The Slaight Family Foundation announced Wednesday it will give $15 million to 22 Canadian theatre companies, which floundered over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. As live venues, they were among the first to close and last to open due to public health measures that attempted to control viral outbreaks.
The company is set to receive a $1.5-million chunk of the Slaight Family Foundation donation, which Arthurs said will allow Soulpepper to take attention-grabbing creative risks. "It wasn't just a matter of business interruption. You know, nobody works in the performing arts because it's really well paying," he said. "This is work that people do because it's what nourishes their soul.
The National Arts Centre and National Theatre School are each receiving $1.5 million, as are the Stratford Festival, Shaw Festival Theatre, Young People's Theatre and Crows Theatre. "We are just excited about the opportunity to dream, and to shift from just being in a place of survival mode of trying to keep the art form alive ... to having this money that we were not planning for," she said.
What happens next year when they run out of money again ?