It was a real case of art mirroring real life: on the same day Oakville's Burloak Theatre Group opened their production of the musical Rent at the Oakville Centre this past April 2022, the group's leadership team was informed their rehearsal studio and home of 20 years had been sold to a new landlord...and they were being evicted.
This is part of a larger narrative that has evolved in Oakville (and across Halton Region) over the last several years. Local arts organizations in municipalities all over the greater Toronto area are facing record-setting barriers and challenges in their operations - worst of all being the rapidly intensifying and unsustainable costs of production.
Among the producers of live entertainment in Oakville, Burloak Theatre Group (or BOTG) has had an especially rough time since the onset of the pandemic. And their recent eviction is only the latest hurdle they've had to face.
Perhaps the irony is clearest when the group is facing eviction (and preparing for the move from the home of the last 20 years) after just closing their first profitable show since 2019: which happened to be the Pulitzer-Prize winning Rent; about a group of artists who face eviction amidst unsustainable rental rates.
Now the group is reaching out to businesses, municipal and provincial government, sponsors, and volunteers to help them relocate and boost their budget for the upcoming year, because as a non-profit, their revenues have already been strained by the challenge of cancelled shows (from COVID) and their sudden eviction to accommodate new, higher-paying tenants.
"We strive for our productions to be affordable because we want our shows to be accessible," says Cathy Bury, Executive Producer for BOTG. "And that means keeping our ticket prices as low as possible. But the rising costs from every direction are making it impossible for us to keep going."
The biggest challenge for any local arts group in Halton is having somewhere reasonably priced to rehearse, build, operate and meet. But the cost of living in Oakville rising faster than the average income of residents, notably in the last decade, has brought the problem to breaking point for several local theatre and arts groups.
Vincent Perri and the company of BOTG's Rent
Maintaining a non-profit arts space in Oakville is now nearly impossible
The good news is that BOTG has now secured a new home and workspace in Oakville, and their move is scheduled for next week. The bad news is there's a large price tag both for the cost of moving and a new monthly rent that's 350% more expensive per square metre than they were paying before.
Just how aggressive are the new expenses for basic operations? Only two months ago, BOTG was paying $2,300 for their 372 sq. metre space, which featured rehearsal rooms, a carpentry shop for set building, costume and props storage, a small kitchen, ample parking and a meeting room.
In their new space, rented out of immediate necessity, will cost them over $4,000 for less than half the area space. It's gone from $6.18 per sq. metre every month to a whopping $22.04.
BOTG's Vice President Beth Poad has worked with the organization for thirteen years, and she says these are the most strenuous circumstances she's ever seen for volunteer arts groups. "We need the public to understand the disparity in producing entertainment in Oakville," says Poad, "and what significant support we need to keep doing it."
A little known fact about producing theatre in Oakville is that to qualify for the discounted resident rates to perform at venues in Oakville, the group's rehearsal space must be physically located in Oakville too. It would've cost exponentially less money for BOTG to move from town, but then it would also cost more to produce.
BOTG isn't alone in having faced difficult choices over the last two years, but they are unique in being survivors: just two years ago there were three companies regularly staging multiple shows a year on the main stage of the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts.
BOTG also stands out as in the last two years of the CommunityVotes Awards in Oakville, BOTG was voted by locals as the #1 favourite in town. Having operated since 1976, they're also Oakville's original and oldest theatre group.
Today, with the folding of the Oakville Drama Series, BOTG is the only group left staging a full season and the only theatre company in town currently producing a 2022/23 season at all.
The two other major companies, West End Studio Theatre (WEST) and the Oakville Players (TOP) have downsized in the aftermath of COVID-19. WEST sold their performance space, set storage and workshop on North Service Road last summer, now left with just two small rehearsal rooms and an office. TOP hasn't had a physical address since 2018.
For smaller groups, the untenable cost of production and maintaining a home base in Oakville is near impossible: Oakville Improv no longer performs at the Oakville Centre, and Knockout Theatre Company (the newest, having just begun in 2014) went bankrupt in COVID and voted to close late last year.
