Please allow yourself extra travel time as the very popular Distillery Winter Village (previously the Toronto Christmas Market) is back in the Distillery District starting Nov. 13, 2024.
Soulpepper audiences enjoy free admission to the Distillery Winter Village starting thirty minutes prior your performance by entering the Distillery District via the Cherry Street entrance to access the Young Centre. Bypass the lines with the use of the designated Young Centre entrance at Cherry Street and Tank House Lane.
Please note, if you are driving to the theatre some of the roads in the area may be converted to one way streets and parking will be in high demand. Please give yourself plenty of time to navigate the area and find parking. We highly recommend taking transit to the theatre during this time.
STORIES FOR A STRONGER CITY
Our new strategic plan at a glance
A deeper dive with Weyni & Gideon
STORIES FOR A STRONGER CITY: Soulpepper’s Transformation Plan
What connects us as a city?
At Soulpepper, we believe our stories do. We are based in Toronto, a meeting place of a dazzling cross-section of humanity, and we are guided by the plurality and vitality of this city. We are a place of congregation and discovery for the wider community, telling stories that resonate throughout the city and far beyond. Our programming straddles genres, sometimes reinterpreting the classical repertoire, sometimes joyfully celebrating through music, sometimes introducing audiences to new works by emerging voices, but always anchored in the here and now and brought to the stage with care, craftsmanship and deep investment.
Soulpepper is redefining what it means to be a theatre company by throwing open our doors to welcome everyone to access the transformative power of theatre. In becoming a buzzing hub of activity where all are invited and everyone feels a deep sense of belonging, we will take our artistic craftmanship to new heights and help Toronto become a healthier, more socially connected city. Through the art on our stages, the amplifying effect of rich partnerships and innovative engagement programs, we are at once fulfilling our social purpose and building a sustainable future for Soulpepper and the communities we serve.
In a time of social upheaval and uncertainty, Soulpepper Theatre is evolving to meet the moment. This transformation plan is our answer to the challenges of today and tomorrow—a radical reimagining of how a theatre company can be an integral part of the fabric of its city, shaping its future and serving the well-being of its citizens.
Theatres across the world are struggling amidst changing audience behaviors, declining revenues, and the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, these challenges present a unique opportunity for Soulpepper to reaffirm its purpose by embracing the immense social impact that theatre can have when it opens its doors to new ideas, new audiences, and new partnerships.
This is our blueprint for becoming the theatre that Toronto - and Canada - deserves: a theatre that is accessible and open to all, that is essential to the cultural health and social fabric of our city, that creates space for human connection, and that helps build a stronger, more resilient city.
Scroll below as we'll be updating this plage regularly with announcements of how we're putting this plan into action.
No More Business As Usual
While the Covid-19 pandemic laid bare the arts sector’s precarity in stark terms, the problems we go back further than that. For over forty years, arts institutions have primarily relied on a small group of supporters for their survival. This loyal group has been asked to donate, subscribe, support and volunteer for arts organizations since the founding of many of our organizations. As our reliance on this group has grown, so too has our inability to connect meaningfully with new audiences, even as our city has changed rapidly around us. The result is that over the past decade, theatre attendance has declined, and theatre companies have become disproportionately dependent on a small group’s diminishing engagement.
Soulpepper has worked hard to address this challenge. Through our commitment to Radical Inclusion, a belief that everyone is welcome in our theatre, our organization has become truly representative of Toronto’s rich tapestry. Our staff, artists, leaders and Board Directors now represent a much broader range of perspectives, and our audiences have responded in kind. Since reopening post-pandemic, 55% of our audience is new to Soulpepper, and the average age of attendees has dropped by over 20 years. These new stakeholders are infusing new energy into the organization. However, with cost pressures and declining revenues from traditional streams, we need more resources to build their sustained engagement and investment.
Our Social Purpose
Soulpepper has extraordinary creative assets at its disposal and an unflinching commitment to our social purpose. Located in the Canary District, we are part of one of the fastest growing urban neighbourhoods in North America. This area will attract thousands of residents in the coming decade. Toronto is growing incredibly quickly, but unfortunately there has not been commensurate investments in public space and civic infrastructure for communities to come together and thrive. The result is that Toronto is developing a reputation for being an inhospitable city, with unattainably high housing prices, challenging transportation, and a lack of community cohesion.
The Toronto Foundation affirms as much in the 2023 Vital Signs Report. Their assessment is that the connective tissue of this city is in decline, and that a lack of community life is driving a mental health crisis that has 50% of adults reporting that they feel depressed at least once a week, and 37% (925,000 people) feeling lonely at least three days a week.
Our goal is simple: to actively contribute to the health and cohesion of the communities we serve, and in so doing, build a sustainable future for Soulpepper. We will do so by transforming into a buzzing hub of artistic activity that works to combat the loneliness epidemic.
We are building on our legacy of artistic excellence while also developing new community programs that will enliven our space from morning to night. Over the next three years, we will help artists thrive, produce work that resonates across divides, facilitate deep learning and exchange, and create accessible entry points to the arts for people who never imagined themselves in a theatre.
PHASE 1: Artistic Ambition
Beginning in fall 2024, Soulpepper is developing new ways to increase our artistic output and affirm our leadership by building capacity across the sector.We are expanding the scope, scale and variety of our programming through innovative partnerships and by investing in our community of artists. The core elements of Phase 1 include:
Increase annual performances at our venue from 230 to 400 by forging groundbreaking partnerships with five leading theatre companies, including capacity sharing and audience development initiatives.
