This is part of a year-long ‘Love for Local’ series called NB365: portraits of New Brunswick entrepreneurs, businesses and organizations. Huddle is a media partner with Love for Local. Today, we hear from Angela Campbell of the Imperial Theatre.

WE ARE NB’S LARGEST STAGE AND FAMOUS ACROSS THE COUNTRY AS ONE OF THE ARTISTS’ FAVOURITE HOUSES TO PLAY. WE PRESENT LIVE SHOWS IN ONE OF CANADA’S OLDEST THEATRES WHILE STRIVING TO KEEP UP WITH THE NEWEST TRENDS IN ART PERFORMANCE. WE LOVE OUR THEATRE BUT ALSO WANT TO TAKE PART IN AND SUPPORT ARTS PRESENTATIONS WHEREVER THEY HAPPEN.

We get involved wherever and whenever we can! We have partnerships with SJ PRIDE, PRUDESJ, the Newcomers Association, all of our local senior’s homes, BGC, Saint John Theatre Company, Symphony NB, our local dance schools, CHROMA, Jasmine Dance Group, Living Sj, Chinese Cultural Association, PALS, and much more. Partnering just amplifies our mission, and when we unite our forces, we all succeed.

Being a part of our community and connecting on different levels is who we are. To connect we offer free school shows so that every child in Southern New Brunswick has the opportunity to experience live, professional theatre. We work with various community organizations to supply opportunities to see shows and take part in workshops and events. We partner with local businesses to offer special show experiences (like pre-show whiskey or wine tastings, or food pairings that match show themes).

Hundreds of artists tour through Saint John because we are fortunate enough to have this wonderful, professional venue. We work really closely with our friends at the Fredericton Playhouse and the Capitol in Moncton to route tours through the province that would not come East if not for our strong, established theatres. We are proud to offer experiences to our regional audience that they would have to travel out of the province to see otherwise.

We’ve had a young guitarist attend a post-show Kitchen Party with the Classic Albums band and he was so impressive they connected him to a summer program at Berkley and a scholarship and he is now on his way next fall to attend the Berkley School of Music. That is so cool and a great reminder that we do this to empower people!