Build it and they will come — but, first, I need to sell a bunch of tickets!

One day, way back in 1995, a crowd of people was marching down the street and, normally, I would have been supportive. But that day, I was watching from my downtown office window and I scoffed to my colleague, “Good grief. Marching in protest of the local hockey team leaving town — really? Who cares?” 

Well.

That colleague cared and told me so in no uncertain words, saying, “Amanda, if the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra was leaving town due to lack of funding, wouldn’t you be marching in the streets? Not everyone cares about music and not everyone cares about hockey, but both music and sports are essential parts of our city’s cultural capital.”

Well.

That shut me up. Because, of course, my colleague was right. Culture comes in all shapes and sizes and, while the finer points of public funding for a professional hockey team* versus public funding for a professional orchestra could be debated, the truth is that Winnipeg is a city big enough that it can — and should — support a broad spectrum of cultural expression and a wide variety of cultural organizations and institutions.

Which is why I am volunteering to help open The Valiant Theatre. It will be a progressive safe space for artists of all forms: an accessible performance venue for community-based Creatives looking for a stage from which to connect with their audience. Musicians, actors, visual artists, writers and others are welcome. This new theatre is rising out of a former church at 376 Logan Avenue, Winnipeg.

This is the pipe dream fantasy plan. But before the doors can open, we need to raise the funds to bring the building up to code and make it accessible to all. To that end, a small core of committed supporters is organizing a fundraising event on June 14th.

And I’m asking you to buy a ticket and join us for an evening of music and entertainment in aid of The Valiant Theatre. Or buy a ticket and stay home in the comfort of your own space. Either way, you’ll be supporting an important new community-based stage in Winnipeg.

Please, please don’t have the closed mind I had those decades ago. Maybe you never go to a live performance of creative artistry of any kind. Maybe sport is more your thing. Or maybe you attend mainstream theatres and go to concerts by big-name artists in your local stadium. But no matter the size of their star power or audience, artists of every stripe nurture the force of the city. Every artist helps fire the imagination of those who know a city is more than its pipes and infrastructure.

I know that where I live is more than the streets and the sewers, more than the shops and the schools. I live and thrive in the place I call home because this city and all it offers me by way of cultural capital gives me reason to cheer and to clap, to dream and to create.

On Friday, June 14th, you’ll find me at the fundraising event for The Valiant Theatre. I hope you’ll join me by buying a ticket (or several) from me. I’ve committed to selling at least 30 of the more than 300 we need to fill the venue. Email me at fiveyearsawriter at gmail dot com. 

Just $20 gets you in the door — and earns you my undying gratitude for supporting a group of upstart dreamers who believe they can bring a new performance space to Winnipeg’s North End.

Fundraising event to build The Valiant Theatre
Fundraising event venue is the West End Cultural Centre
June 14, 2024 8pm (doors open at 7pm)

• “A Night to Build The Valiant Theatre” will be MC’d by Big Daddy Tazz, with music by Deacon Creek; The Benefits; and close-up strolling magic by Brad Micholson. Just $20 per ticket. Door prizes. Art auction. 50/50 draw. And more. The more tickets you buy, the sooner the doors of The Valiant can open. 
• Email me at fiveyearsawriter at gmail dot com for tickets and further details.

* The Winnipeg Jets hockey team did leave Winnipeg in the mid-90s, but returned to the city in 2011.

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Land acknowledgement: I respectfully recognize that I live on the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.

Photo of theatre seats by Jan Tinneberg on Unsplash.