Rosebud Centre of the Arts: past, present and future

Times Contributor

 

Rosebud Centre of the Arts: past, present and future

First opening as an alternative high school, the Rosebud Centre of the Arts has been operating for 29 years and has re-defined its image.

LaVerne Erickson and his brother Tim opened the high school. They found that the students needed to express their art so they began to do some outdoor theatre.

“After a while, the program blossomed and developed,” said Executive Director Adam Furfaro. The brothers then formed a post-secondary program for the students, the Rosebud School of the Arts, which was put in to place by an act of Parliament.

The school started with amateur plays and progressed into more a more professional variety. When the brothers realized that many people were coming to Rosebud to see these plays, they opened up the Rosebud Mercantile to feed the audiences.

“The Mercantile began to produce, essentially, church hall dinners and home-cooked meals,” said Furfaro.

Over the next 29 years, the organization developed three different pillars: the Rosebud Mercantile, which now has a conference room and a new restaurant; the school, which has 30 full time students and a full time theatre staff; and the theatre, which is a professional theatre with two stages, the opera house and the studio stage.

“[These three entities] are now called the Rosebud Centre of Arts,” says Furfaro.

“We now do things like conferences, retreats, and weddings, and we can host and feed up to 175 people upstairs and 230 downstairs, in the theatre restaurant.”

Rosebud also has an art gallery, which has three large shows and serves as a learning space for students.

In the summer, Rosebud offers workshops and programs in music and art, and they are preparing a new program in production for next year.

Furfaro says the biggest change in these 29 years has been the growth. When Rosebud first started, “they were presenting far fewer plays” and there were “no resident staff” so people weren’t making money off of their work. There was also no place to eat for the audience.

“They did it out of the goodness of their heart, and for their love of theatre and for the love of these kids,” said Furfaro.

Now Furfaro estimates they have a full time staff of 24, and a seasonal and part-time staff of 120. There are resident actors, teachers, technicians, and designers.

“We’ve gone from one show outdoors to five that we’re producing and probably another six or seven that we’re presenting,” said Furfaro.

While the plays may have changed in 29 years, Morris Ertman, Artistic Director, says that he thinks they have a common thread.

“There has always been a tradition here in Rosebud of delivering a combination of entertainment and thought-provoking theatre,” said Ertman.

“As time goes on, the language of [the plays] changes because we grow with our audience,” Ertman said. “Now there’s a seasoned understanding of how to make plays and present artistic expression, that actually means that what we do is of very high caliber.”

There are about 35,000-40,000 people coming to see a production, and about 30,000 of them will eat at Rosebud.

“We’re hoping to expand our audience in the short-term and the long-term, to get more people coming to Rosebud for different reasons,” said Ertman.

Ertman wants people to recognize the varied artistic talents in Rosebud and wants them to visit again and to experience the community of Rosebud and the artistic talent within.

“You can come here, stay in a bed and breakfast owned by the actor who you’re about to see in the evening,” said Furfaro.

“We have a very strong, recognizable connection with our audience,” said Ertman.

Ertman likens the actors to a band who works together for many years, saying that they are “people who have worked together for years” who have a “relationship with the audience.”

The audience will be able to see their favorite actors do their first and then their final performances on the same stage.

“That idea to me is the most striking thing in the world,” says Ertman.

“People who come back recognize each other and interact with each other, and it feels like you’re coming home,” said Furfaro.

Right now Furfaro’s short-term goals are to make sure Rosebud is operating in an “efficient and sustainable way.”

Other than ticket revenue, Rosebud needs government funding, sponsorships and private funding to be self-sustainable.

For the future, Furfaro and Ertman want to see another theatre space to offer a more acoustic environment.

“We’re hoping to have new student initiatives,” said Furfaro. 

“We want to offer programs to high school students who are interested in a theatre post-secondary.”

Long-term, Furfaro wants Rosebud to, “be a destination” where people can come spend a day enjoying local talent and relax, experiencing the full effect of urban meeting rural.

“People come here because it’s peaceful. It’s a piece of rural Canada,” said Furfaro.

That is the theatre’s biggest asset, said Furfaro who describes it as “a spa for the soul” where you can leave restored.