It’s no secret that times are tough in the arts sector. Cuts to government funding, an over-stimulated public with vast arrays of entertainment options accessible from the comfort and seclusion of their own homes, the skyrocketing cost of berets and hand-knit shawls — it’s any wonder that theatres, concert halls and other arts venues survive at all.
Which is why many of them turn to corporate sponsorship. By allowing companies to attach their name to a venue, theatres get a much-needed cash infusion, and for those holding the purse strings it’s an easy way to humanize a big faceless corporation and say “See, we’re not so bad,” while at the same time expand the brand of that big faceless corporation by integrating it into the name of a public space frequented by thousands of people every year.
In the 1990s, cigarette company du Maurier chipped in some dough to help with the renovation of the Stanley Theatre, and for a time it was called the Stanley Theatre du Maurier stage. You many recall, du Maurier was also a sponsor of this city’s jazz festival before tobacco regulations and society’s increasing hate-on for ciggies snuffed out the company’s sponsorship abilities. In 2005, Industrial Alliance Pacific Life Insurance Company coughed up $1.5 million to fill the gap left by du Maurier and was rewarded with the naming rights to the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage over the next 20 years.
All of which is a long, rambling way of explaining an unusual application going before city council this week. According to K&K’s Shakespeare-quoting colleague Mike Howell, who writes about city hall “shemanigans” in his 12th & Cambie column, the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, which manages the recently re-opened York Theatre, has applied to the city to have the stage named. In this case, the West Coast Reduction Stage, which contributed $2 million to the cultural centre. “Staff has proposed the stage name be included in the facia and canopy signs on the exterior of the building, which dates back to 1913 and recently underwent a $14.8 million renovation and opened last week,” Howell writes. Incidentally, “facia” is not some type of Italian bread as we first thought, but the façade of the building. What makes the notion of a West Coast Reduction Stage particularly interesting is that the company has more than a few detractors in the neighbourhood. That’s because West Coast Reduction is an “inedible animal byproduct rendering plant,” and over the years some residents have complained about a funky odour they say comes from the plant located at 105 North Commercial Dr. A preview blurb on the York’s current show from Theatre Replacement, Jack & the Beanstalk: An East Van Panto, even acknowledges the fragrant reputation with the following quip: “Fee-fi-fo-fum! I smell... a chicken rendering plant?”
Still, it pays to play, and West Coast Reduction has definitely ponied up. (In no way are we implying that West Coast Reduction renders cute and cuddly ponies.) But it would have been nice to see the theatre named after a more resident-approved business or group. Although we’ve long challenged the validity of any sport that awards “spirit points,” we would have begrudgingly given the thumbs up to The Ultimate Frisbee Even More Awesome Stage. We’d also be willing to bet several bags of Doritos that The Puff Headshop Vapour Dome would be a hit in the neighbourhood. Same goes for The Womyns’ Ware Vibrating Rabbit Hutch (those things don’t come cheap… or so we’ve heard).
That said, we’re guessing the West Coast Reduction Stage is pretty much a done deal. We’re even more certain that a few theatre reviewers won’t be able resist making jokes about seeing “a real stinker at the York Theatre and it wasn’t the play.”
