New executive director at RSA

By Laureen F. Guenther Times Contributor

Paul Muir, Rosebud School of the Arts’ long-time education director, recently accepted the additional role of executive director.

The organization has been without a full-time executive director since 2018. Throughout 2020, a team of six senior management and board members, including Muir, provided executive leadership.

During that pandemic year, Rosebud School of the Arts (RSA) moved classes online in March, and Rosebud Theatre cancelled all its mainstage productions.

In September, RSA reopened in-person classes as a performing arts cohort. In November, Rosebud Theatre opened an in-person production of A Christmas Carol, pivoting to online streaming when restrictions tightened.

But a few weeks of ticket sales couldn’t make up for the year’s lost revenue, typically amounting to $2.5 million. However, because of the generosity of donors, a federal government wage subsidy, spending reductions, lay-offs and across-the-board salary cuts, RSA ended 2020 with a small surplus, which they applied to their deficit.

This January, the board asked Muir to take on the additional role of executive director.

Although Rosebud Theatre is still closed, RSA continues teaching in-person.

“It actually means that the thing that we know we can do (during the pandemic) becomes front and centre, which really is at the core of our mandate,” Muir said. “We hope to get through this year supporting education first, and connecting with our audience as well, connecting with all our patrons through education.”

While the theatre is closed, RSA is offering student shows, giving theatre experiences to patrons and providing apprenticeship opportunities to students.

RSA’s second-year class is rehearsing For Home and Country, by Canadian playwright Leanna Brodie, on the Opera House stage. Directed by Rosebud Theatre’s Artistic Director Morris Ertman, it will be streamed online starting April 30, with readiness to shift to in-person performances if restrictions lift.

First-year students are also rehearsing a movement show, Sticks and Stones, directed by Deanne Bertsch, to be streamed online from April 22 to May 1.

On April 14, Rosebud Chorale and other musical groups at RSA will present an online concert fundraiser called Rosebud Alive!

For the summer, RSA is exploring options, perhaps an outdoor play or concert series. In fall, the second-year students will perform a Christmas play.

This fall, RSA plans to pilot a film program, unique to Rosebud, called Film as Story.

Muir said this period is also a time to rebuild, to work on organizational matters that may not get enough attention when things are busy.

In the school and theatre, he’d like to work toward more integration.

“When our students really have the apprenticeship opportunities on the opera house deck, I think it makes both sides of the organization better,” he said. “It makes the theatre better and it makes the school better. It’s a value-added feature for our patrons too, because they really love seeing students come into their own.”

He’d also like to enhance the dining in the Mercantile, by engaging local growers and creating a farm-to-table experience for patrons.

“I think about the core of our mission, which is to enrich lives,” he said.

“Real hospitality and that real direct enriching of lives, I think people are hungry for it, and I think we’re going to be called to offer that to the population (after the pandemic). What an amazing opportunity to do what we do, and to do it better, and to do it coming out of COVID.”

Looking to foster sustainability and growth after COVID, he wants to rebuild RSA’s reserve fund, to expand the scholarship fund and to eliminate RSA’s deficit. Then he wants to implement policies that ensure the organization won’t end up in a deficit position again.

Believing that Rosebud is God’s gift for everyone, he wants to increase the organization’s diversity of students, staff and patrons.

There are also buildings to be repaired, particularly the historic Rosebud Hotel which provides RSA’s offices. The Opera House also needs work, Muir said, and in time, he believes the organization can support a new and bigger theatre.

He wants to continue community-enhancing partnerships and to develop the school’s 35 unused acres of land.

As Muir describes his vision for Rosebud School of the Arts, his enthusiasm is visible.

“What I hope for, in humility, is to hold (that vision) and receive it and carry it, in whatever way I am meant to do that. There’ll be challenges. I know it won’t be perfect. But I do believe that lots of good can happen.”

In the meantime, he’ll continue leading the organization through the pandemic.

“Rosebud lives, thanks to the support of our donors and supporters,” he said.

“It’s been a challenging time, but good things are going to come out of this. There’s something about going through trial and challenge that is still meaningful. If you have a sense of that meaning, even that can sometimes sustain you through the outcome.”

For more information about Rosebud School of the Arts’ upcoming events and to donate, see rosebudschoolofthearts.com.