Gore's Corners Amphitheatre
In August 2010, CLD moved into a newly built home that we share with Theatre Orangeville on a 9.4 acre parcel of land that we own in Dufferin County - a region of small urban and rural municipalities located 1.25 hrs drive NW of Toronto.
Theatre Orangeville is an anchor in the Headwaters Arts Community, providing our region with professional live theatre and a vibrant arts program that benefits hundreds of area youth. In addition to our new, shared home, the strong partnership between our two organizations also includes an innovative drama program for individuals with developmental disabilities called Creative Partners on Stage.
The move to this new facility is generating significant cost savings for our organization - which are essential in the current environment of shrinking provincial funding for our core programs. The construction of the Gores Corners Amphitheatre on this site - whose natural land contours lend itself beautifully to this project - reflects CLD's commitment to projects that support our mission and have potential to generate additional revenue.
CLD's Board recognizes the need to be entrepreneurial. The establishment of revenue-generating initiatives will ensure that we can sustain and expand the programs and services we offer to those we support and those on our growing "waiting list." Any profits generated from the amphitheatre will be invested in new programs and services - including job-training and employment opportunities for the individuals we support. CLD was successful in our application for advisory support from MaRS Social Innovation Advisory Services. This has enabled us to access free, leading-edge support to develop the Gores Corners Amphitheatre as a viable social enterprise.
The Amphitheatre will provide us with an opportunity to continue to foster the inclusion of those we support into the life of our community because it creates a venue where CLD will "host" visitors from both within and outside our community to our "home". Specifically, we plan to ensure that every show hosted at the Gores Corners Amphitheatre includes information about CLD and the people we support. This will provide an opportunity for us to educate and inform the public thereby fostering greater understanding of people with disabilities in our community and beyond. We also believe this project will enable us to actively foster the social inclusion of individuals with disabilities into various aspects of the amphitheatre's operation thereby emphasizing the abilities of these individuals...not their disabilities.
The amphitheatre also offers an opportunity to strengthen and leverage the partnership we have already established with Theatre Orangeville and expand this partnership to include others in our community. By drawing professional music, dance and dramatic performances to our area, we anticipate that the Amphitheatre will act as a magnet for local tourism, add another cultural asset to our region and generate significantly to the local economy of Dufferin County and the broader Headwaters region.
This plan is one that is still very much "in development" however CLD is unwavering on two principles which we see as essential to the project's success. First, we believe that to be viable, the project's construction cannot involve any debt and therefore must evolve based upon the ability to secure alternative funding sources. Secondly, this project must be a collaborative one: with the leadership and vision for the amphitheatre being shared by other community partners and investors.