STRATEGIC PLAN

2013-2016

Striving to be one of Canada’s

great performing arts centres

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF STRATEGIC GOALS & OBJECTIVES

Centre In The Square has been at the core of the performing arts in the Kitchener-Waterloo region for over 30 years; providing over 180 events and welcoming more than 190,000 visitors a year.

The Main Hall is acknowledged as a technically state-of-the-art hall making it acoustically superior and widely regarded as one of the finest performance spaces in North America and among the top twenty in the world.

As a performing arts centre, Centre In The Square promotes and supports many local, national and internationally recognized musicians and performing arts companies.

The Centre’s own programming ‘Centre In The Square Presents’ offers an eclectic mix of over 40 performances a year ranging from artistic and cultural activities through to educational and experimental programs for all ages.

Despite many successes, we recognize that we are in a highly competitive environment where patrons, partners and the general public have options on where to invest their entertainment dollars. In consultation with our many stakeholders, we embarked on the process of leveraging the best of our past to address the needs and opportunities of the future.

The following plan outlines goals for each area of the organization to collaboratively advance the work that supports our mission. All of these goals are set by the need to balance navigating the continuing challenge of a tight financial environment, while still leveraging opportunities to our advantage and embark on the next years of integrating live performance with learning, participation, exhibition and social opportunities that will help introduce new generations to the thrill we feel when great art and live experiences make an impact on our lives.

The Centre programs a broad diversity of performing arts events that are challenging and dynamic, which engage and entertain the audience and that offer a unique and memorable visitor experience.

The Centre aspires to be one of the leading performing arts centres of Canada, presenting performers and companies whose artistry and skill are iconic and influential. We aspire to be an organization that the public can rely on to present important and outstanding Canadian and international artists of our generation fully capitalizing on the concert and musical theatre history of this venue. We aim to provide inventive new contexts for their work, to facilitate new and dynamic collaborations between artists and artistic teams and to provide meaningful opportunities for new and existing audiences to engage with artists.

The Centre remains grounded in its community and responds to the cultural landscape of Kitchener and its residents. The Centre responds to our community’s love of the arts by presenting artists, companies and arts events whose work is reputational and resonates both with the Kitchener community – and the wide array of communities of Waterloo region.

The Centre will continue to be the place where we see the most exciting productions made for the national and international stage fully utilizing the Main Hall, as well as offsite locations to fully expose the Centre’s program-ming activities outside the Civic Square. The Centre will ensure it is home to many of the young artists emerging as important talents in their respective fields through the launch of a regular programming structure in the Studio.

ARTISTIC VISION

OVERALL STRATEGIC PLAN GOAL

To be recognized as one of Canada’s great performing arts centres.

• An integral part of the arts across Canada, with deep connections and high levels of engagement

• An innovator, known for reputational programming and presentations

• Accessible to visitors of all ages and backgrounds

• Financially strong and stable to initiate a capital campaign to upgrade and expand supporting facilities of the Centre, such as the Studio and public spaces

ACHIEVING THIS WILL MEAN THAT IN

3 YEARS WE WILL BE:

• Actively engaging people in exceptional performing arts experiences

• A venue of choice in Canada for the world’s best performers, performance companies and producers

• Committed to placing the needs and views of our customers first

We will do this by capitalizing on our past successes, leveraging our reputation and existing relationships with the artists, audiences and key stakeholders that are at the core of our existence.

This Plan has prioritized strategies that are realistic and achievable in the current resource and operating environments, while producing the greatest benefits in the everyday experience of audience and staff. The initiatives contained in the Plan will deliver benefits for all customers as well as demon-strate to the community that improving our performance is an ongoing organizational commitment. To realize its goal, The Centre In The Square is committed to achieving the following objectives during the course of this Plan:

PERFORMING ARTS PROGRAMS

We will increasingly seek to curate a diverse program mix, delivering programs of the highest quality that will enable us to widen our audience base, achieve greater community participation and encourage more families and young people to participate in and enjoy the performing arts. To that end we will:

• Establish a bank of guest programmers and curators

• Form a base budget for programming risk

• Develop the Studio as a multimedia art space

• Launch a new commissioning format to engage in the creation of original works for Kitchener-Waterloo audiences and The Centre

• Diversify programming to expand performance offerings

• Launch summer content series and activities

• Introduce On-Stage programming

• Implement an artist-in-residency program

• Introduce cushion concerts and family series to increase family and young audience engagement

AUDIENCE AND VISITOR DEVELOPMENT

We will continue to be focused on delivering outstanding and memorable experiences for both our local audiences and out of town visitors. Our focus will be on intensifying customer engagement through the brand experience and online content in order to increase visitation by our existing audiences, as well as reaching out to new audiences and communities surrounding the Kitchener- Waterloo region. To that end we will:

• Contemporize the brand to extend its appeal and improve public awareness

• Establish a dedicated marketing leadership role

• Expand social media activities to establish the Centre as “the source” for art and entertainment in KW

• Invest in market research and branding to provide relevant, actionable data for market-ing activities

• Leverage partnerships to exploit complemen-tary and joint marketing activities

• Implement communications strategies to improve customer and community engagement

