MTYP’s $9M covers second stage, new shows, upgrades

Flanked by Winnie the Pooh, rocking horses and alphabet blocks, Manitoba Theatre for Young People’s brass launched a $9-million capital campaign Tuesday.

The largest campaign in the company’s history will funnel $6.5 million — about 72 per cent of funds raised — toward improvements to the 25-year-old facility at The Forks, with the remainder divided between debt-elimination projects and an endowment fund earmarked for new productions.

Chaired by Matt and Jane Johnston, the campaign has already garnered $7.5 million in support from a mix of private, corporate and government donors.

In February, MTYP was granted $1.3 million in federal funding toward green and sustainable building initiatives. The provincial government, represented Tuesday by Culture Minister Glen Simard, is now kicking in $1.275 million from its arts, culture and sport community fund.

“Being able to have these types of avenues for children not only to be actors but also to be participants in the audience is extremely important to let them know what’s possible creatively,” Simard said.

“Being able to have these types of avenues for children not only to be actors but also to be participants in the audience is extremely important to let them know what’s possible creatively.”– Culture Minister Glen Simard

The outcomes of a successful campaign will include physical upgrades, including replacing windows, roofing and HVAC systems, as well as accessibility upgrades like barrier-free door operators. The money will also help the theatre improve the classroom and studio facilities where over 90,000 young people learn and perform each year.

Some significant renovations are forthcoming to the building’s washroom facilities, which have hardly changed since the building opened. As well, the theatre’s quiet room — utilized by restless audience members as well as neurodiverse patrons — will be made more accessible.

In the studios, sound-baffling panels will be installed to improve acoustics, and assisted listening systems will be installed in all theatre spaces.

The most outwardly visible change to the physical environment will likely be the retrofitting of the building’s secondary programming space, Richardson Hall, into the Richardson Studio Theatre.

Managing director Debra Zoerb says the space will be reimagined as a performance area suited for smaller productions, with seating capacity for over 100 audience members. The change will enable more performance opportunities, which will enhance school space availability and the annual public performances, she says.

That extra space will be an added resource, especially when considering the $1-million endowment for new productions. Artistic director Pablo Felices Luna says that endowment will ensure the company’s on-stage offerings keep pace with its rapidly changing and developing audience.

To attain the $1.5 million left to raise in the campaign, which MTYP is calling Play It Forward, the company has partnered with Payworks, which will match any new donations dollar for dollar up to $500,000.

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com