THEATRE NEWS:
ShawFest suffers loss at box office

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency
27 JAN 2012

There was a lot of glitter in the Shaw Festival’s 50th anniversary season last summer, but in the end, the 2011 season proved golden, everywhere but at the box office.

Despite an acclaimed production of My Fair Lady, which set an attendance record for the summer Festival, and shows like Topdog/Underdog and When The Rain Stops Falling, both of which were critically well received as well as box office hits, the Festival finished the year with a deficit of $1.5 million on revenues of $28.3 million. While that represents an increase in revenues of almost $700,000 over last year and reflects a 4% rise in ticket revenue and a 12% increase in fundraising, their success still stopped short of their financial goals.

In announcing the loss at the Festival’s 2011 annual meeting Friday in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Executive Director Colleen Blake cited overly aggressive sales and fundraising targets in the season’s budget as the problem and indicated that, with the full support of the Festival’s board, management has already made strategic operating decisions to address the deficit, including an internal restructuring and the introduction of plans to expand fundraising.

While this marks the second consecutive year the Festival has posted a deficit, the Shaw Festival Endowment Foundation manages investments valued at almost $19 million and artistic director Jackie Maxwell vowed to continue her efforts to keep the Festival “relevant, connected and an active leader in Canadian and international theatre today.”