Theatre by the Bay’s $68,000 deficit?
Exit, stage left.
Barrie council will consider final approval May 15 to a loan covering the deficit.
The motion is that $68,000 be provided to Theatre by the Bay and come from the city’s theatre reserve, which contains just more than $7.6 million, to clear the deficit.
That $68,000 would then be repaid to the theatre reserve, starting in 2025, with an annual contribution of $15,000 for four years and $8,000 in 2029. These amounts would come from Theatre by the Bay’s annual allocation from the city’s cultural grant budget, which is normally $34,000.
Doug Jure, chairman of the Theatre by the Bay board, said subtracting $15,000 from the $34,000 grant won’t leave them short.
“No, because the compensation to that is that we now can apply for the federal and provincial grants, because the deficit has been eliminated,” he said.
Iain Moggach, Theatre by the Bay’s artistic director, has said 2025 is the next time it can apply for operating funds from the Canada Council for the Arts, so eliminating the deficit now is important. He said last time it applied for operating funding, Theatre by the Bay’s deficit was considered enough of a liability for the application to be dismissed.
If unsuccessful in getting operating grants, Moggach said the next opportunity to apply would be 2028. Earlier this year Theatre by the Bay also did not receive a Canada Council Project grant for a production, he said.
Moggach has said the implications are dire without government grants, as the company would struggle to operate, if not cease to operate, in the next two years.
The deficit came from what he described as “a combination of pandemic-related factors” to city councillors on April 23.
Jure, who has been chairman since March, said his board has an important role in Theatre by the Bay’s future.
“In order for the theatre company to be sustainable and continue to expand, that we have to focus, the new board, on revenues — such things as fundraising, sponsorship and ticket sales,” he said.
“We’re telling the story of Simcoe County, and in particular Barrie, and that’s the value," Jure added.
Jure said Theatre by the Bay also brings along talent, gives actors an opportunity and also those people who want to be playwrights and directors opportunities to learn.
“But we have a bigger mandate than just bringing in plays,” he said. “This new board has to come up behind (Moggach) and take his financial concerns away from him, so he can concentrate on his job being the creative director.”
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