Ticket sales were up and the product was better than ever - that’s the message from Stratford Summer Music’s (SSM) Crystal Spicer.
“We had a slight increase in ticket sales, based on our numbers from the previous year, but what we also saw with our free programming was a large jump in attendance,” Spicer said. “Our attendance actually went up by over 2,000 people and that’s a fantastic number. A lot of that had to do with the barge.”
Spicer, SSM’s executive director, said she remembers coming to see the barge 10 years ago and listed it as one of her favourite activities then. She was happy to see the numbers increase, and part of that reason was their donation initiative: 50 per cent of all donations people made while attending a free performance were donated to United Way, and that’s a move Spicer credits as giving them a small boost.
“That helped move the numbers up a bit, but we also changed the way we approached scheduling the barge,” she said. “We made more of an emphasis on that. We brought back the lunchtime concerts and moved the barge back closer to the boat house, down by the cenotaph. I think that made a bit of an impact.”
The approach SSM took worked out, and Spicer gives credit to artistic director, Mark Fewer, for how he handled programming. It came down to people enjoying what they saw and heard - simple as that.
“The Bayfield Ukuleles were a giant hit on the final weekend - who knew that was going to happen,” she laughed. “What we do now is we start to look at the statistics that came in. Every ticketed performance this year was accompanied by an email with a little survey. We’re just starting to go through those surveys now to see what people say worked and what didn’t. I think both of those things help with growth for next year.”
Spicer said that kind of feedback helps them look ahead and program accordingly, but added that the 2025 season is already in fine-tuning stages. Sadly, she wouldn’t divulge any hints as to what is coming next but said they have high hopes it will be received as well as this year’s lineup was.
The season came to a close with some good news for SSM apart from the reviews; they’re getting grant money from the federal government. The Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario awarded SSM with more than $140,000 to assist with the 2024 programming, and Spicer said that kind of boost is most welcome.
“It’s really hard to be an arts organization right now, and I think we’re seeing that in different locations across the country,” she said. “Arts organizations need support from our governments at all levels, and to get that support was like a big breath of fresh air we could finally breathe in.”
That money will help SSM become more self-sustaining in the short term and help to keep their eyes focused on improving the product in the future.
“We ran the previous season at a bit of a deficit, so having this kind of breathing room is a welcome thing for us,” she said. “We’ll be celebrating 25 years next year, so we’re looking into some off-season programming with the goal of helping to animate those quieter months. We’re going to be working with Destination Stratford on a few of those goals, so there are still so many great things going on here.”
