Archive
GivingTuesday 2024
Help ensure 75 more years of Massey Theatre
Almost 75 years ago, on December 16, 1949, Massey Theatre was opened as the largest production theatre in the Lower Mainland. Over the decades, we have weathered many a storm: impending demolitions, unscheduled closures, economic recessions, the falling in and out of political favour faced by the arts and the theatre, and more recently, gathering restrictions within a global pandemic. And through all this, the lights have remained on. Massey Theatre Society – the charitable organization behind Massey Theatre and Eighth & Eight Creative Spaces– has stood strong for the community, keeping the theatre going and growing for more than half of its 75 years.
The theatre is a second home to thousands of performers and arts workers. It is a place of celebration for the fabulous audiences who come and cheer them all on. It is the birthplace of the arts for young performers and new audience members. It is a place where all are welcome to share their talents and their joy—together.
A 75-year-old theatre needs love, life, and reimagining. Long-needed upgrades are just around the corner, but the day-to-day life of the arts complex is powered by Massey Theatre Society. The Society needs your financial support to lift Massey Theatre and Eighth & Eight Creative Spaces into the dynamic arts centre of a rapidly growing community.
We are kicking off the giving season with a donation drive and a year of celebration of Massey Theatre’s 75th Anniversary. These efforts will help ensure there are shows that delight you, showcase artists of many talents, and provide a space where everyone can gather, witness, create and express themselves.
Imagine what could happen if everyone who loves Massey Theatre contributed $75 this year—a dollar for each year of Massey Theatre. An incredible gift to secure its future.
GivingTuesday is a one-day affair, but our efforts are year-round. Any donations of over $20 are tax deductible and a tax receipt will be emailed to you. If you have the means to help, please consider donating today. Imagine what we can do together for the future of arts and community connection. And encourage those in your circle to get involved as well.
We deeply appreciate the support you’ve given to us these many years. We do this for you and for the community.
Here’s to 75 more!
Read More →
What Does Supporting Massey Theatre Mean?
As we enter the final week of the Great Canadian Giving Challenge, we want to talk about the Massey Theatre itself. The heart of our arts centre.
The Massey Theatre was built 75 years ago. The Massey Theatre Society has been its steward for over 40 years, and during that time has weathered many a storm — from impending closures to recessions to a global pandemic.
The Theatre is home to hundreds of events per year, ranging from community celebrations to large scale musicals, to dance recitals, rock concerts and everything in between. Indigenous artists as well as touring artists from across the globe practice in our spaces. It is the home for many organizations. The birthplace of the arts for young audience members and performers. A place where all are welcome to share. Together.
As a charitable organization, the Society presents large performances and also facilitates the use of the space by many user groups. We provide free tickets to our shows to organizations who support individuals overcoming barriers that would otherwise prevent them from going to the theatre. Recently, we offered two free tickets to every resident moving into the new affordable housing development at 861 6th street. We believe the arts should be accessible for all and we fund this program through our own revenues.
A 75-year-old theatre needs love and attention. Upgrades and reimagining. The City of New Westminster will be undertaking a large capital project to address many of these upgrades, but there is more to be done to help us lift Massey Theatre and Eighth & Eight Creative Spaces to the Arts Centre the growing community needs and deserves.
We are fundraising for a bright and dynamic future for Massey Theatre and Eighth & Eight Creative Spaces. A space where the arts and the spaces are accessible and vibrant. A space where professional artists share and create and emerging artists reach for the stars. A place where creativity shines.
If you have the means, please consider donating today as part of the Great Canadian Giving Challenge and join the global giving movement. If not, share with your friends and tell them what the Massey Theatre means to you.
The Great Canadian Giving Challenge is designed to help charities fundraise during the slow summer months when donations tend to decline and people are out enjoying the summer sun.
As it is the 10th anniversary of the challenge, from June 1st to 30th, every $1 donated to the Massey Theatre Society through CanadaHelps gives us the chance to win $10,000. Additionally, every $10 donation that you make gets you an entry to win incredible adventure-themed prizes!
During this challenge (and always) we’re fundraising for community, as community is the heart of who we are. From our Community Kitchen to our Garden/Gathering Space. From Artist Access to Artistic Collaborations. From Audience Members to Performers and Crew. These funds will help us connect more with our community as we enter our 75th year.
Read More →
Help Our Garden/Gathering Space Grow
Today, we want to take you outside to the Garden/Gathering Space.
