Welcome

Welcome

Dear Friends,

It’s always a challenge to encapsulate in an annual report all that we’ve accomplished over the past year. The theatre continued to grow as an organization in 2016-2017, and reached more people in more ways than ever before. Here are a few of the highlights:

At the top of the list was the January opening of The Hanover Theatre Conservatory for the Performing Arts with 25 classes in acting, music, dance, technical theatre and design for all ages. We partnered with Ballet Arts Worcester to bring their top-notch programs under our umbrella and we finished the spring semester with 180 students. As of the date of this writing, we have more than 200 students registered for more than 60 fall classes. Since its inception in 2009, the theatre’s Youth Summer Program has engaged more than 600 young people in classes, rehearsals and performances to build their self-expression, confidence and teamwork. With the opening of the new conservatory, we can create a much bigger impact by reaching our whole community year-round.

We redesigned our Franklin Square Salon and Bridge, resulting in a larger and more comfortable space for our Franklin Square Society members.

We entered a new public phase of our Theatre District Campaign to raise funds to program and vitalize the new Francis R. Carroll Plaza, with construction scheduled to begin in 2018. This new phase seeks to increase engagement throughout the district in collaboration with key stakeholders. As of October 26, we have secured more than $7.6 million toward our $10 million goal.

We began using the McDonough and Curtis rooms, our new function spaces in the 551 Main Street building, for events ranging from pretheatre wine and cheese receptions, to corporate trainings and fundraising events for nonprofit organizations and alumni associations. The new spaces have been popular and very successful, enabling us to accommodate events we had previously been forced to turn away due to lack of space and amenities.

And 2016-2017 was our most financially successful year to date. More than 214,000 patrons attended 231 performances and special events. Over 12,000 students attended A Christmas Carol and other morning matinee performances, 2,400 Worcester Public Schools students participated in our Adopt- A-School program at Kinky Boots and Motown the Musical. We ended the year with a surplus and were able to put $300,000 into capital reserves, allowing us to complete the ongoing maintenance and repairs that our beautiful historic venue will require.

The year ahead promises to be a momentous one, as we’ll celebrate our 10th anniversary in March 2018. We will see the start of construction on the Francis R. Carroll Plaza, the broad-based public phase of the Theatre District Campaign. Our conservatory will continue to grow and evolve, and we expect an exciting Broadway season announcement in the spring. We look forward to celebrating each new milestone with you as it comes, and we are so grateful to you for your ongoing commitment to the theatre’s success.

Best wishes for a strong year ahead,

Richard W. Lavey Chairman

Troy Siebels President & CEO

Troy Siebels, President & CEO and Richard Lavey, Chairman.

The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts • 2017 Report to the Community • 3