Centre in the Square's executive director talks about efforts to rejuvenate performing arts space
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It's been just over a year since Eric Lariviere became executive director of Kitchener's Centre in the Square.
He started in the role just months after the city owned performing arts space's calendar was left with large holes due to the bankruptcy of the K-W Symphony.
But he had a goal to help revitalize and rejuvenate the iconic space.
Lariviere joined CBC K-W's Craig Norris, host of The Morning Edition, to talk about the direction of the city-owned space.
Audio of this interview can be found at the bottom of this story.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Craig Norris: Last time we spoke, Centre in the Square was getting set to open the Studio Theatre to different community groups. Let's start there. How's that been going?
Eric Lariviere: Yeah, this has been a good initiative. This is part of one of our priorities that we established for 2024 and reopening the studio was one of the big goals of the community engagement strategy.
We created this platform called Kitchener Creates to make sure that we could have that space that really can do a lot of things with about 200 people or less depending on the configuration. And then that led to multiple activities. We're going to have the full season of the theatre creation company Pat the Dog.
We had the great comedy dinner theatre show Faulty Towers, which really animated the studio for over eight performances.
We're talking to Empty Space, the other great company that we have in town, and there's other news coming this year for next season.
So I think it's on the right trajectory. At the end of the day, another priority is to build capacity, and as we build that capacity we're going to be able to do more partnerships and invest more in that space.
I believe this space is going to be very busy. You'll see more coming for next season. So we're happy with the results so far.
Norris: You also did some pretty major renovations in the main auditorium. What have you been hearing feedback-wise from the community on those changes?
Lariviere: I think it's been very positive. The new accessibility space, those that need that space, for instance, they really have a different experience because now they're facing the stage.
So it's been more and more uptick on that and good comments as far as the new seats, a lot of good comments. Also, you get more space and it's comfy of course, they're brand new. My predecessor did the job on that one, but it's been quite well received.
Norris: When the symphony filed for bankruptcy, it left a lot of dates empty at Centre in the Square. How were you able to bounce back from?
Lariviere: I think the team's done a good job in bouncing back because when you looked at the symphony's activity in 2023, I think 2022 we had about 92 events total. So if you take out the symphony, it was about 66 and we ended up at 112. So it's over 70 per cent increase. I think it went well.
We established some priorities. Basically, we had four major strategic pillars: We had the destination, we had community engagement, capacity building and branding.
So when you look at the destination, basically the goal was to increase and strengthen our position as a best in class destination for live experiences and to do so, of course, we worked with our current clients and we expanded.
We had a business plan that expanded vertically and horizontally for our business, our commercial business and other business.
As far as our programs, we expanded on diversity and variety of programs.
So we work with promoters that for instance, bring, for example, Samay Raina from India, who is a huge, very popular comedian and we sold out two shows. We brought, you know, Fadu Diva Mariza … And these were good experiences and as you do those experiences, of course, some will work well, some will work OK and that's part of the plan of investing and growing.
Norris: So the bankruptcy for the symphony has been annulled. Do you foresee Centre in the Square having the symphony back in the coming season?
Lariviere: Well, I think the symphony has done an amazing job in coming back. Really the musicians, the board, Bill Poole the chair of the board, and the group of musicians that have worked incredibly hard. They had a good season in the community and the church. I was at a concert last week. It was a sold out concert there.
One of the first things I did when I came, I reached out to them and we started a dialogue and I think I'm quite optimistic in seeing the orchestra back at the Centre in the Square in some shape and form.
I mean, it's a tough challenge for an orchestra because the funding is so critically important and then building the audience is another key factor.
The way people, let's call it, consume their free time or their leisure has really drastically changed in the past years and with the pandemic, even more so. So at the end of the day, I think, as all of us in the live experiences business and industry, we have that challenge that we have to be really paying attention to.
Norris: What are you personally most excited about as you enter into your second year at the helm of Centre in the Square?
Lariviere: Same things I guess I was excited about a year ago. You have a jewel here. It's a great space. What it can do is just unbelievable.
With more investments we can continue to grow in variety, diversity and work with the community - the community engagement is incredibly important.
I think there's some projects that we're going to start announcing on May 29 and I think on the longer term, there's even more that really showcase how lucky this community is to be able to have that kind of infrastructure.
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