The Shaw Festival ended its 2016 season with a $780,000 operating deficit.
But the festival countered that news Friday by noting that its endowment is $2 million higher, that its capital deficit will be “substantially resolved” by a $2.78 million grant from the Ministry of Heritage, and that operating revenues were $1 million higher than 2015.
There were 237,471 tickets sold in 2016, with Alice in Wonderland and Sweeney Todd drawing new audiences. First-time ticket buyers were up 20 per cent; family tickets up 15 per cent and under-30 tickets 30 per cent.
“While audience numbers increased, average ticket price reduced by over $3 per ticket from the previous year,” executive director Tim Jennings said in a news release. “This, intentionally, created opportunity for increased access but at a cost of over $800,000 in reduced revenues, an amount directly corresponding to this season’s operational deficit.”
The 2016 season was the final one for artistic director Jackie Maxwell and the festival’s new Studio Theatre will be renamed the Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre in 2017. Maxwell has been succeeded by Tim Carroll.
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