Silver anniversary

Sensing the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium needed to reach out to the entire city, the 1,500-seat facility’s charitable wing has stepped forward with a pair of solutions.

The Thunder Bay Community Auditorium Foundation and the TBCA Guild of Volunteers are making it easier for local groups to use the facility to put on productions, and have agreed to help purchase tickets to distribute to charitable organizations specializing in the city’s youth.

Charles Johnston, president of the TBCA Foundation, said the 25^th anniversary marks a great opportunity to find new ways to give back to the community.

"If we’re going to encourage people to give to the foundation, it’s going to be because we’re doing something with the money. We’re getting young people into the Auditorium, people who might not otherwise be here – and older people as well," Johnston said Thursday morning at a news conference launching the two programs.

"We’re also going to try to get community groups who might want to use the Auditorium and think they couldn’t afford to, to apply to us for assistance to be able to use it to put on productions. So it’s a two-pronged approach."

For the foundation, it’s a marked change in the way they do business, at least from the perspective of its original mandate.

Formed in 1993, about eight years after the Auditorium opened, it was created to help ease the burden from local taxpayers, who have subsidized the building since the start. About five years ago foundation members realized there was too much competition for charity dollars, and supporting the operating costs of the Auditorium was low on the donation priority list.

Not wanting to fade into the woodwork, they decided a new tack was in order.

Johnston said Tom Cochrane, who performed with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra earlier this fall in celebration of the 25^th anniversary, said it best.

"He said he’s a strong supporter of funding the arts for young people – education in the arts and the opportunity to see live productions, music and plays – it’s really something that helps to improve their quality of life. It inspires their imaginations. And if Tom Cochrane is proud to support it, the Community Auditorium Foundation senses that this is our vision as well," Johnston said.

On Thursday Johnston accepted a $4,000 cheque from the Auditorium’s Guild of Volunteers, who have supported the facility since its inception, running the coat check and raising funds.

Florence Johnston, who handed over the money, said they’ve had success in the past, but with so much competition out there, she’s open to suggestions.

"We’ve got to find some ideas to keep us alive," she said, adding a portion of the money will be used to purchase tickets to send school children to next week’s production of Caillou.

Charitable organizations wishing to take part in the ticket giveaway are invited to apply online at the Auditorium website, found at www.tbca.com.