The end of Niagara Concerts
It ended with a few laughs. A few tears. A lot of memories.
Most importantly, Niagara Concerts bowed out with music Saturday. A night of Canadian soul and R&B with Divine Brown and Jully Black at the Scotiabank Convention Centre. The final show of the Niagara Falls institution’s 43rd season.
Alas, the 43rd and final season.
After the applause, the announcement came that Niagara Concerts would not be back next year. After scratching and clawing in recent years to keep afloat after its former home at Kingston College was flooded out, the numbers no longer added up. The shows too expensive.
As treasurer John Anstruther describes it, it was time for Niagara Concerts to say goodbye.
“We looked at where we stood, and the money, and we weren’t able to see another season with the type of shows the convention centre really wanted to support,” he says.
Saturday’s show closed the curtain on a glorious era of live entertainment in Niagara Falls, honed by its beloved gatekeeper Anne Speedie for decades before her death in 2004. The proudly old school Speedie created a template offering four or five top tier shows for a $40 to $50 subscription. The shows often included the Toronto Symphony and National Ballet, which on their own would cost that much to see in Toronto.
After Speedie died, local volunteers led by Anstruther and new president Liz Detlor kept the organization afloat. Costs inevitably rose, but audiences proved loyal.
But the audience was older, and wasn’t being replaced by enough new members. As they started dropping off, numbers went down. As expenses went up.
The toughest blow, however, was a flood which drenched the 1,000seat theatre at Kingston College (the former NFCVI high school on Epworth Circle) in 2013. The damage was massive and the theatre has not been used since.
Scrambling, Niagara Concerts found a new home at the Scotiabank Convention Centre and its 1,000-seat theatre. Concerts became more diverse, skewing to a younger crowd, but the subscription base — once a complete sell-out at 1,000 — hovered around 500.
The current season started with the usual optimism in September with Jim Cuddy, followed by Sarah Slean in October and Chantal Kreviazuk in November. But it was after a Bobby Bazini show in February that Anstruther and the rest of the board knew Niagara Concerts couldn’t continue.
“Anne’s probably rolling in her grave over this, but at the same time, if you look at what our mandate was when the organization was formed all those years back, it was to promote an appreciation of the arts and music in the community,” says Anstruther. “On a positive note, I think we’ve done that.”
Before the casinos and Performing Arts Centre and wineries got into the concert game, Niagara Concerts was often the only chance to see these types of shows, he added.
“Really, our whole region has opened up to music now. We can’t compete against something like the Performing Arts Centre where they have paid staff. They have a municipal budget.
“(But) I really think in the big scheme of things, we were part of what’s turned (Niagara) around and made it more of a cultural hub than it ever was. We outlived our purpose … we really did what we could do, and now it’s time to pass the torch onto these other organizations.”
Anstruther says the company’s Anne Speedie Memorial Scholarship, aiding local students of the arts, will continue as long as possible.
“There’s still going to be a little Niagara Concerts out there.”