{"id":29213,"date":"2015-07-01T09:43:30","date_gmt":"2015-07-01T13:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=29213"},"modified":"2015-07-01T09:43:30","modified_gmt":"2015-07-01T13:43:30","slug":"the-scoop-torontos-three-major-theatres-set-to-merge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2015\/07\/01\/the-scoop-torontos-three-major-theatres-set-to-merge\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SCOOP | Toronto\u2019s Three Major Theatres Set to Merge"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sony_Centre\"
City proposes a single management plan to retain public funding for the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, the Sony Centre, and the Toronto Centre for the Arts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An official report<\/a> on the Future of Civic Theatres by Toronto City Council, three of Toronto\u2019s largest theatre venues \u2014 the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, the Sony Centre, and the Toronto Centre for the Arts \u2014 have recommended\u00a0they be merged into a single entity known as Civic Theatres Toronto.<\/p>\n

While the plan has received approval by the Executive Committee, Toronto City Council will be voting on it the coming week. But at this point, it is all but a formality.<\/p>\n

According to the report, the first stage begins on July 9th, 2015 with dissolving the existing three boards. They will then establish a new centralised board of 13 members comprised of five council members and eight members from the general public. The second stage starts in November 2015, where the city will amend the size of the board to include a total of 8 citizen members.<\/p>\n

They will also create a new Cultural Programming Trust, which will seek to enhance programming at each of the three theatres. What the \u201cimproved programming\u201d will entail is not yet clear, but it looks to address concerns about increasing operating revenues.<\/p>\n

A new CEO will be sought to head the new Civic Theatres Toronto collective.<\/p>\n

According to the report, the goal is to establish a \u201cnew operating model that consolidates the operation of the City’s three current civic theatres into a single organization, with a mandate to provide quality performance and event facilities and to promote its contribution to the artistic, cultural and social vitality of Toronto and its communities.”<\/p>\n

The Star reports<\/a> the savings will be about $500,000 a year and will offset the costs associated with the transition.<\/p>\n

The move comes after four years of speculation first raised in 2011 during the Rob Ford\u00a0era. \u00a0A City Manager was directed to investigate options to sell, lease or establish new operating arrangements for the three theatres.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0committee was established to examine the significance of the theatres. \u00a0They recommended cutting the $1 million\/year subsidy to the 3,191 seat capacity Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, yet maintain subsidies to St. Lawrence Centre and the Toronto Centre for the Arts.<\/p>\n

The endgame was centred on the idea of selling the Sony Centre so it could be operated without\u00a0funding from the city.<\/p>\n

With the end of the Ford era, it seems the goal is now to save all three theatres by restructuring the board in such a way that it ensures the city receives a return on investment.<\/p>\n

Musical Toronto will update the story once the council votes on the proposal this week.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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City proposes a single management plan to retain public funding for the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, the Sony Centre, and the Toronto Centre for the Arts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[118,39,63],"tags":[3068,5497,3341],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/06\/Sony_Centre.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-7Bb","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29213"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29213"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29225,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29213\/revisions\/29225"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29213"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=29213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}