When city council unanimously voted in favour of a financial boost for four local arts organizations, Theatre Northwest artistic producer Marnie Hamagami said she was a bit shell-shocked.
“In that moment I was obviously thrilled and so happy but it was also one of those surreal moments when you’re thinking ‘is this happening? What’s happening?’” Hamagami said. “It was really wonderful. It was so exciting to feel supported in that way.”
Theatre Northwest has many projects on the go and extra funding will contribute to many of them, she added.
“So things like our outreach to disability in the arts,” Hamagami said. “We do relaxed performances for every show where we invite our friends and partners at AiMHi and also various other community organizations to come and see an adaptive performance of the play we have running and this performance is wildly popular. It has been running for seven years now and in the last three years we’ve hired an accessibility co-ordinator whose entire job is focused on accessibility inside the building from an artistic, business and physical space perspective.”
The entire front row of theatre seats can be converted to accommodate wheelchair seating because the relaxed shows have become so popular, Hamagami added.
“Part of the money will go to support the continuation of that programming,” Hamagami said.
“Another place where the money will land is our Stage Reading programming, which is one of the rare gifts that came out of COVID-19. So Stage Readings are sort of stripped-down versions of a play and I loosely describe it as the audiobook version of a play. You have actors on stage and they are reading the script. They are still acting and still giving a performance but they are on book, haven’t memorized the whole play and they generally don’t move around.”
Stage Readings gets local artists performing, giving them stage time in front of a live audience, Hamagami added.
“So it’s helping to develop and nurture skills in local performers and it is a pipeline directly to our mainstage,” she said.
“So performers and directors who started in our Stage Reading program are being hired regularly on to our mainstage. It helps to sharpen the skills of the actors and it’s been a real gift.”
For more information about Theatre Northwest and its upcoming shows visit www.theatrenorthwest.com/.
The four local arts organizations came together to ask for a boost to their annual funding, which city council approved to the tune of an additional $200,000 on Sept. 25.
The four organizations included Theatre Northwest, the Coldsnap Music Festival, Prince George Symphony Orchestra and the Community Arts Council of Prince George & District.
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