Renewing our investment in bold, high-quality new works, particularly by underrepresented voices, and building a modern canon of stories that resonate with our new audiences.
Launching an artistic fellowship program that supports artists to develop their projects, access our audiences, and invites them to help shape the future of the company.
Committing to supporting artists who are disproportionately affected by the affordability crisis.
Making a splash in our own storytelling by creating a new visual identity and digital strategy for the company, and making our building more discoverable through improved signage, lobby improvements and exterior decoration.
PHASE 2: An Antidote to Loneliness
Starting in 2025, Soulpepper will bring people together through the power of theatre to help reduce loneliness in our city.
Inspired by the Vital Signs Report, we are becoming an internationally recognized hub of creativity and community, buzzing with activity from morning to night. The core elements of Phase 2 include:
Convening tens of thousands of Torontonians through artistic activities that are accessible and community-driven.
Developing more and larger Community Engagement programs, including but not limited to major activations around the Winter Village, summer arts programming in the Distillery District, and free programming that encourages connection and creativity.
Expanding our Education Programs to include more youth, seniors and aspiring artists.
Undertaking a major analysis of our stakeholder community to better understand their needs, interests and potential engagement, and measuring our social impact.
This plan marks a bold step forward for Soulpepper Theatre while building on our long legacy of civic engagement.While shaped by a business imperative to deploy our assets more effectively, the driver of this plan is the desire to makeSoulpepper and the live performing arts essentialin the work of building a healthier city. In embracing and expanding on the deeply connected experience that is intrinsic to theatre, and by reimagining how people can access that experience, we will help our community feel less lonely and more resilient.
Photo from left to right: Laura Paduch (Managing Director & Co-Lead, Toronto Fringe), Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu (Artistic Director, Obsidian Theatre Company), Fiona Sauder (Artistic Director, Bad Hats Theatre), Victor Pokinko (Executive Producer, Bad Hats Theatre), Weyni Mengesha (Artistic Director, Soulpepper Theatre Company), Michael Sinclair (General Manager, Obsidian Theatre Company), Rachel Kennedy (Executive Director & Co-Lead, Toronto Fringe), Gideon Arthurs (Executive Director, Soulpepper Theatre Company), Paul Beauchamp, (Co-Executive Director, The Musical Stage Company), Matt Pilipiak (Managing & Artistic Producer, Bad Hats Theatre). Photo credit: Dahlia Katz.
This Creative Collaboration Initiative focuses on community-building, shared capacity and creative cross-pollination, while allowing each organization to retain its unique artistic identity and autonomy. In practice, the initiative will include co-productions and presentations at Soulpepper Theatre, co-commissioning of new works, audience development and co-marketing initiatives, and a commitment for each partner company to amplify the work of the others. Each company will continue to present their own productions at any venue they choose and be free to collaborate with any other company.
Several collaborative projects are already underway, including:
The Toronto Fringe Festival is creating a new festival hub at Soulpepper Theatre starting in 2025, with future plans to activate the Historic Distillery District and surrounding areas.
Building on the success of Three Sisters in February 2024, Obsidian Theatre and Soulpepper Theatre are co-producing the World Premiere of Table For Two by Akosua Amo-Adem in early 2025,
Alongside Crow’s Theatre and TO Live, The Musical Stage Company and Soulpepper are presenting the Canadian Premiere of A Strange Loop in spring 2025,
Following the incredible success of several productions since 2017, including the multi-award-winning Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan, Bad Hats is developing a soon to be announced new production to be presented in late 2025.
The Creative Collaboration Initiative is an open invitation to Toronto audiences to discover some of Canada’s most exciting theatrical works by some of our city’s leading companies and build a new model for collaboration that will serve the arts sector for years to come.
We've transformed our lobby into a winter wonderland, and are so happy to provide a space where people can gather to create long lasting memories this Holiday season!
As part of our Stories for a Stronger Cityplan to bring people together by hosting even more activity in our building, we figured what better way to do this than by transforming our lobby intoSanta's Village!
During this year's Distillery Winter VillageSoulpepper will be a magical place where people can gather to take a FREE photo with Santa, warm up with a cup of hot chocolate from New York's famous pop-up, "The Color of Chocolate," enjoy delicious baked treats from Scarborough's very own, "La Bastille Bakery" and much more.
We know that our most powerful tool for social cohesion are the stories we share, both on and off our stages. Our vision for Soulpepper has always been to create a space of belonging. Where everyone that walks through our doors has access to a shared social experience where thinking and feeling collectively brings a deeper connection to the people around us, and a new understanding of the world we live in. Soulpepper today is a place of congregation and discovery. With this new strategic vision, we are committed to realizing our full potential as an arts institution in today’s city and finding new ways of bringing the connective experience of theatre to even more Torontonians.
- Weyni Mengesha, Artistic Director
Our goal is simple: we want to take the loneliness epidemic head on by using our space, talent, and creativity to create an abundance of opportunities for Torontonians to gather at Soulpepper” added Gideon Arthurs, Executive Director of Soulpepper Theatre. “This new vision is a blueprint for becoming a theatre that is open to all. A theatre that is essential to the cultural health and social fabric of our city, that creates space for human connection, and that helps build a stronger, more resilient Toronto.
- Gideon Arthurs, Executive Director
The Board of Directors is delighted to support this bold new chapter for Soulpepper. The introduction of this strategic vision is more than just a natural evolution for the company - it marks a significant step forward in serving the citizens of Toronto. Building on our fine reputation and notable achievements, this plan will guide Soulpepper in becoming an even greater force for social connection and artistic innovation. We can’t wait to see its impact in the years to come.
