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Regina’s Globe Theatre is $500,000 closer to closing the books on its major renovation, but it still has $12 million left to raise.
Conexus Credit Union announced the charitable gift Thursday, adding to the nearly $1.4 million Regina City Council recently approved and several other large contributions.
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“A month or so ago, we had $16 million left on the capital campaign,” Globe Theatre executive director Oz Weaver said. “Now, with this gift, the City of Regina and a few other large contributors, we’re down to $12 million left.”
The money will go directly toward the theatre’s capital campaign for MacCorquodale Place, the 68,000-square-foot heritage building that houses the Globe in downtown Regina.
The renovation, originally projected to cost about $29 million, ultimately reached about $50 million because of inflation, pandemic-related pressures, and unexpected structural problems uncovered during construction.
The Globe reopened its main stage in November 2024, but the organization has continued raising money to cover the remaining capital obligations.
Weaver said the theatre is now looking to the federal government for much of the outstanding funding.
“We continue to have really great conversations with the federal government and (are) working towards what their input into the capital campaign will look like,” Weaver said.
“It takes a long time for those large decisions. It’s part of the $60-billion infrastructure funds, so there’s a lot of mechanisms, but we’re still right in there in play.”
Ticket sales not the issue
The new gift comes less than a month after city council unanimously approved a $1.386-million grant for the theatre.
Council was told in July that the Globe had depleted its cash reserves to cover renovation expenses, service project-related debt and meet other obligations. Without immediate assistance, the theatre warned it could be forced to reduce its operations or begin an orderly shutdown.
Weaver has maintained that the organization’s financial pressures stem from the capital project, not weak attendance or problems with its regular operations.
“Our operations are quite sound,” Weaver said. “Last year was a really successful season, and so was the year before that.”
Weaver said ticket sales for the upcoming season are approximately four weeks ahead of where it normally expects to be.
“That’s showing that people are really investing in the Globe and what we’re putting on our stages,” Weaver said.
“Once we get that capital fundraising done, we can truly spend all of our time doing what we do best: producing theatre, working with artists, working with community and our theatre school.”
The Globe says it welcomed approximately 50,000 people during its last season, with more than one-quarter of its audience coming from outside Regina. Weaver said the theatre generated an estimated $23 million in economic activity last year.
Conexus chief executive officer Celina Philpot said the Globe’s role in downtown Regina and the city’s cultural community was central to the credit union’s decision.
“If this place wasn’t here, it would leave a big hole and a gap in our cultural experience in the city,” Philpot said.
“We need to create those inviting spaces to welcome others to come and meet with us, and also a place that our folks locally want to participate and attend. It just creates that sense of community.”
Regina’s Globe Theatre is housed inside MacCorquodale Place, a historic downtown building that recently underwent a major renovation. The theatre still has approximately $12 million left to raise for the capital project. (Geoff Smith/980 CJME)
Philpot said the City of Regina’s recent decision to provide emergency funding did not influence the credit union’s donation.
“We’re committed to supporting what the Globe is all about,” she said. “This gift was done for the Globe from Conexus for the purpose of alignment with what we believe they’re doing here.”
The Globe had a long-standing financial relationship with Cornerstone Credit Union, which amalgamated with Conexus and Synergy Credit Union at the beginning of 2026 to form the new Conexus Credit Union.
Weaver said Cornerstone was the only financial institution willing to provide the theatre with a $12-million loan to help complete the renovation and reopen the building.
“They were the only bank that came and believed in us,” Weaver said. “A credit union came and said, ‘We believe that you’re going to finish this fundraising, and we want to see these doors open.’”
The $500,000 charitable gift is separate from that loan, which the Globe must still repay.
Philpot said supporting the arts matters even when cultural organizations compete with other priorities for limited funding.
“It is the heartbeat of your community,” she said. “Without it, you lack that personality, that distinction, that vibrancy.”
The Globe, founded in 1966, describes itself as Canada’s only permanent professional theatre-in-the-round. Along with its main-stage productions, the organization operates the Boquist Theatre School and a community black-box performance space.
Weaver said eliminating the remaining capital obligations would allow the Globe to focus fully on its performances, artists and educational programming.
“We have a beautiful building around us to produce art in,” Weaver said. “So let’s just start producing art.”
-with files from 980 CJME’s Geoff Smith
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