The Garden/Gathering Space has been designed to support Indigenous cultural resurgence, storytelling frameworks and stories that guide and direct us from the land outward. A space to gather and offer opportunities for connection and sharing to strengthen our futures together as a community. Led by Ronnie Dean Harris, our Indigenous Cultural Developer, six artists and community members were engaged in the design and interpretation of the Garden/Gathering Space. Atheana Picha, Diamond Point, Raine Pierre, Hailee Stogan, Kaitlyn Cunningham and Ronnie Dean Harris — their familial and community-based connections to these lands, stories and languages have helped tremendously in conceptualizing this work.
“The garden space is representative of the flow of the river and of the notion that the Transformers wrote their stories onto the land through these transformations”, said Harris. “The frame of the structure is a nod to the ancient framework of Coast Salish plank houses. This area of New Westminster does not sit on the north/south grid of the rest of the Lower Mainland but rather follows the bend in the river. So, the front of the garden faces the river and mountains and includes many native plant species, in an effort for the land to recognize itself.” In addition to native plant species and greenery, the Garden/Gathering Space will include public art and Halkomelem language installations.
This project has been generously funded by Canadian Heritage, Heritage BC and Vancouver Foundation for a combined grant support of $808,000. But in order for the space to grow to its full potential, we are looking to community support, which will go towards enhanced public art, indigenous plant and language installations, interpretive panels and displays, and more.
If you have the means, please consider donating today and directing your funds to the Garden/Gathering Space as part of the Great Canadian Giving Challenge. Until June 30th, every $1 donated to the Massey Theatre Society through CanadaHelps gives us the chance to win $10,000. Additionally, every $10 donation that you make gets you an entry to win incredible adventure-themed prizes!
During this challenge (and always) we’re fundraising for community, as community is the heart of who we are. From our Community Kitchen to our Garden/Gathering Space. From Artist Access to Artistic Collaborations. From Audience Members to Performers and Crew. These funds will help us connect more with our community as we enter our 75th year.
Read More →
Help Us Support Artists and Provide Access to the Arts
As we enter the third week of the Great Canadian Giving Challenge, we want to shine our light on access to the arts, as the arts are the heart of who we are.
Performing artists are still in post pandemic recovery, with performing spaces and opportunities decreasing, which makes access to and activation of the arts incredibly important to us.
With programs like our Emerging and Professional Artist Residencies, artists were given funds and opportunity to create and perform in our spaces. With the financial barrier to creation lessened, these artists were able to develop pieces that can reach new audiences and expand their professional practice.
Our Artist Access Program provides affordable rentals to a wide range of artists and artistic organizations of all levels and experiences. Through access, artists can build and nurture a community, rallied around the common goals of learning, developing, and creating the arts.
Our new Studio Series, including Global Tea Series and Old School Music Hall, provide paid opportunities for professional artists to reach new audiences. Global Tea events are Pay-What-You-Can, allowing for more access to the arts for a greater population. With the amount of performance spaces decreasing, or becoming too expensive for independent artists to book, programs like Old School Music Hall give these artists a space and place to perform. And we make arts accessible by offering ticket prices below market rate.
These programs have been possible with the support of funders like the Province of British Columbia and The City of New Westminster, but to do more, we need more funds.
If you have the means, please consider donating today as part of the Great Canadian Giving Challenge and join the global giving movement. If not, share with your friends and tell them what the Massey Theatre means to you.
The Great Canadian Giving Challenge is designed to help charities fundraise during the slow summer months when donations tend to decline and people are out enjoying the summer sun.
As it is the 10th anniversary of the challenge, from June 1st to 30th, every $1 donated to the Massey Theatre Society through CanadaHelps gives us the chance to win $10,000. Additionally, every $10 donation that you make gets you an entry to win incredible adventure-themed prizes!
During this challenge (and always) we’re fundraising for community, as community is the heart of who we are. From our Community Kitchen to our Garden/Gathering Space. From Artist Access to Artistic Collaborations. From Audience Members to Performers and Crew. These funds will help us connect more with our community as we enter our 75th year.
Read More →
Help Us Provide Access to Arts and Community Connection
We’ve entered the second week of the Great Canadian Giving Challenge and we want to thank all of you who have already donated! As we mentioned in our previous post, we’re fundraising for community as it’s the heart of who we are. For programs like Community Nights, which we celebrated last Tuesday with a Showcase performance.
Community Nights provide artists, creators, activators and more with the opportunity to access space, social and networking time between community groups and share the ten spaces available at Eighth & Eight Creative Spaces at the Massey Theatre Complex for free. Artists, activators, creators and community access spaces in blocks of two-hours to reconnect and start or restart their activities in a supportive, barrier-free environment.
Programs like this are important to encourage community connection and artistic inspiration. It is essential to us that these programs remain cost and barrier free to allow for these connections to occur.
If you have the means, please consider donating today as part of the Great Canadian Giving Challenge and join the global giving movement. If not, share with your friends and tell them what the Massey Theatre means to you.