One of the main causes are skyrocketing rental rates for commercial real estate in town, and the surge of "renovictions" are only escalating the disparity. ('Renovictions' are when tenants are evicted under the reasoning of renovation by landlords, only to have market rates reset at considerably higher figures.)
Oakville News
Burloak Theatre Group packing their old studio as they prepare to move, following their surprise and unprompted eviction from their studio of 20+ years
How is BOTG preparing for the future?
COVID-19 has been repeatedly devastating to BOTG and their operations: they were mere weeks away from opening the musical Mamma Mia! in April 2020 when the Oakville Centre closed for 18 months due to COVID. Then their 2021 holiday pantomime was forced to cancel seven of their ten scheduled performances due to the Omicron wave, and Rent rehearsals were delayed over a month due to government restrictions.
From 2021's cancelled shows due to health restrictions, BOTG's Treasurer Cheryl Cartwright explains they were only allowed to perform 30% of the scheduled shows because of Omicron. That means Burloak only got 30% of their expected revenue, but they still had to pay 100% of the expenses.
Then when the eviction news came, it was "like a hurricane hit us."
"This totally came out of the blue," says Poad. "There’s a lot of bitterness around how the sale happened because we [BOTG] didn’t know this was happening. Our monthly rent was increased 26% overnight, and only for as long as we were allowed to stay. We were between a rock and a hard place and we had no time to fix it."
Cartwright adds, "They called it a 'small rent increase,' but 26% on a few weeks notice - for a not for profit - is not a small increase. That is the largest increase we’ve ever had."
There are now four shows hopefully set for the upcoming season running October 2022 to May 2023:
- Neil Simon's Proposals in October
- BOTG's annual holiday pantomime this December
- Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband in January 2023 (after its delayed run from January 2021)
- The musical Cabaret in April 2023
BOTG says that creating shows to perform at the Oakville Centre "is good for all businesses in downtown Oakville," all of which are also still in COVID recovery mode. By Cartwright's estimates, the 2019 holiday show done by the group generated income exceeding $85,000 shared by Burloak and the Oakville Centre - and that’s only tickets.
"That doesn’t include parking revenue, bar sales and the benefit to local restaurants surrounding the theatre," says Cartwright. "Before COVID, our ticket sales were going up. And that supported everyone else."
The numbers show just how many audience members would be impacted by the loss of these productions: in the last full season of locally-produced theatre at the Oakville Centre by all companies, "more than 13,000 tickets were sold" to these productions - and that's a low estimate. (April 2022's Rent alone sold nearly 2,000 tickets.)
What can be done to help?
According to Bury and Poad, there are two things Burloak is desperately in need of: rent relief and sponsorships for the upcoming season.
Both would alleviate the pressures from two years of cancelled shows and restoring the funds lost due to COVID and their mandating move. Both would also help address the challenges of their forced near-doubling of their monthly operating budget.
Relief can also come with help from town of Oakville facilities: there could be a grant program for non-profit groups in town like BOTG, WEST and TOP who are committed to working in and performing specifically for Oakville. Or they could have their operating costs at the Oakville Centre lowered. Maybe the newly increased fees for the Centre could be waived.
Any or all of these could be part of the solution. The organization proposes that "because Burloak is making the financial investment to stay in Oakville, it's only right that Oakville re-invests in BOTG in turn."
These benefits and investments would be a welcome lifeboat for all non-profit entertainment producers in Oakville. TOP only just performed their first show in over two years, and WEST is now focusing on their summer camps for 2022. Neither of them have yet announced seasons for 2022/23. (Though WEST will remount their popular show Home for Christmas this November.)
The investment is worth it because there's a strong social purpose for residents both who volunteer to work with local live theatre groups and those who are entertained by them.
"Performers of all ages love theatre," says Bury. "We shouldn’t need to be professional to be sustainable. There should be venues at all levels for people to become involved. It’s also an avenue for students, adults, seniors and kids to volunteer."
Poad adds, "Theatre welcomes everyone. Whether on stage, backstage, in the booth or in the audience: what I love about theatre is that it includes everybody. And that deserves to be protected."
You can learn more about the Burloak Theatre Group on their website here. Interested partners or sponsorships can get in touch with BOTG through their email: info@botg.ca
