Regina City Council unanimously approves ‘final investment’ in Globe Theatre

Regina’s Globe Theatre has some breathing room after Regina City Council unanimously approved a grant of nearly $1.4 million for the organization.

But before approving the grant, councillors spent a lengthy session questioning the theatre’s executive director about how things got to this point.

Read more:

• Regina’s Globe Theatre seeks urgent city grant to keep operating
• Premier Scott Moe pushing Ottawa to help fund three event centre projects in Saskatchewan
• Regina’s Globe Theatre showcases renovated space and previews political satire

Executive director Oz Weaver called it a “final” one-time investment in the restoration of the theatre’s heritage building, a project with a price tag that eventually added up to $50 million.

Weaver said the theatre used nearly $3 million of its own operational funds to pay for urgent obligations, service debt and keep things moving forward while it waited for governments to make decisions on funding for the restoration.

“Those decisions protected the project,” Weaver said.

“They also depleted the organization’s operating cash reserves and created the liquidity challenge we are now facing. That is why this distinction matters so much. The Globe’s operations are working. The capital project has created financial pressure.”

Globe Theatre executive director Oz Weaver speaks to reporters. (Geoff Smith/980 CJME)

Weaver said a “no” decision on the grant would have left the Globe Theatre with only the remainder of the week to come up with another source for the money, either from donors or corporate sponsors.

That prompted a question from Ward 10 councillor Clark Bezo about why the city was being given this request on such short notice.

“Why is it, at the 11th hour, you’re coming to discuss this, and we are now the bank of your only resort?” he asked.

Weaver said the Globe had been briefing council on the problem for a year and a half, asking for letters of support to provide to the provincial and federal governments.

“It was a couple of months ago now that we first pulled the fire alarm on this and said we’re running into – we don’t have support financially at the moment for the funding crisis we have and we need the city to help us step in,” Weaver said.

The theatre is working to secure $12 million in federal funding, and has gifts, donations and sponsorships lined up, totalling around $2.9 million.

Weaver is hoping that arts and culture are being included for consideration in the Building Canada Strong Fund, which includes $60 billion in spending.

“Almost $70 billion of the Canadian GDP is arts and entertainment,” Weaver said.

“We are almost up there with oil and gas. They’re about $2 billion ahead of us. We really hold our own, and we now have a prime minister and a federal government who go ‘We see the economic impact of the arts and culture.’ And having an arts and culture hub that owns its own building without capital overhead downtown is pivotal to continue growing that economic impact.”

Globe Theatre linked to downtown revitalization

Councillors heard businesses such as restaurants are choosing to operate in the Globe’s vicinity because of the increase in customers on nights when the theatre holds performances.

Two examples Weaver cited were O’Hanlons and the Copper Kettle, which do cross-promotion and offer discounts to theatregoers, along with Rosemary and Rye, which chose its location near Scarth and 11th due to its proximity to the theatre.

“On Globe Theatre nights, the businesses – the restaurants specifically, but then people go out after, too – are always the busiest nights for them,” Weaver said.

Another delegate at the meeting, Mitch Molnar, of Mitchell Developments, described not only the boost that businesses are receiving, but the safety factor that comes with having more people downtown.

“When the people that attend the Globe are downtown, the community feels safe. There’s safety in numbers, and it’s such an incredible asset,” he said.

Weaver also shared a letter of support from Regina Police Service chief Lorilee Davies.

“I know the recent renovations and reopening of the Globe space has been positive for the downtown,” Davies wrote. “I would hate for us to lose this momentum if the Globe had to leave or reduce performances. Their theatregoers are a very important part of downtown safety.”

Another delegate, Little Mosque on the Prairie creator Zarqa Nawaz, said her upcoming Globe Theatre play, Mosque Heist, could have a similar impact in putting Regina on the map, with stories that introduce people to Saskatchewan.

“People are also talking to me about coming from outside of the province,” she said. “I’ve had people reach out from Winnipeg saying ‘We’re buying tickets to come to Saskatchewan just to see this.’”

Councillors, theatre call for province to contribute

The contribution, which will come from the city’s General Fund Reserve, comes at a time when hard budget choices are being made.

“We had a very transparent, frankly painful budget process we went through last year, where we had a real transparent look at what our state of our finances are, and we’re still trying to kind of recover from that,” Mayor Chad Bachynski said to reporters following the meeting.

“As much as it’s a tough decision to take from our reserves, which are already low, I think to give the time to find a way forward for the Globe right now is what we need to do as a city, and I think it’s incredibly important that we take this urgent, emergent situation seriously, and what it would mean if the Globe didn’t exist in our downtown.”

Some councillors said they had come to the meeting prepared to vote against the grant, but were convinced otherwise.

“For me, saying yes to this means I’ll probably have to say no to something else along the way, and I probably will have to decide to reprioritize something like tourism to make sure that this continues. But I think this is important enough to say yes to,” Ward 9 councillor Jason Mancinelli said.

Ward 1’s Dan Rashovich said he was swayed by the fact the grant will mean at least another year of the economic impact provided by the Globe.

“I’m rethinking, going ‘Well, it does buy us another year,’ and I would invest $1.4 million to make $23 million,” he said. “I think that’s a good investment. I would do that every day.”

Several councillors were disappointed that the province turned down a request from the Globe for additional funding. Among them was Ward 3 councillor David Froh, who pointed out that the provincial government has offered to match potential federal funding for a downtown arena in Saskatoon.

“What’s good for Saskatoon is good for Regina, but I call on the provincial government to follow our lead here today,” Froh said. “We need your help. I think the province has said they care about cities. I believe them. It’s an opportunity for them to show us.”

In a statement, the provincial government said it has already contributed to the Globe Theatre project to the tune of $9 million through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, but cost overruns are ineligible to receive funding from that program.

“Ministry officials met with the Globe Theatre on several occasions between 2022 and 2024 to discuss project cost pressures and the options available under the program,” the government’s statement said.

“The organization was advised that project costs, including overruns, are the responsibility of the recipient as outlined in the funding agreement.”

The province noted that the Globe also receives operating support from a number of provincial funds.

But Weaver said the city has topped up its original contribution on two occasions, and the province can do the same.

“Perhaps there’s a different stream,” Weaver said. “Perhaps there’s a different granting that we can access to get that top-up. And in terms of our funding, our operations funding, only 15 per cent of our $6.6 million budget next year is provided by all three levels of government, which we very much appreciate.”

Weaver hopes the unanimous support from Regina councillors sends a strong show of support to Ottawa and the provincial government.