2025-2029 Strategic Plan
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Grand Theatre Strategic Plan 2025-2029
The Grand Theatre’s 2025–2029 Strategic Plan sets forth an ambitious and inspired path for the next five years, rooted in our core values of Passion, Rigour, Innovation, Inclusivity, Respect, and Care. As one of Canada’s premier producing theatres and a vibrant cultural hub, the Grand Theatre remains committed to delivering world-class productions that both engage and inspire our diverse audiences, while fostering deep connections within our community.
Our vision is centered around three key pillars: Stability, Experience, and Community. These pillars guide our strategic priorities, ensuring that we not only strengthen the theatre’s operational and financial health but also expand our artistic offerings and enhance our role as a trusted cultural leader in London and beyond.
STABILITY:
We are dedicated to securing the future of the Grand Theatre through sound financial management, diversified revenue streams, and sustainable practices. By applying a high standard of rigour to all aspects of our operations, we ensure the stability and resilience of the organization while continuing to steward our resources prudently.
EXPERIENCE:
At the heart of the Grand Theatre is a commitment to providing unforgettable experiences. We embrace innovation to explore fresh ideas and new perspectives in our programming, ensuring our work remains relevant and resonates with contemporary cultural conversations. We are driven by passion—for our work, for our artists, and for the community we serve. Our goal is to create a welcoming space where every audience member feels valued, and where the magic of theatre brings people together.
COMMUNITY:
The Grand Theatre is committed to fostering deep, meaningful relationships with the community we call home. Inclusivity and respect are at the core of this effort, ensuring that the theatre reflects the diversity of the people who live and work in London. We are actively engaged in amplifying new voices, and we seek to offer an environment where all feel welcome to participate. Our commitment to care extends not only to our community but to our planet, as we continue to integrate environmentally sustainable practices into our operations.
As we move forward, the Grand Theatre reaffirms its role as a cornerstone of London’s cultural landscape—a place where stories are told, voices are amplified, and connections are built. We are excited to shape the future with a bold, values-driven strategy that will inspire and engage audiences, artists, and partners alike.
Rachel Peake, Artistic Director & Lyndee Hansen, Executive Director
Read the PDF Strategic Plan
Or continue below for the text-only version.
OUR VISION
The place to gather where world-class theatre thrives.
OUR MISSION
We create live professional theatre that gathers, inspires, and entertains audiences in London and beyond.
OUR VALUES
PASSION
We engage with an energy and enthusiasm that comes from deep care for our work and for one another.
RIGOUR
We apply a high standard to our work that is intentional, precise, and thorough.
INNOVATION
We apply creative and imaginative thinking to explore new and fresh ideas, perspectives, and methodologies.
INCLUSIVITY
We consciously and actively engage in making room for new voices and in welcoming people from all communities.
RESPECT
We value and acknowledge the whole self of every person, making space for everyone’s individual contribution.
CARE
We recognize that making and engaging with art involves risk, therefore we work to be mindful of well-being inside of that experience.
OUR MOTTO
World Curious. London Made.
OUR PILLARS
- THE GRAND STABILITY
We dedicate ourselves to securing the future of the Grand Theatre through: diverse audience-focused programming, thoughtful team development, sound financial management, robust organizational practices, and conscientious environmental stewardship.
Enact Sound Financial Management
We will complete our work on a comprehensive analysis of the business model, moving forward for the period of the remainder of the strategic plan based on decisions made from those findings. Through that analysis the company will determine an appropriate accumulated surplus goal to support the stable operation of the organization and make a plan to build it over the life of this plan. The Grand commits to improving financial forecasting and reporting, to being rigorous around expenses, to being prudent stewards of our resources, and to finding efficiencies where possible, ensuring our financial practices support our mission.
Ensure Thriving and Diverse Revenue Streams.
The Grand will work to increase revenue in all areas of the operations by setting benchmarks and subsequent annual targets, along with stretch goals, for all revenue streams, including ticket sales, individual fundraising, corporate programs, public funding, private foundations, rental income, and bar sales to allow us to reach our vision. The Grand will consider and trial new revenue streams.
Secure Organizational Health.
We will undertake a human resources audit to establish the current status of the organization according to the people who make it run. Using the results of this audit, we will establish best practices and update employee policies, programs, and procedures as well as ensuring professional development opportunities and stable succession planning. We will work to ensure that the diversity of our community is reflected in those who represent the Grand through inclusive and equitable human resource practices.
Effective and Informed Governance.
We will ensure effective and informed governance through a comprehensive review of the two boards’ bylaws and governance policies, onboarding procedure, and succession planning to ensure that the boards and individual directors are working to their greatest potential in support of the organization. Part of this process will define staff support to the boards.