The Great Canadian Giving Challenge is designed to help charities fundraise during the slow summer months when donations tend to decline and people are out enjoying the summer sun. As it is the 10th anniversary of the challenge, from June 1st to 30th, every $1 donated to the Massey Theatre Society through CanadaHelps gives us the chance to win $10,000. Additionally, every $10 donation that you make gets you an entry to win incredible adventure-themed prizes!
During this challenge (and always) we’re fundraising for community, as community is the heart of who we are. From our Community Kitchen to our Garden/Gathering Space. From Artist Access to Artistic Collaborations. From Audience Members to Performers and Crew. These funds will help us connect more with our community as we enter our 75th year.
Read More →
Donate to Help Us Win $10,000
Today is the first day of the Great Canadian Giving Challenge!
The Great Canadian Giving Challenge is designed to help charities fundraise during the slow summer months when donations tend to decline and people are out enjoying the summer sun.
As it is the 10th anniversary of the challenge, from June 1st to 30th, every $1 donated to the Massey Theatre Society through CanadaHelps gives us the chance to win $10,000. Additionally, every $10 donation that you make gets you an entry to win incredible adventure-themed prizes!
During this challenge (and always) we’re fundraising for community, as community is the heart of who we are. From our Community Kitchen to our Garden/Gathering Space. From Artist Access to Artistic Collaborations. From Audience Members to Performers and Crew. This is our community.
Over the next month, we’re going to take this opportunity to highlight some of the programs, activations and projects that these funds will go towards. Funds that will help us connect more with our community as we enter our 75th year.
If you have the means, please consider donating today. If not, share with your friends and tell them what the Massey Theatre means to you.
Read More →
Rotary Club of New Westminster makes $10,000 donation to Developing a Community Kitchen
New Westminster, BC – Massey Theatre Society is celebrating a $10,000 donation by the Rotary Club of New Westminster. This donation will be directed towards the Eighth & Eight Creative Spaces Community Kitchen in the Massey Theatre Complex.
Showing their continued commitment to community service and support, the Rotary Club of New Westminster made the decision to direct these funds to the Community Kitchen project as it will fill a need in the community.
“We’re thrilled to be able to support this fantastic initiative,” said Rotary Club of New Westminster Co-President Gabor Gasztonyi, “We challenge other local business organizations to match our donation so this kitchen can serve our community.”
The Community Kitchen will be used to enhance the day-to-day life of the facility in addition to enabling a whole new variety of social, cultural and artistic activations. There is currently no appropriate kitchen space in the facility. The facility would be used to feed artists, activate community programs, service fundraisers, meetings, cultural celebrations, awards ceremonies, as well as performances and arts programs. Eighth & Eight will look to participate in food sustainability programs, local food and beverage markets, educational and community cooking programs, streaming cooking shows and coffee talks and more . These will all be able to be programmed in the Community Kitchen once the space is complete.
“The Rotary Club has supported Massey Theatre Society several times over the years,” said Jessica Schneider, Executive Director of Massey Theatre Society, “Their support is always a reminder of how strong our community is and gives us a boost of confidence that what we do is relevant and valued.”
This $10,000 donation is one quarter of the funding needed to ensure this kitchen is completed. Massey Theatre society is currently fundraising to complete this kitchen and get started with community activation, connection and creation. For more information, please contact the Massey Theatre.
About Eighth & Eight Creative Spaces
Eighth & Eight Creative Spaces comprises over 57,000 square feet of dynamic and creative spaces in the Massey Theatre Arts Complex which includes the Massey Theatre, Plaskett Gallery, four multipurpose studios including a performance studio and dance studio and digital labs. The expanded spaces at the Massey Theatre Complex and operated by Massey Theatre Society aim to offer artists and community a facility as well as resources and support for their work, creating new and inclusive opportunities for artistic creation, presentation, development, community engagement, wellness practices, and workshopping.
About Massey Theatre Society
The Massey Theatre opened in 1949 as British Columbia’s largest theatre, at the time, with 1,260 seats. Since then, its lights have shone on thousands of performances and has become a cherished space to experience the arts. The Massey hosts large scale musicals, international music and dance performances, symphonies, choirs, ballets and more. With a commitment to the cultural life of the community, it supports programs for emerging artists and community groups as well as new creation and production residencies. The theatre is a key gathering place with over 100,000 visitors and hosting over 200 events/performances each year. The Massey Theatre Society is a catalyst for a vibrant, expressive community and a stage where any dream is possible.
Media Contact
Erin Jeffery
Director, Marketing and Communications, Massey Theatre
erin@masseytheatre.com | 604.517.5900