• Continually evaluate the effectiveness of our marketing efforts

• Facilitate increased interaction between performers and audiences

• Upgrade Web and digital communications

• Implement CRM to facilitate targeted communications

• Implement new flexible pricing packages to suit everyone’s tastes and budgets

FIRST-CLASS FACILITIES AND SERVICES

We will develop a landmark performing arts centre with outstanding venues and visitor facilities, making us attractive as a cultural destination for audiences and visitors. To that end we will:

• Facilitate tailored customer-service training

• Upgrade public spaces to extend the audience experience

• Implement a policy and plan to extend facility accessibility to everyone

• Measure, manage, reduce, offset and report on the greenhouse gas emissions for the Centre’s operational footprint

• Develop and implement a mentorship program

• Begin process of succession planning

• Implement new accounting system to support entire operations

• Review contracts for administrative and operational services

• Implement a new booking system to manage calendar and core presenting business

• Proactively manage in-house production technology and services, and investigate additional emerging technology to ensure The Centre continues to operate as a state-of-the-art venue

• Extend membership and related activities for the Members Lounge

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

We will continue to improve our operational processes to provide a ‘seamless’ experience that encompasses customer-service and event operations that enables our staff to achieve outstanding results. To that end we will:

• Update and create job profiles, organizational charts and policies to align teams to achieve corporate objectives

• Implement longer-range planning to better manage venue calendar around premium dates

• Launch a $10M capital campaign and establish an endowment to maintain the facilities and manage annual building requirement respectively

STRONG FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

We will work to remain relevant in our community and leverage our position and core business as a presenting organization to generate revenue through our presentations, partnerships and customer-focus services. To that end we will:

• Upgrade services and potential commercial off-shoots tied to bar, concessions and ticketing services

• Increase self-presents and commercial rentals to stabilize finances and drive a sustainable business model

• Implement new rental rates to optimize usage and revenue generated for the facility

FINANCES

OPERATING RESULTSThe organization has delivered operating surpluses over the last 14 years with the exception of 2005, 2008, and 2009.

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1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

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MEASUREMENT OF PROGRESS

The Plan’s implementation will be monitored and supported by the CEO and Chief Operating Officer.

The Centre will ensure that progress towards the outcomes of the Plan are reviewed and reported regularly via the CEO report to the Board of Directors. Achievements under the Plan will be reported regularly to all stakehold-ers as part of the ongoing communication commitments made by The Centre and will include feedback from customers, staff and industry colleagues.

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

AND REPORTING

Performance indicators (PI’s) will include both measurable and anecdotal inputs, and will be maintained through the execution of the Plan. Goals and PI’s may be modified and updated through the life of the Plan.

PERFORMING ARTS PROGRAMS

• Establish (Year 1) and then grow bank of guest programmers by 1 each year thereafter

• Establish and grow base budget for programming risk ($250K in Year 1, $400K in Year 2, $500K in Year 3)

• Establish and run music and family art programs in The Studio for 16 – 19 weeks per year (3 days/week)

• Call out for Associate Producers to contribute $5,000 each to commission new works for The Centre and local community. • Associate Producers, whether they be

individuals, a family, a business or a circle of friends, will become part of CITS team, with behind-the-scenes insights and invest in opportunities for the production of new works ($100K and $130K in years 2 and 3 respectively).

• Achieve 25 media mentions in news forums beyond the KW market relating to programming at The Centre

AUDIENCE AND VISITORS DEVELOPMENT • Increase of 20% in audience and visitors

to The Centre

• Convert 15% of audience members under 45

• Increase number of new ticket purchases by 15%

• Positive feedback from customer satisfaction surveys regarding the quality of the experience at The Centre

• Increase social media audiences by 12%

• Upgrade lobby space

• Positive feedback (75% and above) from customer satisfaction surveys regarding the quality of the experience at The Centre focusing on areas of facility, customer service, product, and likelihood to return

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

• Create a staff intranet (Year 1)

• Update and post all internal policies to staff intranet

• Increase new graduate placements by up to two in Year 2 and Year 3

• Achieve Annual Employee Satisfaction Survey score of 70%

• Invest in market research, brand upgrades and other non-show related marketing activities ($150K, $150K and $200K in years 1 – 3 respectively)

• Complete an annual patron survey to collect non-transactional information, such as patron perceptions and background information, to gain a deeper understanding of our consumers

FIRST-CLASS FACILITIES AND SERVICES • Increase CITS presentations and co-presents

by 20%

• Increase public awareness of services, facilities and performances by 10% (based on results from marketing survey compared to initial benchmark in Year 1)

• Complete training and ensure competency achieved by all customer-facing staff

• Implement new booking system by 31 December 2013

• Administrative and operational services contracts to meet all pre-approved budgets, in compliance with policies/budgets

• Implement (31 December 2013) and ensure ongoing compliance with new accounting system

STRONG FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

• Achieve the target ratio of Earned to Contributed Income of 85-15% vs. 75-25% respectively

• Meet approved yearly budget goals for each year

• Increase number of shows produced to 182 events in Year 1, 215 events in Year 2

• Secure major donor (excess of $500K per annum) to create a facilities endowment to manage the ongoing capital requirements by December 2014

Visit centreinthesquare.com to review the 2013/14 schedule and buy tickets:519 578 1570 • 1 800 265 8977

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