Rosebud Centre for the Arts chosen as one of Alberta’s most innovative organizations

Times Contributor  

 

Alberta Venture magazine has chosen its 25 most innovative organizations and the Rosebud Centre of the Arts has made the list with an impressive record.

The magazine says that if it “wasn’t for its school, the tiny town of Rosebud might not exist,” and with an approximate 40,000 visitors per year, the community has grown into a bustling area.

“We were surprised to even receive the nomination from Alberta Venture,” says Adam Furfaro, executive director of the Rosebud Centre for the Arts. 

Part of the shock came because no one knew that the organization had even been nominated to the magazine.

“We did a little investigation, and we weren’t nominated by anybody, and we didn’t put ourselves forward, it was Alberta Venture who came up the list themselves with some brainstorming,” he said.

Furfaro thinks that the magazine sought the organization out because Rosebud is a unique community that “has found a way to exist” when many people probably thought it would have failed.

“If you put a business model together, the business model probably wouldn’t reflect [the success of the organization],” says Furfaro.

LaVerne Erickson founded the Rosebud theatre almost 40 years ago in 1973 where it started as a summer camp for kids, and they slowly began putting on plays.

“I know it’s been a struggle to try and operate a business in rural Canada, and you have to have a good business model to make it work,” Erickson says, and concedes that he was surprised by the nomination as well.

Erickson says the nomination will help with getting “recognition with other businesses” and “campaigning the cause of rural businesses.”

“This place kind of keeps re-inventing itself and adding on more and more and attracting people from more and more places, at first where it was a local entity, it became very quickly a gem for this entire province,” said Furfaro.

Rosebud will be introducing four opera house plays in 2013 along with an upcoming Christmas play, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life: The Radio Play’ running from Nov. 1 – Dec. 22. They are also introducing a new series entitled Rosebud Presents, which features theatrical performances, concerts and improvisation.