Corp Comm Connects

Richmond Hill group finds new venue after rental hikes at theatre

CTC breaks their years-long tradition of meeting up in the lobby of the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts

Yokregion.com
May 3, 2019
Sheila Wang

“This week I am not saying, ‘Same time, same place’.”

Marj Andre wrote in an email on April 26 to more than 800 members of Connecting the Community (CTC), a Richmond Hill nonprofit community group she spearheaded about eight years ago.

The group has broken their years-long tradition of meeting in the lobby of the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts every Tuesday morning to expand networks, make friends, promote businesses and, mostly importantly, build a community.

Andre held their two-hour weekly community meeting in the lower gym of the Richmond Hill United Church for the first time on April 30 due to the higher cost of renting space at the theatre.

Richmond Hill council voted to end the discounted rate at $15.56 per hour (plus HST) for community groups to rent space at the theatre. They are being charged the regular rate at $68 per hour.

Interestingly, CTC is the only community group that has been regularly renting space at the theatre for the past two years.

“We’ve been pushed down, but we’re not pushed out,” Andre said.

The community leader said she was shocked to learn about the council decision when she was travelling abroad, especially after signing a contract with the theatre just weeks before for renting space at the discounted rate.

Every week for the past six years, some 40 to 50 people from all walks of life gather in the lobby of the theatre to pass around business cards, keep updated on the community or simply sit down for some coffee and have a nice chat.

“People come out there and leave the meeting feeling supported,” Andre said.

With a suggested minimum donation of $4, the community leader said the weekly meeting is not just about networking, but a “across-sector collaboration.”

CTC donates the monies collected beyond the costs to Hill House Hospice, a local service for those who are in the final stage of a terminal illness. The group has contributed about $5,000 to the charity annually, Andre says.

"They've made a huge impact," said Hill House Hospice executive director Anne-Marie Dean. "More than just financially, Marj has promoted Hill House Hospice to the group and it has such an incredible ripple effect that we have so many people from Connecting the Community come to help us at Hill House Hospice."

However, if CTC continued renting space at the theatre, the cost would have quadrupled.

Andre decided to take the meetings to the United Church -- at a rate of $15 per hour -- so that the group can continue with its charitable cause and community-building efforts.

"I don't feel comfortable using town facilities any more because I fear for what council can do," said Andre who turned down an offer to rent space at the Elgin West Community Centre at the discounted rate for the CTC meetings.

Longtime member Peter Dennis agrees that the United Church is a better choice than community centres.

“It evolves,” said Dennis who joined years ago when there were only six or eight members meeting at a Panera Bread store.

Running a hypnosis and meditation business in Richmond Hill, Dennis says 42 per cent of his business comes from networking at the weekly event.

"It's mutually supportive," Dennis says, noting the "unique way" in which CTC helps people is hard to find elsewhere.

Eight years ago, Andre noticed a lack of connection in the Richmond Hill community when participating in an event for Autism Ontario. She decided to bring people together on her own and that was how CTC was started.

“I went to bed every night thinking nobody would come. I don’t do that anymore.”

The fast-growing group was then invited to hold her community meetings at the theatre for free about five or six years ago.

Andre has since become an “ambassador” of the centre for the performing arts, who not only hosts ticket-selling events but also takes every chance to spread the good word of the theatre.

It was in 2017 when the theatre started charging the group at $15.56 per hour which Andre happily accepted.

On April 9, council abruptly raised it to $68 per hour on the grounds that the theatre that has been losing half a million dollars every year should be used for performing arts, rather than community events.

"They're taking apart our social network," Dean said. "Connecting the Community should be part of our arts and culture. It's the right place to have that meeting."

The decision was not unanimous. Mayor Dave Barrow, councillors Karen Cilevitz and David West voted against the motion, put forward by Deputy Mayor Carmine Perrelli and seconded by Coun. Greg Beros, yorkregion.com reported.

“There is no logical reason for them (council) to have done that,” said Dennis who is also the vice-president of CTC, pointing out Andre has helped bring in tens of thousands of dollars in revenue to the city through the theatre.

Last year, the first Speaker Series presented in the theatre in partnership with CTC brought in over $2,000 in net profit, half of which went toward the theatre, said Andre.

Dean said she was "disheartened" at the council decision.

"That's not what Richmond Hill is about. Richmond Hill is about the Marj Andres of the world."