LONDON, ON, November 13, 2018 – At the 2017/18 Annual General Meeting held last night, Deb Harvey, Executive Director, announced an operating surplus of $27,327 for the 2017/18 season, marking the theatre’s 19^th consecutive year with a surplus. The surplus from 2017/18 season increased the theatre’s accumulated surplus to $610,541.

The 2017/18 season was Dennis Garnhum’s second year as the Artistic Director and first season of artistic programming at the Grand. Inspired by the newly created vision that as an organization we are WORLD CURIOUS and LONDON PROUD, this season was full of firsts, innovation, and new collaborations.

The AGM was held at the theatre and attended by members of the Grand’s Board of Directors, donors, sponsors, volunteers, and staff. 

2017/18 Season operationing Highlights

• The Grand held 210 performances and had 101,208 patrons attend the theatre during performances that included six Spriet Stage productions, a High School Project musical, five Jeans ’n Classics concerts, and three productions in the McManus Stage.
• Ticket sales accounted for 60% of earned revenue, contributing $4.2m to our budget.
• This past year, the theatre provided employment for 296 people and contributed over $4.5m in salaries and benefits. Of goods and services purchased, 66% or $1.6m was spent locally, making a significant contribution to the local economy.
• The Grand provided box office services for 34 local organizations, and 28 local companies or individuals rented our facilities, including a Spriet Stage wedding and reception.The Grand also donated over 750 theatre tickets to over 375 local charitable organizations to be used as prizes for fundraising events, representing a total value of over $60,000 in donated tickets.
• The 45th Annual Grand Gala, themed ‘Prom Night,’ welcomed special guest, Marc Hall. With the announcement of Prom Queen: The Musical as the 2018 High School Project, the Grand became the centre of national media attention after both school boards initially pulled their funding (TVDSB later reinstated its financial support). A resulting community fundraising initiative raised more than $75,000 to ensure the project could carry on.
• The Grand was a site for Community Arts Venues Education, or CAVE. The CAVE program is part of a larger London Arts Council initiative called Culture Infused Learning. Over four weeks, four elementary classes each spent a week in workshops led by Grand staff and artists about character development, Broadway choreogra­phy, playwriting, costumes, props, and poster study.
• The Grand launched the 100 Schools program, motivated by the belief that all young people should have the opportunity to experience live professional theatre. The 100 Schools program, available to public schools, private schools, and homeschool groups, brought a production of Beethoven Lives Upstairs to 100 schools and approximately 33,000 students at no cost to the schools or students.
• The COMPASS Program, launched in November 2016, announced the commissioning of four new plays to be developed and produced by the Grand in coming years. Playwrights have been commissioned to begin work on three of these four plays: Starlight Tours, Ambrose Small, and This London Life (formerly known as London Bridges).
• BMO returned as our Spriet Stage Season Sponsor.

In addition, donors and supporters generated $1,302,461 (19% of revenue) in contributions for the 2017/18 season, demonstrating the exceptional support of our patrons. We thank the 1,691 individual donors who contributed to the theatre over the course of the 2017/18 season.

Grand Theatre gratefully acknowledges the support our government funders as well as the 2017/18 Season Sponsor BMO Financial Group.  The success of the last season would not be possible without the backing of many sponsors, community partners, and donors.

For a copy of the 2017/18 Annual Report, please go to grandtheatre.com or contact Ashley Roberts, aroberts [at] grandtheatre.com (aroberts[at]grandtheatre[dot]com).

About the Grand Theatre – World Curious. London Proud.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Dennis Garnhum and Executive Director
Deb Harvey, the Grand is a leading cultural hub located in the heart of downtown London, Ontario. The Grand offers diverse, relevant, and original stories from around the globe through collaborations with national and international performing arts organizations and is committed to developing, producing, and premiering original stories through COMPASS New Play Development program. The Grand supports educational programming with The High School Project, the only program of its kind in North America. The Grand’s season runs from September to May.
 

For more information please contact:
Ashley Roberts, Communications Consultant, Grand Theatre
aroberts [at] grandtheatre.com (aroberts[at]grandtheatre[dot]com)

Cell: 937-554-1894