NEWS RELEASE
HERE FOR NOW THEATRE
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Here for Now Theatre (HFN) today announced the successful close of its $480K capital campaign. The campaign supports the building of a new micro-theatre performance space in the old registry office at 24 St. Andrews Street in Stratford, Ontario.
“We’ve been overwhelmed with the outpouring of generosity from this community,” says HFN Artistic Director Fiona Mongillo. “It’s heartening to know so many people share our vision for an intimate performance space and the small-scale, accessible work it makes possible.”
Lead donor Laura Dinner concurs. “It’s been a delight to support Fiona and her team at Here for Now. They produce top-notch work that showcases our amazing Canadian artists, and they do it at a price point that makes theatre accessible to almost anyone. I’m looking forward to welcoming this new performance space to Stratford’s already rich theatre scene.”
Construction continues at the registry-office site. The new theatre is expected to open this summer in time to house Here for Now’s sixth season.
The space will become the year-round home for HFN, allowing it to expand beyond its current summer-only season. It will also be made available to other small- and mid-sized local arts organizations, filling a vital need in the community for accessible, affordable performance space.
The historic registry office – originally built in 1910 and designed to match neighbouring buildings – was declared surplus to needs by Perth County and slated for demolition in December 2021. The project will thus also rescue an important building from destruction and divert many tons of building waste from local landfill sites.
In addition to the $480K given by local supporters, the building project has also received funding from The Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, FedDev Ontario’s Tourism Growth Program. A full list of donors is available at https://www.herefornowtheatre.com/campaign-recognition.
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