Tapestry Opera, Nightwood Theatre, St. Clare's Receive $1.25 Million From City Of Toronto

Tapestry Opera, Nightwood Theatre, St. Clare's announce a significant contribution toward their new downtown arts hub at 877 Yonge Street. With the help of Councillor Dianne Saxe, the ABC Residents Association (ABCRA), and The Greater Yorkville Residents Association (GYRA), the City of Toronto has allocated $1.25 million in Section 37 funds to build the dynamic arts facility by the 2024-2025 season. The ABCRA has committed to raise an additional $250,000 in support of construction. 

"The ABCRA is thrilled to be able to support vibrant and innovative arts programming in our neighbourhood and the city. Having Tapestry and Nightwood call our community home is in keeping with a long tradition of Yorkville as a hub of musicians, artists and creatives.”

Nightwood Theatre and Tapestry Opera have been without a facility since the expulsion of arts organizations from the Distillery Historic District in 2022. In a decade that has seen the loss of multiple Toronto venues for dance, theatre, and music, this space addresses a dire need in the arts ecosystem of our city. With these new investments, the construction stage at 877 Yonge Street will be fully funded.  

An additional $400,000 is required for the final stage in order to equip and furnish the facility. The completed venue at 877 Yonge St. will feature a fully equipped studio-theatre, rehearsal hall, and green room, allowing for seamless transitions between creative exploration and captivating live performances. This project will enable the organizations to offer accessible space for independent artists and companies to promote equity and inclusivity within the performing arts community, and to feature dynamic possibilities for audiences of 150-200. The companies call upon the city's residents, arts enthusiasts, and philanthropists to rally behind this new facility for the performing arts.

“We extend our deepest gratitude to our core supporters and boards of directors, the ABCRA, the GYRA, Councillor Dianne Saxe, the City of Toronto, Plaza Partners, 1 Bloor West, and St. Clare's for their unwavering commitment. Their collective efforts have brought us closer to achieving our shared vision of a thriving arts hub that will inspire, uplift, and enrich the cultural landscape of Toronto.” 

- Andrea Donaldson, Artistic Director & Naz Afsahi, Managing Director, Nightwood Theatre
- Michael Mori, General Director & Jaime Martino, Executive Director, Tapestry Opera

Tapestry Opera is an award-winning Toronto-based company dedicated to creating, developing and performing original Canadian opera that reflects and engages in the world around us. Tapestry is passionate about uniquely Canadian stories, told in innovative settings, unforgettably interpreted by world class artists. Tapestry supports emerging artists, develops new audiences and brings Canadian opera to the world stage. Founded in 1979, Tapestry is the voice of original contemporary Canadian opera. 

As Canada's foremost feminist theatre, Nightwood Theatre is driven by artistic excellence, advocacy, and the successful training and development of women and gender expansive artists – this includes but is not limited to trans, cis, Two-Spirit and non-binary folks. Founded in 1979, Nightwood Theatre has created and produced award-winning plays, which have won Dora Mavor Moore, Chalmers, Trillium, and Governor General's awards. To learn more about Nightwood Theatre, please visit nightwoodtheatre.net

St. Clare's is one of Canada's largest charitable, private non-profit developers of new supportive and affordable housing. St. Clare's takes great pride in creating safe inclusive communities in our buildings, click here to see how we do it.

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