ourselves.

Membership
When members join Theatre Ontario, we require their name, organization (if applicable), mailing address, phone number(s) and email address.  If a donation is made, the mailing address is required on the tax receipt by the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA).

Personal information that is no longer required to fulfill the stated purpose will be destroyed or made anonymous (for example: emergency contact and medical information collected for the purposes of Summer Courses).

Website
Theatre Ontario employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage.  This software receives and records the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer that has contacted our website, the date and time of the visit and the pages visited.  We make no attempt to link these addresses with the identity of individuals visiting our site unless an attempt to damage the site has been detected.

Theatre Ontario does not normally use "cookies" to track how our visitors use this site or to determine sites previously visited.  The system will notify you before any cookies are used so that you may refuse them.  (A "cookie" is a file that may be placed on your hard drive without your knowledge by a website to allow it to monitor your use of the site.)

Our site includes links to other websites whose privacy policies we don't control.  Once you leave our servers (you can check where you are by looking at the URL in the location bar on your browser), use of any information you provide is governed by the privacy policy of the operator of the site you are visiting.  That policy may differ from ours.  If you can't find the privacy policy of any of these sites via a link from the site's homepage, you should contact the site directly for more information.  Theatre Ontario is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.

Electronic Communication
It is best to think of e-mail much like you do a postcard -- it is not sealed, and can be read by anyone determined to do so.  This is important to remember whenever you divulge information that you consider private.  Theatre Ontario advises against emailing private financial information, such as credit card numbers.

Brochure Requests (Theatre Ontario, Summer Courses, ASTRO (Association of Summer Theatre ‘Round Ontario), Just The Ticket, TAAS (Toronto Association of Acting Studios) etc.)
When you request a brochure regarding Theatre Ontario membership, publications, summer courses, or the ASTRO, Just The Ticket or TAAS brochures, we will add your contact information to a mailing list.  This list is exclusively for the purposes of distributing this information.

Financial Information
Theatre Ontario will protect all personal financial information that you share with us.  For reasons of security, we do not store credit card information in our membership database.  We do retain order information for our records, but this information is never shared with third parties.

Contact Information
Questions or comments regarding this policy, or the administration of the Privacy Act at Theatre Ontario may be directed to Membership Coordinator by e-mail to (news@theatreontario.org) or by calling 416.408.4556 or writing to Communications Coordinator, Theatre Ontario, 215 Spadina Avenue, Suite 210, Toronto ON, M5T 2C7.