Care for Physical Resources and Assets.
We will ensure that all teams have the tools and facilities they need to do their best work and to meet the objectives of the organization, considering both the work we are doing, and the expansion into the future vision.
Actively Engage in Making the Grand Greener.
We will consider environmental stewardship in decision-making processes and looking far into the future to make sustainable choices in a fiscally responsible way. We commit to these efforts as a part of our conscious efforts toward 2 Reconciliation, ensuring that our operations align with our value of respect and reciprocity. We create benchmarking of the ways in which we are already sustainable and to identify opportunities for improvement and growth.
- THE GRAND EXPERIENCE
We commit to enhancing the entire Grand experience by providing unforgettable, high-quality, entertaining, and inclusive interactions, programming, and events to engage with and grow our audiences.
Ensure the Calibre of Programming is World-Class.
By ensuring resources are available to meet our artistic goals, and through authentic self-analysis of what we do, we will program to appeal to a diverse and evolving audience. Our self-analysis will include consideration of intended versus actual activity and goals as well as consideration of the cultural impact of our work. We will monitor external valuation through systemizing the collection and analysis of audience and artist feedback and by considering the trust put in us by our co-production and other partners as an indicator of calibre.
Enhance the Quality of Interactions.
Continued growth in this area will be measured through rigorous examination of all interactions, of their intended impact, and of audience and artist feedback. Our goal is for people to walk away from every experience with the Grand feeling welcomed, valued, and that they are a part of the Grand Theatre. Internally we will expand our onboarding and training to reach all departments, infusing the the Grand culture into all who represent us and creating annual brand-based learning updates.
Expand and Deepen Audience Connections.
This will contribute to meeting growth goals over the term of this plan with established year-over-year increases in attendance at Grand shows, at Grand ancillary events, and in specialized subscription programs. We will interrogate our data to establish benchmarks, achievable goals, and stretch goals for the annual increase of first-time ticket buyers, single-ticket buyers, multi-buyers, and subscribers. Additionally, we will apply strategic improvements to increase each group’s conversion rate. We will create a baseline and subsequently track growth of diversity in Grand audiences through both anecdotal and self-reporting processes.
Champion Cultural Relevance and Adaptation.
We will ensure that our work is culturally relevant and that it resonates with, and appeals to, a diverse and evolving audience. We will centre the work in conversation with contemporary issues. Embrace Innovation. While honouring the traditions of the Grand Theatre we will push the boundaries of expectation, ensuring the Grand Theatre remains a vibrant, inclusive space for all.
Embrace Innovation.
While honouring the traditions of the Grand Theatre we will push the boundaries of expectation, ensuring the Grand Theatre remains a vibrant, inclusive space for all.
- THE GRAND COMMUNITY
We strive to be the cornerstone of entertainment in London, to support the artistic community and the development theatre-makers, and to be a trusted place for communities to gather where the diversity of their lives is reflected. As an organization we commit to undertaking authentic consultation in working toward reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.
Increase Awareness and Actively Engage with London’s Diverse Communities.We will create and continue programs to engage with young people and with newcomers in the city and newcomers to the Grand, as well as building on our relationships with educational institutions to expand and deepen our community connections. We will partner with local businesses and organizations whose mandates are to engage with the public and with tourists, and together we will create shared programs to expand our reach so that all Londoners know about the Grand.
Promote Diversity and Inclusion.
We will commit to amplifying the voices of equity-denied groups within the organization and set benchmarks in the first year of this plan to measure growth in these areas. We will hold ourselves accountable to the objectives of the Grand Theatre’s EDI-R Action Plan.
Engage in Meaningful Reconciliation with Local Indigenous Communities.
We will commit to building meaningful relationships with local Indigenous Communities and to keeping the Truth and Reconciliation’s Calls to Action front of mind in decision-making processes in all aspects of our work. We commit to holding ourselves accountable to the EDI-R Committee’s Reconciliation Action Plan.Support Theatre Makers.
We commit to growing the number of local artists on our productions over the lifespan of this plan through providing training and opportunities. We will continue our commitment to being a national teaching theatre and work to correct imbalances in the industry by providing opportunities for artists from equity-denied groups. We commit to creating a sustainable, affordable artists’ accommodation plan.
EDI-R Action Plan
Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion, and Reconciliation Action Plan 2025
The 2025-2029 Grand Theatre Strategic Plan functions in coordination with (and in reflection of the goals set forth in) the Grand Theatre's 2025 EDI-R Action Plan.
Read the full EDI-R Action Plan HERE
The creation of the Grand Theatre's 2025-2029 Strategic Plan was generously supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
