Newer arts organizations finding success in Sudbury

Alessandro Costantini remembers the early days of YES Theatre, when he was just a student at St. Charles College who wanted to put on the musical Hair with his friends.

"We were rehearsing in the back of my high school," he recalls.

"I remember one day the high school was closed, we didn't have a key, so we just plugged my iPod into someone's car and just, like, opened the doors and were just rehearsing with the cast album."

Nearly a decade later, Costantini is the artistic director for a theatre company that can now afford to pay its artists and even bring in talent from outside the city.

In August, YES Theatre wrapped up its first summer festival to have two main productions, and next summer the theatre company will mark its tenth anniversary with an original commissioned musical.

"We've really gone from it being this little chill jam session with me and my friends, to it becoming this institution that I think is one of the most important in northern Ontario," Costantini​ says.

'We want to shake things up'

While other longstanding arts organizations in Sudbury are dealing with financial setbacks, younger organizations are finding success by offering audiences something new.

More than 8,600 people took to the streets of downtown Sudbury for Up Here in August.

Over the last four years, the urban art and music festival — known for the bold and colourful murals it has brought to the city's core — has also been steadily growing.

Co-founder Jen McKerral admits the festival hasn't been without its challenges. In 2016, a dismal, rainy weekend put a dent in ticket sales and the festival ultimately took a financial hit.

The festival has been able to build back up since then, with a record number of people attending this summer.

McKerral says they've always strived to offer engaging programming, from murals and pop-up concerts, to mystery tours and family-friendly events.

"We always want to shake things up. We always want to make sure that we're not getting too comfortable," she says.

Unique experiences

Programming is also key for YES Theatre, which tends to offer big, crowd-pleasing musicals like Jesus Christ Superstar, Hairspray and Billy Elliot.

Costantini​ says another part of the company's appeal is that it offers a hybrid of community and professional theatre.

The cast ranges from professionally-trained, unionized actors to community members with a passion for theatre.

"That kind of like smashing together of different experiences creates a really unique energy that the audience, I think, really feels," Costantini​ says.

"It makes this really palpable, visceral energy that kind of strikes them when they take in these productions."

Programming key

The success of YES Theatre and Up Here might provide lessons for Theatre Cambrian, The Sudbury Theatre Centre and the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra — three organizations that are trying to recover, after receiving emergency funding from the city within the last year.

Like their younger counterparts, all three are trying to find programming that audiences will connect with.

For the Symphony, that means offering more traditional classical music. Board member Brian Koivu says audiences have been less responsive to more operatic fair in the past.

Theatre Cambrian dedicated its July board meeting strictly to programming, according to president Derek Young. In November, the theatre company is offering the family-friendly Addams Family Musical.

"We do community theatre," Young says. "And if we don't get this right, we're not putting bums in seats and we're not going to be generating revenue, and we're not going to have the buy-in from the community.

'The arts isn't going anywhere'

John McHenry, the artistic director for the Sudbury Theatre Centre, emphasizes the importance of telling stories that are meaningful to a local audience, like the Ballad of Stompin' Tom, which debuts in September.

McHenry says the community has an appetite for the arts — it's just a matter of figuring out what people want.

"I know it's a bit of a cliche and I've said it before, but there's nothing like it, than coming and sitting in a darkened theatre and sharing emotions with people around you," he says.

"The arts isn't going anywhere soon. We just need you know that new generation of people to start embracing live theatre, and finding out what it's all about."

Working together

Other changes are underway for these struggling organizations.

The Sudbury Theatre Centre and the Symphony have both scaled back on paid staff positions, while Theatre Cambrian is selling its building, all in an effort to reduce operating costs.

They're also looking for more opportunities to share resources, collaborate and learn from each other.

"The one thing that we're doing as a theatre family is learning from each other and growing and playing nice in the sandbox," Young says.

"So at some point, by Theatre Cambrian going through this process, it will become a best practice. If your organization's running deficits, if you're having operational challenges, this is how we fixed it."