Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Nobody wants to buy North York’s Toronto Centre for the Arts or the downtown St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, the city has found.
A third city-owned theatre, Sony Centre on Front St., could possibly be sold, but “more work is needed to determine the feasibility of a sale or transfer of assets,” according to a report that will be considered by council in November.
The city issued a formal call for interested buyers at the request of council, which is looking to reduce the annual taxpayer subsidy to the theatres. They together received about $3 million in city funding this year.
The report recommends that council allow city officials to attempt to figure out how to “divest” the Sony Centre — a process that is complicated by its designation as a heritage building and the fact that its air rights have been sold to a developer.
“What we’re not looking at doing is losing the Sony Centre as a venue for performing arts or other entertainment in the city,” said Councillor Gary Crawford, who chaired Mayor Rob Ford’s theatres task force. “I think it will still continue to be a viable part of the city’s entertainment. But I think just the cost of maintaining it, the fact it is a for-profit commercial theatre, I think it runs counter to what the city’s role really is, which is, ultimately, supporting not-for-profit theatre.”
The St. Lawrence Centre and Toronto Centre are key hubs for non-profits. City manager Joe Pennachetti advised council to “reaffirm” its commitment to them. Neither city officials nor members of the arts community believed it was likely that there would be buyers for either facility.
The report recommends that both centres develop five-year business plans to ensure “cost-effective and sustainable operation that minimizes the city’s tax funding.”
“Quite honestly, it will never be a zero subsidy, and I think the city realizes that,” said St. Lawrence Centre general manager Jim Roe. “But as good businesspeople, it behooves us to spend as little of the city money as we can, and we’re looking at options to minimize that.”
Toronto Centre general manager Pim Schotanus said it plans to double the usage of one of its three theatres by reducing the cost of putting on shows there. It will also try to sell naming rights to the centre as a whole.
By Daniel Dale for www.thestar.com.
2012-10-29
Toronto: Toronto finds no buyers for the Toronto Centre for the Arts or the St. Lawrence Centre