A brand new theatre venue and arts facility in Toronto is officially opening its doors on Monday, offering a beacon of hope to the city’s struggling cultural sector.
The Nancy & Ed Jackman Performance Centre at 877 Yonge St. describes itself as an “accessible, affordable and innovative arts space” designed “to provide a new home for artists while strengthening the connection between the arts and the broader Toronto community.”
Built on the lower level of an affordable housing building, the 6,500-square-foot facility is a joint initiative between Tapestry Opera and Nightwood Theatre — both independent performing arts companies that were displaced from their home in the Distillery District in 2022 — alongside St. Clare’s Housing, a charitable organization that provides affordable mixed-income housing in downtown Toronto.
The space represents a much needed addition to a city where a confluence of rising costs and increasing scarcity of performance and rehearsal spaces has created extreme barriers for emerging and independent artists.
“The pandemic shuttered a lot of the smaller theatre venues, and left a real dearth of usable space for artists and non-venued companies to actually present their work,” said annemieke wade, the executive director for the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts.
The opening of a purpose-built venue that is both accessible and affordable “is a real win for our community and for the performing arts sector.”
“Artists are resourceful people,” she added. “We do this because we love it and because our hearts are so filled when we make art. So when we are given the tools to create the art and we are not in a scarcity model, we create better art. And that’s what’s so exciting about this space.”
Besides hosting performances by its two resident companies, the centre will provide a variety of multidisciplinary programming, including artist residencies, workshops and interactive initiatives designed to engage community members.
“The dream for this space has always been: Let’s make it beautiful. Let’s make it well-equipped. Let’s make it versatile so we can do lots of things and let’s make it affordable,” said Michael Hidetoshi Mori, artistic director of Tapestry Opera. “We want to put some hope back in the city.”
‘A labour of love’
Founded in 1979, Nightwood Theatre is a feminist theatre company, dedicated to producing shows by women and gender-expansive artists. Tapestry Opera, also founded in 1979, is renowned for creating, developing and performing original, progressive opera. The partnership between the two companies dates back to 2002, when they moved into the Artscape Distillery Studios, a multi-purpose space in Toronto’s historic Distillery District.
In 2022, the two companies were forced to vacate the Distillery District — along with dozens of other artists and organizations — after an early termination of the building’s lease. Happening in the wake of a pandemic that had already forced the closure of several arts spaces and pushed the city’s theatre sector to the brink of crisis, the news was not only a blow for Tapestry and Nightwood, but all the other smaller companies and artists who relied on the space.
“When we found out we had to leave the Distillery, it was a complete, unanimous no-brainer that we needed to replenish our lost space with another one,” said Andrea Donaldson, artistic director of Nightwood Theatre.
Eventually, she and her partners were introduced to Andrea Adams, the executive director of St. Clare’s, who suggested building a venue on the lower level of 877 Yonge St., which was being transformed from a retirement building into mixed-income housing that required less space for amenities.
“We thought, what would happen if we could collaborate with another organization that shares our values — that everyone deserves a home and everyone deserves access to creativity — to help build community and also destigmatize the space?” Donaldson said.
Overhauling the space, she added, was both a creative challenge and a years-long “labour of love.”
“As a theatre director and artistic director, I’m used to collaborating with design teams to make beautiful things onstage. But in this case, the challenge was taking a real diamond in the rough — the low-end level of what used to be a retirement home, where people used to play shuffleboard or bingo or watch movies — and transforming it into a (more than) 6,000-square-foot venue that feels inspiring for this type of work.”
Designed by Hilditch Architect, the result is a state-of-the-art facility that boasts a 200-capacity performance hall, a rehearsal studio, a green room and shared office spaces, plus a newly commissioned mural and repurposed light fixtures from the retirement home.
“A lot of artists work in pretty grubby spaces to make their work come to life,” Donaldson said. “It’s really exciting to be able to offer a space that not only really is functional, but is also really beautiful.”
Creating a vibrant community
The Nancy & Ed Jackman Performance Centre sits just a couple of blocks north of Bloor Street on a mostly quiet and unremarkable stretch of Yonge Street.
But its founders do not see the location as a disadvantage — in fact, they see it as a neighbourhood that brims with potential.
“It’s definitely an underdeveloped kilometre or so,” Mori said. “But we’re excited to see what can happen simply by being there, increasing traffic and bringing the arts into the equation.”
The venue is not only within walking distance of two subway stations but sits at the intersection of a number of different diverse neighbourhoods: Rosedale, Yorkville, Yonge and Bloor, St. James Town, he pointed out.
“One of the reasons it is an undeveloped area is it doesn’t fully belong to anyone yet,” Mori added. “And maybe this is an opportunity to create its own identity.”
Indeed, when Tapestry and Nightwood moved into the Distillery some 25 years ago, the area was mostly used for film shoots. The arrival of the arts helped transform the neighbourhood into a bustling hub for restaurants, markets and tourism.
“Why wouldn’t that kind of beauty also happen in this area as well?” Mori asked.
Mori also believes that the partnership with St. Clare’s, and the venue’s integration into an affordable housing project, will create conditions for a vibrant community.
“When the pandemic happened, the silver lining for me was that I got to know all of my neighbours better and my life is now radically better because of that,” he said. “I feel like the city sometimes pushes us into our own little corners and silos, but this is an opportunity for people to come together and to create our own little village made up of all sorts of people.”
Reasons for optimism
Last fall, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts released a report that painted a grim picture for Toronto’s arts sector, which is currently experiencing stagnant and declining financial resources. About 15 per cent of theatrical spaces, the report found, are not sustainable over the next two years and are at risk of closing.
However, wade, who was appointed as executive director in January, said she is “exceptionally optimistic about the future of theatre and performing,” even as the sector continues to recover from the impacts of the pandemic.
That optimism, she explained, is rooted in the kind of collaborative community-building that set the groundwork for the Nancy & Ed Jackman Performance Centre.
“Coming out of a pandemic where we were isolated for so long — especially in the arts community — we really glommed onto the fact that we are better together,” she said. “And this is a perfect example. We will survive all of these difficult moments by being community-focused and community-oriented.
“Instead of saying, ‘I’m going to take this little piece just for me,’ we say ‘I have this piece and I’m going to share it with all of you.’ That’s how we’re going to survive and thrive, through the pandemic or the trade war or whatever comes our way.”
