Newsletter
October / November 2006

by Barbara Anderson-Huget

This story is based on a conversation with Linda MacKenzie, Senior Manager, Corporate Donations and Sponsorships at Sun Life Financial.  Sun Life has sponsored Theatre Ontario's "Shaw Festival Directors Project" for nineteen years!  Linda shared information on the funding priorities and decision process at Sun Life Financial.  While it is unique to Sun Life, it gives us a glimpse into the workings of a major arts sponsor.

Linda MacKenzie explained that in February 2005, Sun Life Financial revamped their defined priorities for funding to focus primarily on health.  This aligned with the goals of a company doing business in the areas of life and health insurance.  The other area of focus for giving and for sponsorship was the arts.

Sun Life Financial does not draw strict lines between sponsorship and donations.  All financial support is decided by the same committee, however some money is given with no expectation of marketing benefits, and in a few cases larger support is tied to branding and logo recognition.  For example, Sun Life’s support of the Toronto International Film Festival is extensive, and Sun Life looks for more tangible benefits from that event.

In all cases, Sun Life Financial is looking for excellence when it sponsors the arts.  This explains their support of the Directors Project which provides accomplished directors with the extraordinary experience of being Assistant Directors at the Shaw Festival for a season, and the opportunity to participate in their training programs.  (At least three artistic directors of major theatres are alumni of the program.)

Sun Life is also trying to increase access to the arts through their Making the Arts More Accessible program.  This can be achieved in several creative ways.  For the National Ballet Company, it was support for the "Share the Magic" program.  At several theatres, Sun Life subsidizes pay-what-you-can performances.  For Tapestry New Opera Works and Théâtre Français de Toronto, Sun Life has assisted with the costs of "Surtitles" so audiences can read the words in English while the performance is going on.

Competition is very high for support from Sun Life Financial.  Linda MacKenzie says that approximately 2,500 applications are received by Sun Life each year.  Many applications do not fit the criteria Sun Life Financial has stated for its funding, and Linda researches the other applications before presenting her recommendations to the committee.

Other programs funded by Sun Life besides the Shaw Festival Directors Project include the endowment of nursing grants at the Ottawa Hospital, and sponsorship of the ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital Canada Goodwill Visit as it raises funds for its work in developing countries training doctors and treating eye complaints.

I'm sure you will join me in thanking Sun Life Financial for its assistance of the arts.  It is inspiring to have a health promotion company understand the mental and spiritual health promotion of the arts.  Thank you from Theatre Ontario for your many years of support!  Here's to many more!

by Brandon Moore

On Saturday, September 9th, the theatre community in Canada lost one of its icons with the death of Herbert Whittaker.  As a theatre critic and freelance writer, an artist, and a passionate supporter of excellence in theatre, he was a significant and influential force in the development and growth of our national theatre.

Best known as the drama critic for the Globe & Mail from 1949 to 1975 (and afterwards their Critic Emeritus), he reviewed the first performance at the Stratford Festival under the tent; adjudicated for the Dominion Drama Festival; and directed and designed productions at Montreal Repertory Theatre, Hart House, the Crest Theatre, and the Canadian Players. He remained a theatre lover his whole life, regularly attending performances whenever he could.

He was the founding Chairman of the Canadian Theatre Critics Association, and their annual award for Outstanding Contribution to Canadian Theatre bears his name.  He also ensured the preservation of our theatrical history through his work as founding Chairman of The Theatre Museum, and by donating his collection of theatre memorabilia to the institution.

He was recognized with many tributes, including appointment as an Officer in the Order of Canada, honourary doctorates, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts' Silver Ticket, and Canadian Actors' Equity Association's honourary life membership.  In 1984, Theatre Ontario presented him with the Maggie Bassett Award for a sustained and significant contribution to the development of theatre in Ontario.

"In any country, no matter how thinly populated, no matter how widely scattered across a continent, people must eventually produce their own theatre, as objects on a landscape must produce their own shadow." – Herbert Whittaker (1910 – 2006)