Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members, for allowing me a few minutes to crawl back in from the window ledge to appear before you today. I'll give you just a bit of background. Drayton Entertainment is an award-winning charitable arts organization that produces professional

Canadian Heritage committee  I would suggest that the wage subsidy would be at the top of the list. Mitigating costs would be second. The incentive fund, of course, would help us in recovery. That is moving forward and raising money for the recovery and growth and generational change that we would like to do

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, I think we need our staff to mobilize. We need an opportunity to raise money from our stakeholders. All we can do is wait until it's safe to go back into a crowded auditorium. There are surveys being done throughout North America saying that even when it's safe to do so, th

Canadian Heritage committee  Certainly. What I fear is that if this is prolonged.... We're fortunate, because when I started the theatre company 30 years ago, we created a small stabilization fund that we put money into every year. We've been living off that for the past few months. Also, a number of our p

Canadian Heritage committee  Correct. You know, creative people and the arts sector are very good at doing business with limited resources. We have mitigated as many losses as possible. We've kept operating costs as low as we can. It's just, unfortunately, the fixed costs. We personally are a victim of our o

Canadian Heritage committee  We need help. We need resources, to be honest. We tried to do a short web series. We brought in some singers individually, and I have to tell you, for them it was an hour of normality, but I witnessed a sadness. I witnessed a weight on shoulders. I've witnessed physical changes

Canadian Heritage committee  We certainly need the support. We have had a very successful youth program over the years that we're expanding. We believe this is an area where we will be most effective on generational change. I know a lot of young people who are in acting schools and musical theatre programs

Canadian Heritage committee  I've always believed that what an audience member sees on stage is the icing on the cake. We believe in the entire experience from the moment you think about going to the theatre. We partner with restaurants and other attractions in the hospitality industry that's, obviously, b

Canadian Heritage committee  It's the incentive portion of this. We know it works when you can tell someone that if they donate $100, it will be matched by another person or another organization, the government. If we could convince the federal government and the provincial governments to participate, that $

Canadian Heritage committee  There's going to be a new cost to recovery because we will have lost, I think, to other industries some very talented, creative individuals. It will mean a new sense of training and coming up to speed that is going to take a number of years, unfortunately. One thing I would like

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you. Hello, and greetings from a very snowy Kitchener-Waterloo and Perth—Wellington. I'll begin by quoting the late great actor Charlie Chaplin, who summed up how arts sector workers are feeling around the country at the moment. He once said, “I like to walk in the rain so

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you. The final recommendation would be to destigmatize the return of large gatherings. I think we look to our elected officials for guidance about when it is safe to return to arts activities and to gatherings, so it's imperative that the government launch a comprehensive

Canadian Heritage committee  As many of you in the arts sector know, the true cost of producing live theatre is not reflected in the average ticket price. We rely on sponsorships, on fundraising and a lot of partnerships, but the box office of course is a big part of it. We have a model of sustainability whe

Canadian Heritage committee  A lot of the hospitality sector relies on us—people in restaurants, overnight stays, transportation and so on to get to us. It is a partnership. We basically rely on each other. That's been hard, because we close and they close. It's a problem. It has really affected the arts sec

Canadian Heritage committee  All of my colleagues on this call have suggested programs, new programs and to continue programs that are already existing, but I really believe we need messaging. The messaging has to come right from the top to let us know that it will be safe to gather again, because the nature