Dedication ceremony to take place August 3 in Blyth
Tuesday July 9, 2024 [BLYTH, ONTARIO] The Blyth Festival will name its flagship indoor stage in response to a landmark $500,000 gift from the Margaret and Andrew Stephens Family Foundation of Canmore, AB. The space will be named The Margaret Stephens Stage in celebration of the family’s wish to honour their late wife and mother, Margaret Stephens.
This gift is in addition to the $250,000 the Foundation pledged earlier this year to anchor the Blyth Festival’s $500K For Another 50 Years campaign. This second gift brings the family’s total giving to $750,000 – the largest gift in the Blyth Festival’s history.
The family’s decision to commit to the larger gift was based in part on the massive success of Blyth’s matching-gift appeal. This ongoing campaign has inspired unprecedented generosity from Blyth’s donor family, and is expected to wrap up shortly (although donations are still welcome).
Representatives of the Stephens family will gather with friends, Festival staff and local officials to unveil a commemorative plaque in Memorial Hall’s Blyth Festival Art Gallery on August 3, 2024 at 1 p.m.
Although the Foundation is headquartered in Canmore, AB, Andrew and Margaret Stephens grew up and married in southwestern Ontario. With their children Eric and Patricia, they spent many summers in a beloved family cottage on the shores of Lake Huron, enjoying both cottage life and the Blyth Festival.
Says Patricia, “This is a wonderful way to remember our mother, who passed away ten years ago this summer. She loved arts and music, and she and dad always taught us the value of teamwork and community. That spirit is alive and well at the Blyth Festival, so it’s the perfect way to remember her.”
Eric adds, “Throughout her life, Mom shared her love of the arts and theatre with everyone. And she made both a way for our family to spend time together. My first hope for this gift is that it will allow many more families to discover the marvellous theatre in Blyth, and to bond over it as we have. My second hope is that it fosters even more lifetimes of engagement with the arts.”
Says Blyth Artistic Director Gil Garratt, “We have never named our stage, but are thrilled to honour Margaret Stephens in this way. Our Municipal officials and local Legion, Branch 420, are equally excited, and have given their blessing.
“The Stephens family’s extraordinary generosity has provided the Blyth Festival with exactly the kind of financial stability we need to continue our work. This gift will help enable us to expand our New Play Development program, bolster our staff, and fulfill our mission.”
To honour Margaret’s passion for promoting women in art and music, the Stephens family is also sponsoring The Trials of Maggie Pollock, running on the Margaret Stephens Stage July 31-August 29, 2024. This new work, commissioned by the Blyth Festival and written by award-winning Canadian playwright Beverley Cooper, chronicles the life of a Huron County farmwoman convicted of witchcraft in 1919.
The Blyth Festival is a registered charity. Like all Canadian arts organizations, it relies on donations from corporations, foundations and individual donors to make up the difference between what can be raised through government support and reasonably-priced ticket sales.
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The Blyth Festival is a professional theatre located in Blyth, Ontario. It was established in 1975 with a mandate to produce professional repertory theatre that reflects the culture and concerns of the people of southwestern Ontario and beyond.
In its 50-year history, Blyth has premiered 156 new Canadian plays and entertained more than one million people from every province and territory in Canada across the United States and from every corner of the globe. Plays from the Blyth Festival have won Governor General’s Awards, been produced in 29 countries, and been translated into dozens of languages, including American Sign Language.
The Andrew and Margaret Stephens Family Foundation
The Margaret and Andrew Stephens Family Foundation, established by Andrew and Margaret in the early 2000s, is dedicated to enhancing communities through strategic investments, creating opportunities for cultural change, inspiring individuals to achieve greatness, and recognizing and appreciating those who make a difference. Investing in a number of carefully chosen community organizations, the Foundation focuses on building capacity in the arts, education, health, and in under-represented and challenged communities.
To date, the Foundation has made significant investments in university infrastructure and scholarships, health research and hospital fellowships, social enterprise development, women in leadership, and palliative care.