March 28, 2014
Last month, Ontario Presents (formerly CCI), in partnership with the City of Kingston, undertook a brief research project to determine the state of summer programming in performing arts venues across the province. Twenty three Ontario presenters participated in the survey.
Participants indicated that the types of events on their stage during summer was equally distributed between community and venue-presented programming with a slightly higher number of rental presentations. Almost 35 % of participants said that they hosted on average 10-20 events from June 1 to September 1, 39 % had more than 20 events, and 26 % hosted less than 10 events this past summer.
Survey participants feel that during the summer months the audiences mostly seek comedic theatre, musicals and popular music and have less interest in classical music, dance and film.
Most presenters shared that they do not offer special packages or discounts for summer programming, whereas some of them partner with local businesses and community groups to provide them with incentives.
If you are interested in more detailed results, please send us a request and we will be happy to share them with you!