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The Broadway Theatre is looking for help to remain viable in the future.
The community-owned venue launched “Broadway: Here to stay,” a fundraising campaign, on Thursday to remain ready to return once large crowds are allowed indoors under provincial guidelines.
A $40,000 donation from the late Bob Steane through the Saskatoon Community Foundation kicked off the campaign. Affinity Credit Union, Strata Development and the Kinsmen Club of Saskatoon are vowing to match the first $40,000 raised by the public.
Executive Director Kirby Wirchenko said more than 80,000 people use the space annually, and he hopes any additional funds will help the theatre be in that position once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
“A global pandemic is a pretty good reason to reach and say, ‘You know what? We want to make it to be that very, very busy (and) very successful place we were before COVID started,” he said.
Wirchenko said the building, which is used to hosting up to 100 weddings, dozens of comedy shows, live music and special screenings, costs up to $70,000 a year once all taxes and other costs are added.
With no prospects of when any of those activities can resume, Wirchenko feels even the smallest boost will help the community staple survive well into the future.
“Even if all we did was come close to our matching goal,” he said. “I believe that will put this place in a stable spot well into, not 2021, but 2022.”
Carm Michalenko, the chief executive officer of the Saskatoon Community Foundation, said theatres like the Broadway are at the centre of Saskatoon’s art and culture scene.
“Without arts and culture a community atrophies, and that really is what happens. It enriches lives in many different ways,” Michalenko said.
Broadway Theatre isn’t expecting 2019 revenues to return until late-2022 since it remains in the fifth phase of the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan.
“Every day we can’t operate and can’t operate and can’t turn a revenue it puts us further behind,” Wirchenko said. “Should this place ever want to become what it was six months ago, the best chance we have is to make sure we have stable funding to get us from now until that time we can really operate the crank at full bore.”
The fundraising campaign runs until Oct. 30.
